Favorite Books for FALL

I am so happy to be blogging with my friends to bring you some of our favorite fall books.  I have some super books to tell you about.  For your convenience, you can find these books on Amazon using my affiliate link by clicking on the cover image.  If you purchase through my link I get a teeny tiny percentage.  Just trying to make things easy for you.  I hope you love these books as much as I do!

The beginning of the school year is a time to get to know each other and begin building our classroom community.  It is the perfect time to teach about diversity and why we value it!  This is the perfect book to help teach this concept:

Ling Sung is the main character in this diverse pre-school classroom with students and teachers from many racial backgrounds.  He doesn't want to go to school because he thinks all the other kids can do special things and he can't.  One day he uses paint brushes to eat a cookie like they are chopsticks.   His teachers and classmates are so impressed!  He teaches them all how to do it.  The story shows us how we all have different strengths AND we can learn new things from each other.  It's a great message about why we value diversity.  I found this book years ago when I was teaching in an inner-city school in San Francisco.  It was one of the only books at that time that actually reflected the kids in my class.  I still read it every year because it touches on a universal theme of feeling "not good enough".  All my young students benefit from hearing this story and realizing that we all have something important to contribute in our classroom community.  I also love this book because I now teach in a school that is not very diverse.  I want my students to see images of kids from all different backgrounds.  It's crucial!  This is still in print and you can grab it by clicking on the picture above.


This is another book that I just adore.  It truly represents a diverse urban community that reflects my childhood memories of San Francisco.  One of the ideas it touches on is wanting things other people have that we don't.  There is a reason this book has won so many awards.

It's a great addition to your books for teaching diversity, but this book also has so much more to offer.  The wise grandmother in this story continues to remind CJ (and us ) to be grateful for what we have, to see beauty in the world around us even when it's not immediately apparent, and connection with people is the real treasure in life.  I LOVE the positive messages in this book.  I also love it because the images and story accurately represent the city life that so many children live.


OK, I am totally OBSESSED with this book.

I saw it a few times on Instagram and when I saw the last page, I knew I had to have it.  It's based on Wonder by the same author, R.J. Pelacio.  It is soooooooo good and it's perfect for young students.  I used this book to help teach about kindness this year.  That is another important beginning of the school year lesson.  Be kind.  It's our number one classroom rule.  It was hard for me to read this book without crying the first few times.  I even read it at Back to School Night for parents because it delivers a powerful message is a beautifully simple way.   It set the tone for the year...


Here are some of the other activities we did to learn about kindness in my classroom:

We talked about how we want to be treated and what the kids in the pictures are doing during the sorting activity.  We also talked about how it feels when we are kind to others.  I made an anchor chart for the kids to give ideas of how they can be kind.  We are going to do this activity later in the year when we need a refresher on kindness. 

After the sorting activity, the kiddos drew a picture of how they can be kind on a writing response paper.  Since it is early in the year for kindergarten, we took dictations for ours students' ideas.  This is my teacher example paper:

Some of my students are having trouble with sharing...  especially the marbles with our marble race building toy.  We are working on it.  If you would like these materials to do kindness activities with your class, you can grab them right here:  Kindness Activities - Social Emontional Learning


I LOVE fall so much!  It's my favorite season and it's officially here!  I hope you can use these books with your little learners this season.

This book is PERFECT for doing a geometry unit in the fall.  I always try to introduce shapes sometime in the fall so we can do review throughout the rest of the year.  It's also nice to take a break from the huge numbers 1-10 unit.  That unit always seems like it takes months to finish and this is a fun way to mix things up.

 

 

This book takes you on a trip to the farm at harvest time so you can find lots of shapes along with pumpkins and apples too!  The illustrations are lovely.  I think you and your students will enjoy it too!    

