Contributed by: Suezann Pascoe
The Kissing Hand
By: Audrey Penn
Pre-Kindergarten
I
chose this book because my mom told me she reads this to her students every
year when school starts and the students seem to really enjoy it.
The Kissing Hand is about a little
raccoon named Chester who goes to school at night. Chester is afraid to go to school for the
first time so his mom tells him that if she kisses his hand that her love will
be with him wherever he goes. Before he
leaves for school he reaches for his moms hand and kisses it and tells her that
his love will be with her now too.
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Contributed by: Alyse Hamilton
Title: Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School
Author: Herman Parish
Ages: 4-8
I chose this book because I lived Amelia Bedelia
growing up. I think this book would start the first day of school of with a
funny and light hearted tone.
Amelia Bedelia is so excited for the first day
of school. She just knows that everything is going to be awesome. Amelia’s
literal personality adds some laughs and some troubles to her first day of
school, nut in the end, her first day was just as great as she thought it would
be.
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Contributed by: Katelyn
Smith
Title: How I
Spent my Summer Vacation
Author:
Mark Teague
Age of Reader: 2nd grade (7-8
years old)
Why I chose this book: This picture book is perfect for starting out the school year! The illustrations go great with the text, and the
rhyming literature makes it fun to read.
Also, I chose this book because it encourages creativity and use of
their imagination during writing.
Plot Summary:
The story starts with a boy named Wallace telling about his summer vacation in
class. During his summer vacation, Wallace’s parents send him out west to visit
his Aunt Fern to help “calm down” his overactive imagination. As he’s telling
the class about his summer, he starts to visualize out loud about his
adventures as a cowboy, when he was captured, survived a stampede, and wrangled
bulls.
Activities: After
reading the story, talk about whether or not they think the boy was telling
factual or fictional information about his summer vacation. After discussion,
have student’s write his or her own “fact or fiction” story. They can choose to
write about what they really did over the summer break, or use their
imaginations, like the character in the story. When sharing stories, have the
class guess whether they think the person is telling a fact or a fiction.
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· Contributed by: Alexandra
Hodge
· First
Grade Stinks
· Mary
Ann Rodman
Age of reader: First
Grade – 6-8 year olds
· I asked
my cooperating teacher what her favorite book was to read at the beginning of
the year; her response was that for first grade she really liked this book
because she always had a few students who were not happy about the transition
out of kindergarten.
· The
book starts out with Haley, who is so excited about school and being a big kid
now! As the book goes on you see how the feeling changes, she realizes that her
teacher isn’t near as bubbly as her kindergarten teacher was, she also pushes
Haley was harder, along with her classroom was so boring with no color like in
kindergarten. She started to see as the year went on that her teacher was
awesome and pushed her for a certain reason, she started seeing the artwork go
up on the walls and the color start to flow in. By the end of the book she
loves first grade and is really excited for the rest of the year!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Contributed by: Paige Duke
Book: Amelia Bedelia’s
First Day of School
Author: Herman Parish
Pre-school-2
Summary: Amelia
Bedelia’s First Day of School focuses on the positives of the first day of
school. Literal minded Amelia stumbles through her first day of first grade
with lots of confusion but ends up having a great time. The characters are
Amelia Bedelia, her classmates, and her teachers (i.e Miss Edwards). Amelia is
very literal-minded and fun.
I chose this book because Amelia Bedelia is a favorite in
ECE classrooms and the humor in this story will take away some of the real
“first day jitters”. There are challenging words which will be good for new
readers.
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Contributed by: Laura
Bell
Clifford’s
First School Day
Norman
Bridwell
Ages: 3-5
I
chose this book because it shows the kids a familiar character, Clifford,
having fun at school. In this book, Emily Elizabeth takes Clifford to school
for show and tell. He gets to see the classroom and meet the other children.
The teacher lets Clifford do all the activities with the children. He paints, plays with water, bakes a snack, plays outside, and eats lunch with the students. Even though
some things went wrong, like spilling paint, the children see that Clifford is
okay and still has fun at school.
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Contributed by: Cheyenne Taylor
Junie B., First Grader
(At Last)
Barbara Park
First Grade
Why you chose this book: I read
this book as a child, and I practically grew up with Junie B., and I would love
to share that experience with my future class. I practiced my reading and
developed a love for Junie B. at a young age, and I think it would help my
class to learn to love to read.
Plot Summary: Junie B. is
starting 1st grade, and she is a little nervous. She learns that a
lot of changes will take place, and some of them, she is not too happy about.
