My Favorite Books to Launch the School Year

Hi Everybody!

I've been very busy visiting all my schools helping people get ready for the new school year. Everywhere I go I bring my suitcase full of my favorite books to read during the first month of school. 

I'm a little bit picky when it comes to these books. Just because it's a book about the first day of school, or it has kids reading and writing in it, it doesn't necessarily make it onto my list. Only my favorite books that I have read aloud to kids are on this list. There are lots of other wonderful books I could have added--I just haven't had a chance to read them to kids yet!

These books are arranged loosely in order of difficulty/maturity. Having said that, upper grade teachers and parents, don't be afraid to use the picture books! You might be surprised at the conversation that goes on!

Kindness and Friendship Picture Books:

Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae

It’s Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni

Swimmy by Leo Lionni

Ugly Fish by Kara LaReau

My Teacher is A Monster (No I Am Not!) by Peter Brown

Don’t Laugh At Me by Steve Seskin & Allen Shamblin

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon by Patty Lovell

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neill

My Best Friend by Mary Ann Rodman

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

One Green Apple by Eve Bunting

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

Kindness and Friendship Chapter Books:

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Counting by 7s by Hollly Goldberg Sloan

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

Overcoming Fear/Building Agency and Resilience Picture Books

Big Plans by Bob Shea

Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg

Ish by Peter Reynolds

The Dot by Peter Reyndolds

Courage by Bernard Waber

The Writerly Life:

Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon

David’s Drawings by Cathryn Falwell

Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills

The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli

Little Red Writing by Joan Holub

The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter

Max’s Words by Kate Banks

Nothing Every Happens on 90^th Street by Roni Schotter

The Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk

I’m in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor

Building a Reading Life:

Wild About Books by Marc Brown

We Are in A Book! By Mo Willems

How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills

How to Teach a Slug to Read by Susan Pearson

If I Were A Book by Jose Jorge Letria and Andre Letria

Bats at the Library by Brian Lies

Day 8 SoL Story Challenge: How to Tell a Realistic Fiction Story

Join hundreds of teachers and students as we practice our own writing by sharing a story from our lives each day in the month of March!

Readers, let me introduce you to my nephew, K. He's an awesome kid. Also, he loves to tell stories. Little L. and I are off to a birthday party today, so he took care of today's Slice of Life Story Challenge for us.

K. has a good feel for realistic fiction, don't you think? (Also, K. loves to draw, so that helps.)

Here are a few elements of realistic fiction that I notice in K.'s story, that you or your own kids or students might aim for in fiction storytelling:

* a realistic, believable character with strengths and weaknesses

* the character wants something, but something stands in the way ("The character wants…but…so… is a prompt I often use in the classroom for both reading and writing)

* the character tries and tries again to solve the problem

* usually the problem gets solved (though this is not always the case… there is such thing as a tragedy, you know)

Now here's K.'s older sister, my niece, M. She's just as awesome as K. She also tells a realistic fiction story. See if you can hear all the elements I listed above:

K. and M. did this within just a few minutes. If they can do it, you can do it! Try it now.

1. First, think of a character.

2. Now think of what they might want…. 

3. But… what stands in the way?

4. So… what do they do to get what they want?

This should get you started! Have fun storytelling!

Sing Your Thanks: Songs and Verses for Thanksgiving

When visiting my daughter's preschool for their Thanksgiving celebration, I was inspired to round up some songs for the season. Enjoy!

Giving Thanks

First we give thanks for the food that we've been given (hold one hand like a bowl and the other like a spoon; pretend to eat)

Then we give thanks for the houses that we live in. (Put hands, fingertips together, over head to represent a house)

And we give thanks for the sun that shines above (Point with finger to sky and look up)

But mostly we give thanks for the people that we love. (Cross hands on chest and rock back and forth slightly as if you are giving/receiving a hug.)

* Sung to the tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider)

The Earth Is Good To Me

Oh, the earth is good to me,
And so I thank the Earth,
For giving me the things I need
Like the sun and the rain and the apple seed,
The Earth is good to me.

