Here is a great list of books for the beginning of the school year. These titles, suggested by preschool teachers, will help you overcome first day anxiety, establish a classroom routine, and build a classroom community. Perfect for the first day or first week of school in preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten.
At the beginning of the school year many kids are nervous about starting school. It takes a bit of time for kids to adjust to the routine of the classroom. It also takes some time to establish a classroom community. Here are a bunch of books, suggested by early childhood educators, that will help you and your kids start the year off right.
In addition to these books, be sure to check out the ideas for class books….which are also great for the beginning of the year.
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1.The Night Before Preschool by Natasha Wing and Amy Wummer & The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing and Julie Durrell
2. Monsters Love School by Mike Austin
3. First Day Jitters by Julie Danneburg and Judy Love
4. Pete the Cat: Rockin in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin and James Dean
5. Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewicz
6. How Does a Dinosaur Go to School? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
7. The Pout Pout Fish Goes to School by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna
8. Maisy Goes to Preschool by Lucy Cousins
9. Mouse Goes to School by Kate Stone
10. Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes
11. Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney
12. Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson
13. Spaghetti on a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy and Kathy Hiatt
14. The Crayon Box That Talked by
15. Recess Queen by Laura Huliska-Beith and Alexis O’neill
16. Mine-o-saur by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
17. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
18. Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud and David Messing
19. David Goes to School by David Shannon
20. Howard B Wigglebottom Learns to Listen by Howard Binkow and Susan F. Cornelison
21. Too Much Glue by
Do you have a favorite book for the beginning of the school year? I would love to hear about it.
Check out these additional books for preschoolers.
Thanks for your feedback on the Henkes books, Laura. Lots of teachers like to read The Kissing Hand too, but many teachers find that too long as well. I LOVE Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! It has such a fun rhythm.
I try to go with the shorter, the better for the first day since we do our stories at the end of the day and the kids are pretty much finished functioning by that point. I see several good ones you listed, but I would save Kevin Henkes books for later since they are rather long for the first day of school.
I sometimes do Chicka Chicka Boom Boom since most kids are at least familiar with the alphabet, if not the book. I also like books like this one that you can read with a beat as well as just loving the line: Skit skat skoodle doot flip flop flee.