Her best friends from Kindergarten have found new friends and she is taken
aback by some not-so-nice new classmates. She has trouble reading the
blackboard and finds out she needs glasses! This, along with many other mishaps
and adventures makes for quite a crazy start to the new year for Junie B.!
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Contributed by: Jenna French
Morris Goes to School
B. Wiseman
Age: pre-school-1st grade
I
chose this book because it’s about a moose’s first day to ever be at a school.
The moose feels nervous and a little intimidated to go to school for the first
time, which are feelings that a lot of school children may be experiencing the
first day of school. I chose this book to hopefully make the children feel more
at ease about a new beginning.
Morris
is a moose who has never been to school. He’s never learned to read and count.
He’s the only moose in school so he’s very nervous. The class welcomes him.
Moose spends the day learning his ABC’s and how to count. By the end of the
day, Moose realizes that school is really fun and that he enjoys his time at
school.
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Contributed by: Halley
Smith
Morris
Goes to School
B.
Wiseman
7
years old
I chose this book because it was a
great introduction for the students about all the things you learn in
school. The children could see that
counting and reading were very important, which are two main focuses at this
age. My cooperating teacher had this
book on display for the children to read when they had finished their
assignments and it is a great book for making children feel comfortable when
they come to school. This book discusses
learning, but also covers the topic of making friends, not knowing where to go,
and talking to a teacher when you need help.
These topics are important to discuss in the first few days of the
school year because it is all important information relevant to the
students. I enjoyed reading this book
because it is something silly that children will love and laugh about
throughout the entire story.
The story is based on a moose named
Morris who finds himself in a store wanting to buy candy. The moose is told from a clerk that he went
to the wrong store all because Morris can't read. When Morris does find the right store, the
man at the store asks him how much money he has to buy candy. The moose does not know how to count; which
causes the man to ask him if he attends school.
Morris was unsure what school was so the man took him to school where he
would learn about counting and reading.
He came into the classroom and was not fitting in very well. He would interrupt the teacher, go into the
girl's bathroom, and have a hard time following along with his classmates. As
the day moved on, he started playing outside with friends and painting along
with the class. The teacher helped him
understand his ABC's and to count, just like the other students in the
class. After his time in school, he was
able to find the candy store all on his own and tell the clerk exactly how much
candy he could buy with his money. He
had accomplished his two goals he set out to do: learn to read and learn to
count.
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Contributed by: Hope Brown
For
this particular assignment, I asked my site teacher at Porter Elementary what
her favorite book to read to her new students was. She told me that on the
first day of school she read Kindergarten,
Here I Come by DJ Steinburg. This book is appropriate to read to
Kindergarteners, seeing as it applies to the moments they will experience in
their year as a kindergartener. I read the book, and thought it was great, and
showed the children what to expect! The literature review applies to a book
that is “back to school” themed, and I think this book is extremely fitting. It
not only shows the nervousness children overcome on the first day of school,
but it also shows what to look forward to in the kindergarten year. The book
covers key concepts and rules that a child will learn in kindergarten, helping
them relate to the rules and what is expected of them in the classroom. It
shows the fun aspects and activities presented by the teacher as well. The
illustrations are great and make the book fun to read. I chose this book
because I thought it was interesting and exciting. I felt as if it would appeal
to any student who is entering kindergarten. The book presents rhymes that are
interesting and appealing to young children. It talks about rules such as
lining up, and activities like recess or nap time which children are familiar
with as well.
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Contributed by: Maggie Oberste
Wimberly Worried
Kevin Henkes
Age: 4-7
I observed
my August Experience teacher read this book on the first day of Kindergarten.
The kids enjoyed it and it was a book about exactly what the students in her
class were feeling. I saw it as a great way to discuss normal first day
feelings, without having to specifically call anyone out. After the book was read, all of the students
and the teacher admitted to being worried about the first day of school.
Wimberly is a little
mouse who worries about everything. It could be a big deal or nothing at all
and she still worried about it. Now she is worried about the first day of
school. She is worried she won’t like school or she will be different than the
other students or she won’t make any friends, until the teacher introduces her
to another little girl who worries too!
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Contributed by: Meredith Walden
The Kissing Hand
Age: 5-7 year olds
In this book there is a momma and a baby raccoon
the baby raccoon is about to start kindergarten and is nervous and sad because
momma will not be there with him. So to calm the babies nerves momma puts a
kiss in the babies kissing hand and tells him to hold onto to and her love
would be with him all day.
I choose this book because I have heard great results
from it when I was in the CDL two semesters ago this book was read at the
beginning of the year and the children who were having the most trouble with
the transition had their parents put a kissing in their kissing hand and they
had a better time in school.
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