These fall trees are a fun art and math project you can do as an extension activity with the book.  They were made using pattern block die cuts in fall colors.   Students just used oil pastel to draw the trunks and branckes.  Then, they glued on the shapes for leaves.  You can use these trees to learn about shapes and you can also review attributes!  These trees can be graphed by color OR shape.  We graphed these by shape above.  You can grab those pattern block graphs here:  Graph for Pattern Blocks  

Now that fall is here, I am starting to think about Halloween.  Our little friends have already been thinking about it for weeks!  I love this book because it incorporates the fun of Halloween and the pumpkin lifecycle through the story of a young boy who loved his jack-o-lantern.

If you don't have Pumpkin Jack in your collection, make sure you grab it.  You can even read it after Halloween because that's when the story begins.  Here is a fun extension activity you can do with your students to learn about compost and garbage...

We used our kid made classroom jack-o-lanterns for this science experiment.

The day after Halloween, we  filled one up with garbage...

and buried it in the ground.

Then on Earth Day, we dug it up to see what happened.  If you do this with your class make sure you put in some trash that is compostable and some that isn't.  It makes a huge impact to see very little left except for plastic wrappers, baggies, etc.  I got this idea from Catherine Reed, The Brown Bag Teacher  on her Instagram feed.  I tried it with my students and it was a huge success!  

I made these recording sheets for students to make a prediction and then record the results from our experiment..

This activity and recording sheets were just added along with some other things to my Earth Day Activities - Conserving Natural Resources product.  If you already own this, go re-download.  If you don't you should go check it out.  It's a super helpful science resource you can use all year.

I know this seems like the blog post that will never end.  I'm just enjoying writing today and I am such a huge picture book addict, that when it comes to sharing books, I can go on a bit.  This is my last fall favorite for today:

This is an engaging tale told with rich language and beautiful illustrations.  The main character is an older woman living alone who HATES pumpkins.  When one simple action and a lot of ignoring causes a huge pumpkin patch to grow in her yard, she turns this seeming disaster into a festive celebration.  Our little students get to see a character change over time and decide for themselves how she feels about pumpkins at the end.  This is an older book that is still in print for good reason.  I don't see it out in the world much, but I own it and love this addition to my fall collection.  It's a great October read that isn't spooky or completely Halloween based.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you found some books and ideas that will help you have a fabulous fall in your classroom.  Keep on reading for more great books over at Elaine's blog...  

Kitty Kitty Kindergarten~Favorite Books for Fall

Happy fall!

Happy teaching!

Back to school Essentials FREEBIE blog hop

It's time for back to school and I am so glad to be joining my friends for another blog hop!  We have lots of ideas and some FREEBIES for you to have a great start to your school year.  These are some of my back to school essentials.  Most are items I just can't live without and some I could live without, but don't want to, so they are essential too.  Keep reading to grab a FREEBIE before you hop along to the next blog.

Please tell me I'm not the only kindergarten teacher who orders three sizes of pencils...

 I love Ticonderoga because the lead writes better, they are made in the USA, and I like having all my pencils the same color and style so that there are less issues around choosing which pencil to use for students.  Over the years, I have just learned that you get what you pay for.   Why three sizes?  My little people in kindergarten are just learning to write.  Every little hand is different and for some kiddos the big fatties are the best.  Others with tiny hands really prefer the regular ol' skinny ones.  The Laddie pencils are in between...  just right for others.  I want them to have what they need to become good writers.  So, three sizes it is!

These markers are also an essential supply for my classroom.  Not just because they are Crayola... which are the best.  But more importantly, it is necessary for kids to represent themselves and their friends as they really are.  I am always encouraging realistic drawings with lots of colors.  When it comes to people... peach and brown just don't cut it.  These are in our marker cups all year long.  I love when a child says "I need skin color"  and I hand them about 5 different choices.  Throughout the year, it always makes me happy to see pictures that have people of all colors in them.  #diversity #representationmatters.   Multicultural markers for the win! 

