It’s no secret that I love reading aloud to my students (I’m pretty sure I start every read aloud blog post like this #sorrynotsorry). Back-to-school read alouds are some of my very favorite read alouds of the year. They set the tone for the rest of the year. Reading aloud is so important for the reading development of our students. See my blogs posts >>HERE<< and >>HERE<< to see why. I like to start reading aloud to my students on the first day of school. Yes, THE VERY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! I love getting into the routine of what read alouds look like so I start with them from the beginning and read a lot of books the first couple of weeks. These are some of my favorites you should definitely check out.
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At the beginning of the year, I tend to stick to read aloud books in four main categories:
- Getting to know each other
- Teaching behavior expectations and routines
- Starting reading instruction
- Starting writing instruction
1. Back-to-School Read Alouds for Getting to Know Each Other
The first day of school and a new year can bring a lot of nerves and anxiety to everyone involved, teachers and students. I love to begin our year by reading aloud books that normalize these feelings and help us get to know each other.
First Day Jitters
Building a community from day one is so important so I like to pick books that support that mission. This is typically my very first read aloud. The students don’t expect the surprise at the end. We do a lot of talking about different feelings we have on the first day and how those feelings change throughout the day and into the next day.
I love the Jitter Series and usually end my year with a read aloud of Last Day Blues. It’s another cute one from Julie Danneburg. You can see my Interactive Read Aloud resource for this book >>HERE<<.
First Grade Jitters
This is the other read aloud book I typically read on the first day of school. Because I teach first grade, my students can really connect with this book. We discuss what they think first grade will be like and make connections to First Day Jitters. We also talk about what jitters means.
Chrysanthemum
Next, I love Kevin Henkes and I love this book! This is a great one to talk about our names and how our names are special to us. We do a bunch of name activities including learning the names of everyone in our class, learning how to spell and write our own names, first and last, and discussing the number of letters and what all of the names start with.
2. Back-to-School Read Alouds for Teaching Behaviors and Routines
Teaching behavior and routines are so important in the first month or two of the school year. By teaching routines now, you are setting the stage for a successful year where your students learn and know the classroom expectations. Routines and expectations make your classroom a safe place where students are able to learn. These few back-to-school read alouds are my very favorite.
My Mouth is a Volcano
I can think of a student in my class right now, who I can’t wait to read this book to. This book makes blurting out understandable to kids and why it is not OK to do. I LOVE this book and read it to my kids several times a year when our blurting out starts to erupt again. ????
MY FAVORITE BEHAVIOR BOOK!
Have You Filled a Bucket Today?
This is another favorite for teaching behavior and expectations. Being a bucket filler means you are being nice and kind and helping people. This book explains being respectful in a kid-friendly manner. I use this book ALL year, but we start using it at the very beginning of the year.
Teaching read aloud expectations is really important to and the Interactive Read Aloud Resource for First Day Jitters has charts to help you teach your students the read aloud expectations.
How Do Dinosaurs Go To School?
This is a new book I added to our read aloud selection at the beginning of this year. I enjoy all of Jane Yolen’s books, but the How Do Dinosaurs series is just adorable. This year my kids seemed to really understand that we can be like dinosaurs and either make good choices or bad choices, it’s up to us. I’ve heard several times talking about expectations, “we don’t want to be bad dinosaurs.”????
For my very favorite back-to-school read alouds, I have a bundle that you don’t want to miss. My interactive read alouds include all of the in-depth comprehension, stopping points, retelling and story elements practice, vocabulary, and activities that you need to get the most out of your read alouds.
3. Back-to-School Read Alouds for Starting Reading Instruction
Teaching reading is my favorite thing about first grade. The growth of a first grader’s reading abilities is astonishing. I like to use books to help us get reading instruction started because who doesn’t love a good read aloud. As with almost all of the books I read in class, we are stopping and interacting with the book. By doing so, students really understand what it looks like to learn how to read.
