Educators are readying for the beginning of school.
Butterflies...excitement...and, of course, planning what books to have on hand to read! Some teachers have just started their classes this week and some are soon to start in the coming days or weeks.
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| these books were written by the children later in the year after we read a million incredible books together! |
These "can't miss" books are perfect to connect with preschool children on Day 1. Why?
1. These are classics, favorites, and most likely KNOWN by the children coming into your class.
2. Children being familiar with a book for read-aloud time is a Comfort, is a Confidence builder that school is going to be ok, is an" Oh, I Love That Book!"
3. Teachers using familiar books can Have Fun with the book, Offer Participation while reading for repeating phrases or guessing "what's next", and know the length/content well to match the needs of the group.
**tip: I like starting off with shorter books in order to create a stronger connection with the group of children by having a number of books read in one day that we now have experienced together! We might read one or two at morning circle, one at mid-day, one or two at goodbye time! It is also a good idea to have a number of books so children can try a "vote" for when to read which one during the day!
Here are friendly books with Bears, Ducks, and Mice...plus a few extra animal friendly books in the bonus recommendations list at the bottom!
Going on a Bear Hunt
by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury
A father and his four children--a toddler, a preschool boy and two older
girls--go on the traditional bear hunt based on the old camp chant:
"We're going to catch a big one. / What a beautiful day! / We're not
scared. / Oh-oh! Grass! / Long, wavy grass. / We can't go over it. / We
can't go under it. / Oh, no! / We've got to go through it!" The family
skids down a grassy slope, swishes across a river, sludges through mud
and, of course, finally sees the bear, who chases them all back to their
home. It's a fantastic journey--was it real or imagined?--with the
family's actions (and interaction) adding to the trip a goodnatured,
jolly mood.
(Review from Publisher's Weekly)
Duck on a Bike
by David Shannon
Shannon serves up a sunny blend of humor and action in this delightful
tale of a Duck who spies a red bicycle one day and gets "a wild idea."
Sure enough, in no time flat, he's tooling around the farmyard. A
succession of his barnyard friends greet him politely enough, but their
private responses range from scornful ("That's the silliest thing I've
ever seen," from Cow) to boastful ("You're still not as fast as me,"
from Horse) to wistful ("I wish I could ride a bike just like Duck,"
from Mouse). Then a herd of kids rides down the road in a blur of dust;
they park their bikes and head indoors. A wordless spread records the
sublime moment when the animals all gather with identical wide-eyed
looks and sly smiles. Readers can almost see what they're thinking, and
sure enough, the next spread shows them all zipping around on bikes,
with Duck in the lead.
(Review from Publisher's Weekly)
If You Take a Mouse
by Laura Numeroff & Felicia Bond
In a rollicking romp, Numeroff and Bond send the energetic, exuberant
star of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Take a Mouse to the
Movies (and his boy sidekick) into the classroom. After pulling on his
overalls, the diminutive character makes his first request ("He'll ask
you for your lunchbox") and then demands a snack, notebook and pencils
before climbing into the boy's backpack. Once at school, the mercurial
mouse happily bounds from one activity to the next: he spells "a word or
two" on the blackboard (Bond shows these as an impressive list headed
by "onomatopoeia"), conducts a science experiment (purple matter erupts
from his beaker), builds "a little mouse house" out of blocks (the
edifice looks quite elaborate) and fashions furniture for it with clay.
Realizing he needs something on his new bookshelf, the ambitious critter
collects paper and pencils and creates his own book, which he then
wants to take home, in "your" lunch box. (Review from Publisher's Weekly)
You might also keep in your book bag nearby...
Where the Wild Thing Are by Maurice Sendak
Olivia by Ian Falconer
Franklin (any in the series) by Paulette Bourgeois
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
little blue and little yellow by Leo Lionni
Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
The Flying Dragon Room by Audrey Wood
The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
** for a big list of my Favorite Read Alouds Click Here
There are so many wonderful children's books to start off the school year!
What are some of your favorites to have ready-to-read in the early days of school?
It takes a certain, very special vision to do both - the dream AND the actual realization of the dream.
Christie from the ever-inspiring Childhood101 did just that. She dreamed something "bigger than her blog" and created one of the most gorgeous, informative and accessible early education publications I have ever seen.