 

This is a VERY handy item.  I have been using these for so many years I can't even remember where I first found them.  This is a dry erase 22" by 28" poster.  I glued flat magnets to the back so it would stay up on my magnetic white board.  You could also just tape it up too.  I use this every day to write a morning message to my students.  It is an important part of our routine and it is a great way to teach and practice concepts of print, sight words, reading strategies...  lots of important literacy concepts.  It is also a GREAT way for students to practice reading in a low stress environment because we are all doing it together!  Yay!  Here is what one of mine from a few years ago looks like written out on the  board:

We were doing an ocean unit when I wrote this.  I like to draw little pictures for my kiddos when I have the time.  The known sight words are in green.  Sometimes after we read the message, I have students come up and find letters, words, chunks, or punctuation to review what we have been learning.  It's also easy to differentiate on the fly because you can ask students to circle different things depending on their level.   I get these at my local teacher supply store and they last me for 2-3 years.  You can grab one at Amazon with my affiliate link here: Trend Enterprises Notebook Paper Wipe-Off. Chart, 22" x 28" (T-1095)

And of course... BOOKS!  I am an admitted picture book addict, so I really think you can't ever have enough books in the classroom.  Here are a few of mine set up for BTS 2017! I have included an affiliate link to Amazon below so you can grab my new favorite.

You can see a mix of old classics with some new ones too.  This year, I got two new books... How to get your teacher Ready by Jean Reagan and Lee Wildish...

... and  School's First Day of School.  I LOVE this book!  The newly built school tells the story about the first day and it is so sweet!  I highly recommend it.  I am going to read it on the first or second day this year.  I still haven't decided.

I also think it is important to have a few things around your classroom that make you happy!  If it's flair pens, get 'em!  Colorful classroom decor?  Do it!  We work hard teaching little learners and it's important for us to have some things that keep us positive, make us happy, and help us to love our jobs even on those tough and tired days.  These are a few goodies I got for myself this year...

 I know I'm a little late to the washi tape party, but Oh my goodness, they are so much fun!  And these sweet planner stickers make this teacher happy!  So if there are some little things you want to brighten up your life for back to school, I say go for it!  For those of you that know me, you also know that shimmering little pencil is one of my essentials too!  They are a bit more expensive, but oohhh!  I just love them soooo muuuuch...  You can grab some too: 72 Pencils Total (6 packs of 12 count pencils)Dixon Ticonderoga Black Wood-Cased Black Writing No. 2 Soft Noir Pencils ,Holographic Design

My last tip is that  taking care of ourselves is essential!  Having a drawer somewhere in your classroom for some energy bars, chocolate, and other yummy but healthy snacks will help make those days at the beginning of the year easier.  You know that time of day when you need to stay another hour but lunch is gone and you just need a little something to keep going?  Sometimes there are unhealthy things in the teacher room calling my name...  That's when a nibble of organic dark chocolate, some nuts, or a Larabar hits the spot.  When you have a snack stash, it's there for you ready to go.

These are some products I have made to make my life easier for back to school.  These save my time and sanity during the first month of school, and I hope they help you too!  So learning letters and sounds is the first order of business in kindergarten.  There are many learning activities to help with this, but here are a few of my essentials:

These ABC Letter-Sound Picture cards help my students learn letter sounds and support us with many other learning activities.  We love to use these for games and sorting pictures by beginning sound.  They are also really helpful for making these little books:

This little book is so helpful for learning letters, sounds, and beginning reading strategies like pointing as you read.  Yay!  You can find it here: ABC Book!  Student made Emergent Reader.   Each day we learn a new letter and then students make a page for the book as a center activity.   Students can choose to draw a picture of something that they already know begins with the letter.  This reinforces a strong letter-sound association for him/her.  On letters that aren't yet known, the cards above come in handy for ideas to go in the book.  I have adults write the words so they are neat and legible.  This is the first book that goes into our book boxes and my little kinder students feel so successful reading it!