How to Read a Story
I found this book several years ago and use it throughout the year for reading AND writing. It’s perfect to start the year and teach our students how to read a story. We work so hard at the beginning of the year to get the routines down for independent reading and this book lends itself right to the work we do for that.
This book also works well when we do our how-to unit in writing later in the fall.
I also have several reading and writing expectation anchor chart resources too! You can see my Anchor Chart Category in my TPT store >>HERE<<.
How Rocket Learned to Read
Do you know Rocket? He’s the pet every classroom needs. There are more books about Rocket, but this is a favorite. Rocket, with the help of his little yellow bird teacher friend, learns how to read. My students love anything with animals so this really hits home. It’s an adorable book to add to your reading instruction reading list.
How To Teach a Slug to Read
Another cute book is this one about a little slug who learns to read. This is usually my first reading instruction book that I read to the class. We talk about how this slug learned to read and we talk about how we’re going to learn how to read too. We discuss what kinds of things we need to do to learn how to be better readers and set goals for ourselves as readers.
3. Back-to-School Read Alouds for Starting Writing Instruction
Right behind my love of teaching reading is my love of teaching writing. Since going to NYC, Columbia University for Teacher’s College Reading & Writing Project, my love of teaching writing has grown. These are great books to get your students excited to write!
Ralph Tells A Story
Ralph Tells a Story is probably the cutest writing book you’ll ever read. It’s about a boy who can’t think of anything to write about until he has to share his story and comes up with a great one. This is so relatable to my students who often have a hard time coming up with things to write about. Ralph is definitely a lovable little boy who we talk about as if he were a friend all year long.
Rocket Writes a Story
Ahhh…another Rocket book. See I told you we love Rocket books. In this one, Rocket learns to write. Like Ralph, Rocket is not quite sure what to write about until he meets a little Owl friend. With the help of his teacher, the little yellow bird, Rocket learns to write a story, just like our students do. We love Rocket!
A Squiggly Story
OK, I have to admit, this is a new one for me, but I am so excited to add it to our starting writing instruction read aloud list. It’s about a little boy who wants to write stories just like his big sister. She tells him that he’s the boss of his writing and that a story can start with just a squiggle or a letter. This one is perfect for our kinders and first graders because this boy is at the same level. It’s going to become a favorite, I’m sure.
How to Write a Story
Finally, while doing research to update this post, I came across this book, written in 2020. Another back-to-school read aloud must have! I absolutely LOVE How to Read a Story so I’m pretty sure I”m going to love this one too! I haven’t read it yet, but am checking it out NOW!
All Time Favorite Back to School Read Aloud
My very favorite book to start the year with is All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold.
I absolutely LOVE this book for the first day of school. It shows my students that they are all welcome and it starts their understanding that all are accepted in our classroom.
I like to use read alouds as a base for my morning meetings, and this is a great one for those first few weeks of school. We use Responsive Classroom at my school so our morning meetings include: greeting, share, activity, and a message.
Interested in learning more? Check out >>THIS<< resource to have your morning meeting for a week, completely planned.
So there you have it, the back. to school read alouds to start the year in a primary classroom. There are a ton more books that I read in the first couple of months, but these are definitely my favorites and the first ones I usually pick up to read to my new class.
What back-to-school read alouds do you use? I’m always looking for new books to try. Just shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you!
As always, please pin and share if you found this blog post helpful. It’s readers like you that I love for getting my content out into the world. Thank you!
If you’re interested in one of my Interactive Read Aloud resources, click >>HERE<< or check out this bundle!
MORE ABOUT INTERACTIVE READ ALOUDS
Check out these other blog posts all about interactive read alouds
- 3 reasons why you need to be doing interactive read alouds
- The best tips for interactive read alouds
- 3 ways to prepare for an interactive read aloud
- How to print on sticky notes
Or check out >>THIS<< blog post!
And don’t forget to sign up for the Ultimate Read Aloud Guide. ????????
