Back to School Book Choices - Which ones are Best?
Do you get overwhelmed by all of the book choices that are promoted for Back-to-School? I remember my first year of Kindergarten, I choose a beautiful story with a heart-warming message and although I loved the book the children did not. I quickly realized that the books I selected needed to meet the needs (and attention span) of these 4and 5 year-olds, not my needs.
Luckily with my program, I had a do-over (I have two groups of children that come on alternating days). For the second group I selected books that invited participation. Books that had repeating phrases and eye-catching illustrations. Talk about night and day – these choices were a hit! The children were engaged, and the learning taking place was joyful and fun.
These books worked for me!
Tiptoe Joe
Written by Ginger Foglesong Gibson and Illustrated by Laura Rankin
Joe tells his animals friends that he has a secret. He leads them on a journey where he instructs the animals to walk in particular ways. And of course, we learn the secret at the end. On the first read, we practiced making predictions about what the secret could be and on the second read we “walked” along with the animals following Joe’s directions for the journey.
Groovy Joe: Ice Cream and Dinosaurs
Written by Eric Litwin and Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
You can’t go wrong with a book about ice-cream and dinosaurs – especially with a four- and five-year-old group. Joe is living the dream – he has a spoon and a tub of ice-cream. The plot rises as he encounters some dinosaur friends. Children practice their prediction skills as they wonder what Joe will do next. They quickly join in on the repeated phrases making this a class favourite.
One Response
Thanks for sharing your experienced advice!!