This is how I teach the letters to my students.   Each day we add to this Kinesthetic Alphabet chant with a new letter and then students make a page in their books for that letter.  The book above comes with a version to match this alphabet chant where kids can just color in the picture.  But, for kinder students I recommend giving them the choice about what to draw (for reasons above) as long as it begins with the right letter.


So... doing a kinesthetic alphabet chant is nothing new.  I have been doing my own version of this in one way or another since my very first year of teaching...  um...  20 years ago. (yikes!)  But, I have tweaked it over time and continue to teach letters this way because it WORKS!  It is visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.  It takes less than ten minutes to do the whole chant once it has been learned.  I also have a visual reference with these same letter characters on my wall, and on my alphabet charts that are always out for students when we are writing.  I also use these charts in my guided reading groups to review letters and sounds as needed.  They are ESSENTIAL!  and FREE!

You can grab them in my TpT store right here:  Alphabet Chart for Students  It also comes with a bonus blends and digraph chart too!

I copy them on colored paper and laminate them.  I put a word wall chart on the back with high frequency words needed for writing.  I hope these are a big help to you this year!

Hop on over to my friend Cristina Mc Crone over at Primary Besties:  Back to School Essentials #kinderfriends

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Books about Bugs and a FREEBIE too!

Hi there, I am thrilled to be joining my #kinderfriends for another great blog hop!  We are sharing some of our favorite books for the classroom.  The books I'm sharing today are all about bugs.  I always end my school year with a big unit on insects and these are some of my must have books on the topic.  I also have a great FREEBIE for you, so keep reading to go grab it.

 

Bugs for Lunch is written by Margery Facklam and illustrated by Sylvia Long.  I love this book because it introduces the concept of predators who eat insects.  It has wonderfully written rhyming text just right for young children.  The detailed illustrations are realistic and easy to understand for the little learners who will be looking at each page.  It has a section in the back of the book with more information about each of the predators including humans with some of the countries and cultures where people eat bugs.  You can go grab this book at Amazon by clicking on the image above.  If you purchase this book through my link, I will recieve a tiny commission for sending you there.  Thanks!  (This is true for any of the links to Amazon on this post or anywhere on my blog.)  All the book images on this post should take you to Amazon so you can get the book.

The Backyard Books series by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries are MUST HAVES for a unit on insects.  I alternate the focus of my unit each year between butterflies, ladybugs, and honeybees.  I have one of these books for each of those insects.  You can also find these books for ants, dragonflies, snails, and spiders.  This book, Are you a Butterfly?  takes your class through the journey of a butterfly's life cycle in a fun and conversational way.  It is loaded with information including food, molting, growth, and also has a section at the end with more interesting facts.  The illustrations are incredible and depict many important concepts you will be teaching your students if you do a unit on insects.  You can grab this over at Amazon by clicking on the image above.

 
Beetle Bop is by Caldecott Honor winning author and illustrator, Denise Fleming.  This book is so much fun!  Her colorful, vibrant illustrations and energetic, rhyming text will keep your little students engaged as you enjoy a variety of examples from the largest group of insects - beetles.  My kiddos were interested to learn that ladybugs are part of the beetle family and we discussed that they are actually named ladybird beetles.  This book is perfect for pre-k and kindergarten students!  There are lots of language lessons you could connect with this book.  It also makes a great five minute filler when you just need something quick. 

Do you know these books written by Dianna Hutts Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long?  I absolutely adore them.  I own every single one they have created and my kiddos love them too!  A Butterfly Is Patient is a non-fiction introduction into the world of butterflies that covers a variety of interesting concepts.  The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and they will delight your little entomologist's minds.  I consider this book a treasure and I can't recommend it enough.  If you teach a unit on insects or butterflies, you need this book in your collection.  It touches on life cycle, pollination,  protection from predators, food, size (smallest and largest), wing scales, comparison to moths, and migration.  You may also want to check out some of the other titles by this dynamic duo.  My other favorites include A Seed is Sleepy and An Egg is Quiet. 

