Back to School Books

The first week of school is exciting, nerve wracking, terrifying, overwhelming, thrilling, and more. And that is just for the teacher! Between learning names, teaching procedures, drying eyes, and assuring the students they will be alright; teacher need to start teaching. There are so many wonderful books for the first week of school, but these are two of my favorite:

            Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten
            Oliver and His Alligator

Let's start with Miss Bindergarten. I love all the activity in this book. It is a great way to start teaching how to use the illustrations to tell the story. This books features rhyming words while teaching the alphabet. Each student in the class has a name that starts with a different letter of the alphabet. The students are named using a rhyming couplet. It is on the next two pages that the illustrations take over.

Each two page spread features Miss Bindergarten setting up her classroom. The text is the same each time, but the illustrations change. These pages allow teachers to talk about the action in the book; how a story can be told in pictures, and to discuss all the things Miss Bindergarten does to get the classroom ready. You can have the students look around their own classroom for these items.


I created several literacy and math activities to go with the book. These activities will keep the students engaged and learning; even if you are spending the time sorting supplies. Click here or the photo to find the resource.
What's Included: 
a suggestions for use page to make planning easier
There are colorful alphabet cards and pictures from the story. Use these to practice the alphabet, retell the story, and sorting by 'in the story' and not.  
       
There are several printable activities for independent work, such as:
The picture sort, letter and number tracing, color by the code for numbers and sight words, and 7 character hats that read "I'm ready for Kindergarten" Because, let's be real.... Kindergarteners LOVE hats!
           





Oliver and His Alligator; I found this book while wandering through B&N last August. I love the simple illustrations. In the story, Olive is scared about starting school, so he takes an Alligator with him. You know, just in case. This is a great book to use to talk about being scared of school, nervous about the new surroundings, and even being afraid of leaving home.



I've included some easy activities for the book. You get the body pieces for the each student to make their own alligator, simple counting, number tracing,  letter matching, and letter tracing. There are also color and B&W cards with kids showing different emotions; use them to get your students talking about how they feel. Click here or on the photo to get this resource.


Alligator Craftivity: the students glue the pieces down to make their very own alligator. 

Both of these resources will help any teacher get through the few days of school. Proving fun and engaging activities, that are also educational. 

2 comments

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cv writing service said...

These two books look very interesting and I am sure they will fascinate the kids and keep them occupied with the activities. Let's hope it keeps them from crying too!