My 9 Favorite Back to School Books for Kindergarten

Today I want to share with you my favorite back to school books for kindergarten students.

I read all 9 of these books within the first couple of weeks of school each year.  Below (in no particular order) I'll provide the book and a short blurb about each.  Also in the link of each book title, I provide a cheap place to purchase the book (Amazon or Scholastic).

1. Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by: Laura Murray.  Gingerbread thinks his class abandoned him after they made him.  He goes on a search throughout the entire school to find his class.  This is a great book for introducing to kindergartners about the nurse, principal, library, gym, and other people/locations in your school.

2. Chu's First Day of School by: Neil Gaiman & Adam Rex.  Chu is ready for his first day of school.  All of the other animals have special talents and we have to wait till the end to find out Chu's talent.  Shows students that we all are unique.

3. David Goes to School by: David Shannon.  David is an ornery boy who learns that school comes with rules.  Students will laugh and giggle at David's antics at school.  

4. On the First Day of Kindergarten by: Tish Rabe.  A kindergarten version of the "12 Days of Christmas".  The repetition of the words allow students to help you read and chant along.

5. Manners in Kindergarten by: Carrie Finn.  A must read when teaching students about how to use manners in a school setting.  

6. Monstergarten by: Daniel J. Mahoney.  Patrick the monster is scared to go to school.  This book is great to talk about trying new things and about how sometimes we can be scared.

7. Pete the Cat Rocking in my School Shoes by: Eric Litwin.  Pete the Cat is always a must read in kindergarten.  This book is great because it shows Pete going to different places in his school during the day.  Students will love singing the song with you!

8. The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School by: Deborah Diesen. Mr. Fish is scared about going to school and wonders if he can do all the things they do in school.  This story is great to show students that everyone gets nervous sometimes but not to worry because we will learn everything we need to know.

9. The Rainbow Fish by: Marcus Pfister.  Rainbow Fish learns that being kind to others makes other people happy and can also make yourself happy.  That having it all, may not mean you are happy!

I hope you enjoy your first weeks with your students and read some wonderful books together!

Play in K

I am so excited!

WE CAN PLAY!

At an end of the year quick meeting the K teachers were told we can bring back a little time of play in our classrooms.

*cue huge grin*

Whether you are allowed to have the old-school center time or not, we all know the benefits of play.

• Social- kids need time to interact, practice sharing, using manners, and time to talk and interact with their peers on their terms.
• Behavior- we've all seen a rise in what's expected in kindergarten and a rise in behavior problems...that is not a coincidence.
• Literacy/Math- when students play they are using and learning vocabulary, building math skills, and sometimes writing while playing.

I will have a 15-20 minute chunk to have a free centers time this coming school year.  I am still trying to figure out how I want to do it.  I will have the students choose what they do but will probably have to put parameters on how many students in the different areas.  

For the rest of the summer I would like to share things I have found or ideas I have about play in kindergarten.  Once a week I will post an idea.

Here is my new Market Place!  I have play money, ordered some play food, I am making some felt food, and just need some chalk.

Today I'd love to share with you some cards that I made as a forever *FREEBIE*.  These world structure cards are a great addition to your classroom blocks.  You can print and laminate the cards and have students try to build the structures.  Each card has the sentence: Can you build ____ ? (with the structure name where the blank is).  Also, each card is labeled with the location.  I saw this idea on a blog but hers were a bit different and she didn't have a digital version unfortunately.  I loved this idea and so I used photographs I bought from TPT and created these cards!  Go check out Can You Build It? World Structures.  Click on the name or underneath on the picture.

 

I can't wait to see what they build!

WHOA! Where has this been?!? A Touchtronic review.

*Disclaimer*- I am not being asked to write this review but I have had many people ask me about these letters or who have sent me a DM on my Instagram asking what in the world these cool interactive letters are.  I just love it and want to share how/why I use this in my classroom.

We have had the letters for almost two weeks and so far I am loving them!  I can't wait to use them in August when the kids are really working on letters/sounds.  The ABC app will be great for the first part of the year!

I still have a few kiddos have just recently mastered all their letter sounds...so this app is great practice for them.  Now, my kids who are reading DRA level 4 or higher...not so much.  But this is a great resource for your kids who are still struggling with letters/sounds or who need CVC practice (the app not shown in the video...but coming soon).

I love how the CVC app says the sounds, helps the students sound out the words, and lets them know if something needs to be changed.  The CVC app is great because the students can build CVC words, it sounds it out, and shows a picture of the word.  I even made some odd words that they may not think of...such as sob, and it had a picture of crying.  I did rob and it showed a thief.  Pretty neat stuff!  

Currently I am using this for my low readers/writers during RTI and station time.  On occasion I'll call a student up to my table to do one of the two apps just for extra practice if they finish early.  I just wish I had more than one iPad!  :)  Don't get me wrong, so thankful for our PTO...I know lots do not even have that.

Here's how it works, you buy the letters (box shown below) and then download the FREE apps (Touchtronic ABCs or Touchtronic 3 Letter Words).  The video down below shows a couple students using the ABC app.  

What I love best about it:

*Hands on

*Very interactive

*Great for individual or partner practice

*Uses technology...we all know how much our kids gravitate towards that.

Hands down amazingness right here!  You can purchase the letters on Junior Learning's website or they also have them on Amazon.com as well.  

Here is a short video of the ABC app in action.  Tomorrow or Thursday I will try to video students using the 3 Letter Word app. 

There is also a numbers set that I will purchasing next. :)  

Hope you enjoyed this little review and those who follow me on Insta who have thought it looks cool...now you can see a little what it looks like.

Be sure to check back in a day or two for the update with the second app (CVC word) video.