After reading an awesome non-fiction book, I like to  record some of the information my students remember or find interesting.  This year we used a tree map to do that.  We recorded information after reading A Butterfly is Patient and Are You a Butterfly.  The check marks on the chart show when a second or third child contributes an idea that has already been recorded.  The tree map becomes a handy reference in the classroom during our unit.  This chart is blank and laminated so I can use it for any topic we are studying.  I use Vis-a-vis wet erase markers to record our ideas.  Then when we are done with our topic, I just wipe it down and tuck it away until we need it again.  That's a little time saver for charts you know you will use over and over. 

I also want to share a fun art project you can do with your students to make the butterfly life cycle come to life for them.  We made caterpillars using egg cartons cut down to four sections.  First my students painted them and then we decorated them another day.  The caterpillars were up on our flower garden bulletin board for several days.  Then, when our live classroom caterpillars went into chrysalises, each of my little students wrapped their egg carton caterpillar into a butcher paper chrysalis.  Then we hung those back on our bulletin board.  Meanwhile, I also had my students paint a set of wings that were perfectly sized for the egg cartons.  I framed this painting activity as a lesson on symmetry and didn't mention that the wings were for our caterpillars.  The kiddos only painted one side of the wings and folded them in half to paint the other side.  If you do that with your students, make sure they use LOTS of paint.

This is the bulletin board with the chrysalises hanging in the garden:

Then...

this is the sneaky part...

on the Friday afternoon before our open house, I take the caterpillars out of the paper chrysalises and glue the wings onto the caterpillars.  I come back in on Sunday, when they are dry, and gently fold the wings around each body as I tuck it back inside the chrysalis and tape it back together.  They go back on the bulletin board so that my little learners don't suspect a thing.  Each student gets to open up his or her chrysalis during open house and discover that the caterpillar grew wings inside!  This project is a bit of a time investment for the teacher, but the payback in joy for children is so worth it. ( It makes parents really happy too.)

Here is another one up close:

Her rainbow striped wings match her rainbow caterpillar perfectly!  I think she knew what the wings were for...     I usually put the butterflies back up on the bulletin board for another week before I send them home.  Here it is:

 

OK, this is my last book recommendation for you about bugs.  I Wish I Were a Butterfly by James Howe and Ed Young is a fictional story about the littlest cricket at Swampswallow Pond.  The cricket is desperately unhappy because he has taken a criticism to heart and believes he is ugly.  He whines "I wish I were a butterfly" on just about every page of this classic tale.  After lots of great advice from other bugs at the pond, it finally takes a long talk with a dear old spider friend to make him realize that being special is about much more than outside beauty.  The story ends with a fantastic realization as a butterfly hears the cricket's beautiful music and declares "I wish I were a cricket"  leaving young readers to infer how that made the littlest cricket feel and what he might have said next.  The almost abstract illustrations by Ed Young are truly extraordinary and create a pond environment from a bug's perspective that will inspire a young child's imagination.  I adore this book and read it to my class every year.  I would read it even if I didn't do an insect unit.  It's a great story with a good message.  

And finally... here is your freebie!  This story map page can be used in many ways.  Here you can see we used it as a way to record the setting, characters, and plot from the story above.  I have my students do this as a small group activity with an adult to do the labeling and dictation.  It is a great way to check comprehension and extend learning about any piece of fiction.  Students can also use it as a map for their own story writing.  Here is another by one of my little students:

 

And here is what the blank looks like.  The section in the upper right hand corner is blank so that you can write in the title and author/illustrator of the book you are using before you make copies.  I hope this is helpful to you and your students!  You can go grab this in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Just click on the link below the story map to go get it.

 Story Map FREEBIE by Katie Byrd

There are lots more great books and ideas from the #kinderfriends.  Keep hopping along and go visit my friend Robin over at Class of Kinders.  Just click on the link below her picture.

 Class of Kinders - Book Bash Blog Hop

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy teaching!