One Dark Night (Hazel Hutchins)

 

I have been looking for mystery picture books to read to kids and this one fell into my lap. It was perfect. One page it seems like there's a cat that ran out but also a cat in the house. My class was quick to think the author made a mistake in the order of the pages. I told them we had to keep reading to try to figure it out. Turns out the stray cat is running off into the storm again because she is a mother cat! She left one kitten in the house and goes out to get the others one by one.

We also learned about counting from when you see lightening to when you hear thunder to know how far away the storm is.

Bonus: The author is from Alberta!

Goodreads says: As a strong summer storm approaches, Jonathan watches a stray cat looking for something in the bushes, but as the clouds darken, Jonathan wonders if the animal will be okay all by itself when the rain starts pouring from the sky.

My Tree (Hope Lim)

 

This would work with plant life cycles, extreme weather, storms, etc. It would also be a good topic of discussion in our imagination unit.

Goodreads says:

When a young boy's beloved plum tree falls in a storm, he feels like he's lost both a friend and a connection to his old home.

A young boy, recently arrived from Korea, finds a glorious plum tree in his new backyard. It reminds him of a tree his family had back home, and he names it Plumee for the deep purple plums on its branches. Whenever the boy is homesick, he knows he can take shelter in Plumee's tall branches.

And when a storm brings the old tree down, he and his friends have all kinds of adventures on its branches, as it becomes a dragon, a treehouse, and a ship in their imaginations. But soon it's time to say goodbye when the remains of the tree are taken away. Before long, a new plum tree is planted, new blossoms bloom, and a new friendship takes root.