Back to School Read Alouds and a Freebie!

28 July 2015 / 2 comments





Hey Y'all!  It's Susan, hopping over from Friendly Froggies to share some of my favorite Back to School books with you!  Like many of you, I'm planning, prepping and gearing up for my new class of firsties!  I can't wait to meet them and start forming our class family!  In the midst of printing and laminating activities and centers for the first weeks of school, I'm getting all of my favorite "back to school" books ready to read!  

I make some very purposeful choices to read books targeting specific behaviors or concepts.  These help set the stage for our discussions about classroom expectations and procedures!  

Two of my favorites are No, David! and David Goes to School by David Shannon. The kids always giggle and laugh and pay attention to the story.  We follow up with a super cute directed draw!  You can find the directions here


We then brainstorm appropriate choices to make at school.  What did David do?  What should David have done?  We complete a writing activity which is perfect for the beginning of the year.  You can download this freebie here!  Students choose either a "Yes" or "No" paper, write their name and an appropriate or inappropriate thing to do at school and illustrate!  It's hilarious and makes a great class book to kick off the year!

I also love to share Officer Buckle and Gloria during the first few weeks of school as we discuss school safety and review procedures such as fire drills, code reds, etc.  After reading the story, each student writes a safety rule for the classroom and draws Officer Buckle!  I love how different they each are!


 




Since we are the First Grade Froggies, I also introduce the Froggy series by Jonathon London. 
I start with Froggy Goes to School!  The kiddos love this book and the entire series by Jonathon London.  This series stays in a very special basket of Froggy Books that the kiddos enjoy during Read to Self or Buddy Reading time!  I've created this cute craftivity for my students to create this year!  I can't wait to see how there creations turn out!  My lovely daughter helped me make this one!




If you want to try this with your kiddos, you can download the templates here!  

Here are some more books I love sharing at the beginning of the year because of the great conversations we have as a class community!  






What are some of your favorite Back to School books?  Please share your favorites in the comments!  I'm always looking for new books to add to my classroom library!




2 comments:

  1. Love the list of books---I use so many of them during the first week!!! Great Post!!!

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  2. Great list! Those are some of my favorites. :) The frog craftivity turned out SO cute! Thanks for sharing.
    ~Melissa
    Teacher Treasure Hunter

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