Back-to-School Books
Posted by Debra Liverman on 20 Aug 2008 | Posted in: Grade 1, Holiday and Seasonal, Kindergarten, Preschool, Teacher's Helper, The Mailbox
My three-year-old son brought home an empty bag from preschool yesterday with the assignment of filling it with some favorite books to share with his classmates. So before bedtime last night we sat down in front of the bookshelf and started our selection process. And let me tell you, it was a process! Before I knew it we had a teetering stack of books that clearly would NOT all fit in that small tote bag! As we started narrowing down his selections, I was reminded just how much kids love books! He really had a tough time deciding just which books to share.
Then I thought of The Mailbox. Our editors share a love for books and have similar decisions to make with your magazines. They each have to handpick which books to share with teachers like YOU. So I scanned through the latest issues to see which books they selected to kick off the school year. Here are just a few of the books featured in the August/September magazines.
- The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall (The Mailbox Preschool)
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems (The Mailbox Preschool)
- Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London (The Mailbox Grades K-1)
- Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh (The Mailbox Grades K-1)
- Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes (Teacher’s Helper Kindergarten)
- Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes (Teacher’s Helper Grade 1)
- Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House) by Mary Pope Osborne (Bookbag)
- The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neill (Bookbag)
- Being a Good Citizen by Mary Small (Bookbag)
- Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin (Bookbag)
Are any of these on your list of favorites? Which books do you reach for at the beginning of the school year?
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25 Responses to “Back-to-School Books”
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More Comments Pages: « 1 [2] 3 » Show All Comments
I teach 5th and we used the book How I Spent My Summer Vacation to get a beginning of the year narrative writing example out of them. We discussed how outrageous the story went and I challenge them to come up with an outrageous story of their own, but remind them that t story must end with them at school telling about their summer. We had some very interesting tales!
I like to read “The Important Book” by Margaret Wise, then we make a class book following the same format as the story and call it “The Important Things About Us”. I also read “How to Lose All Your Friends” then we make a big book listing all the ways we can make and keep friends.
I teach 1st Grade and begin the first day with “First Grade Jitters” written by Julie Danneberg. We then go into a cloze activity and create our first classroom book of the school year.
” I get the jitters when________________.
Each student completes the sentence and illustrates the sentence.
Your list is full of my favorites too. I love the Kevin Henkes books. almost every one of his books talks about how children in elementary feel about school, their friends, family. For Brenda, I taught fourth and still used these books for read alouds, responce to text, letter writing, many of the skills needed for the state standards. So many of your magizine ideas have helped my classes to get off to a great start and just keep right on rolling throughout the school year. Thank you.
We always start the pre-k year with a different theme, and this year’s is “Wild About Preschool” (Mailbox, Aug/Sept ‘08). We love all the wild animals, especially the monkeys. I plan on reading fun, interactive books like:
Five Little Monkeys (and the song too!)
Goodnight Gorilla
If I Ran the Zoo
Curious George Visits the Zoo
I can’t wait to get this year started! So many amazing ideas in Preschool edition of The Mailbox!
Hi,
My son will be four by September,which books do I start him with? I teach in a high school, do you also have materials that can be helpful to me and my students?
I am in Nigeria, But I am really interested in what mailbox is doing for both the teacher and the learner.
Stella
We start the year with The Kissing Hand in my preschool class. This year, I’ll ask Moms to send in their traced hand,(construction paper) with a picture and a note to their child. I’ll put a heart sticker in the palm of the hand and mount everything onto a sheet of cardstock placing it in the child’s binder. (Mailbox 8 & 9/06) I LOVE the idea about the Chester puppet!
Brenda - I have two favorite series that I start out with for 3rd Grade. One is series of autobiographical books by Tomie DePaola. They start out with him as a 4-year-old in “26 Fairmont Avenue”. Each subsequent book, he gets a year older. They are hilarious! My other favorite is the “Stories That Julian Tells” series by Ann Cameron. Again, hilarious, but also true to the life af a 3rd Grader. She also has a fabulous book called, “The Most Beautiful Place in the World” about a little boy growing up in Guatemala, whose biggest dream is to go to school. This one is heart-wrenching. The children and I usually end up crying about and cheering for the indomitable spirit of this little boy. Have fun reading!
BTW - I now teach 4th Grade. Any suggestions out there?
I teach pre-k and I also read books like “Wemberley Worried” and “The Kissing Hand” to the children during the first few days of school. Some other good ones are “Tucker’s Best School Day” and “Chicken Chickens Go to School”, as well as “I Love School!” by Philemon Sturges.
We start our new preschool year off with “The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn. It helps the children who are a little worried about beginning a new school , with a new teacher, new room, and new friends. Our friend “Chester” (a raccoon puppet) also joins us for story time and has the kids laughing and relaxing in no time. Chester hangs around our room for several months, to remind us that Mom’s love goes wherever we go, even to school!
For the first part of school, my 2nd grade team uses the following books to talk about being responsible, treating others with respect, accepting others, acting as a team, etc.
It Takes A Village
Chrysanthemum
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
The Three Questions
What I Did for My Summer Vacation
Leo the Late Bloomer
First Day Jitters (written from teacher’s point of view)
Herman the Helper
The Recess Queen
Wodney Wat
Kissing Hand (more for younger kids)
The Teacher from the Black Lagoon
The Principal from the Black Lagoon
any other Black Lagoon books
Oh, The Places You’ll Go
The Color of Us
If a Crayon Could Talk
Janet–2nd grade teacher
Is this always going to be first grade ideas? I teach 3rd. Thanks!