For every seed I sow,
Their grows another tree,
And soon there’ll be apples there
For everyone in the world to share
The Earth is good to me

Earth who gives to us this food
Sun that makes it ripe and good
Dear Earth, Dear Sun, by you we live
To you our loving thanks we give.

For the food before us,
For the friends beside us,
For the love that surrounds us,
We are truly grateful.

This food is a gift from the earth, the sun, the rain, the
whole universe
It comes to us through the hard work of many people
May we live in such a way as to be worthy of it
May it give us energy to do the work of love

From you I receive, to you I give
Together we share, and from this we live

Nature's Thanks

The eagle give thanks for the mountains

The fish give thanks for the sea.

We give thanks for the goodness

And for what we're about to receive.

(arms like wings, then become mountain peaks)

(hands together like swimming fish, then wave motion)

(arms raised in front like receiving something being passed down from a height)

(arms lowering, hands like they are holding something)

* spoken

Things I'm Thankful For

There are many things I am thankful for
I can find them near and far
There are many things I am thankful for
Let me tell you what they are

I'm thankful for the earth
I'm thankful for the sea
I'm thankful for my friends
And I'm thankful to be me.

There are many things I am thankful for
I can find them near and far
There are many things I am thankful for
Let me tell you what they are

I'm thankful for the sun
I'm thankful for each tree
I'm thankful for my home
And I'm thankful to be me

There are many things I am thankful for
I can find them near and far
There are many things I am thankful for
Let me tell you what they are

I'm thankful for my food
I'm thankful to be free
I'm thankful for the stars
And I'm thankful to be me
* Song by Hap Palmer, from the album Holiday Magic

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

It's Little L.'s second year at her preschool, and she's lucky to have a handful of the same friends from last year in her class again this year. I am so excited and proud to see her really come out of her shell at school, playing and laughing and telling me all about her friends when she comes home.

But... there is just one thing.

L. doesn't really want to play with the new kids. In fact, sometimes, she can even be a little bit mean to them. Especially during "outdoor time" (that's what they call it at her school) on the playground.

Sigh.

So we've been having many, many, many discussions at home about being kind, making new friends, and thinking about how others might feel. And of course, we've been reading lots of books to help Little L. understand how her words and actions can hurt -- or help -- others.

Here are a two of the many wonderful stories that are really helping L. make sense of what's going on during outdoor time. Thankfully, her teachers have been telling us that she's already thinking more about others, and now will even remind other kids to be a good friend.

The Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill, illustrated by Laura Huliska-Beith

This book, The Recess Queen,  really hit home. At four years old, Little. L. can totally relate to both "Mean Jean" and Katie Sue and the other kids in the story. We've read and reread this book many times on L.'s request. She's really into it.  Here are some of the ways we've talked about this book:

We try to put ourselves in the character's shoes. I asked L. one night, "Why do you think Jean might act so mean?""Maybe she doesn't know how to make friends yet," L. said. "Maybe she doesn't know that the other kids are sad."

We think about all of the characters, not just the main character. We talk a lot about how the other kids in the story feel, but we also talk about what they might have done differently. "It says nobody ever dared played with Jean. What do you think about that?" I asked L. and she said, "The other kids could be like Katie Sue and ask her to play--then she might not be so mean."

We talk about different ways to figure out how characters in books, and people in real life, are feeling. I asked L., "It seems like Mean Jean doesn't know that the other kids are sad. How would she know that she's making them feel bad?" L. responded, "She should look at their faces," or "Maybe she should ask them 'How are you feeling?'" 

The big thing we talk about is that it's important to try to think about how other people feel. Look at their faces, ask them questions, talk to them, invite them to play.

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell, illustrated by David Catrow

Little L. relates to this book this just as much as The Recess Queen. We've probably read it ten or twenty times in the past week!

We use what we learned about one character to help us figure out another similar character. In this book, Ronald Durgin reminds L. of Mean Jean from The Recess Queen and we talk a lot about how they are similar and different. Especially we talk about why Ronald might act the way he does, and how maybe he feels a lot like Jean who nobody ever plays with.

We talk about how the character's actions are similar to real life experiences.  Ronald calls Molly Lou Melon a name, making this book the perfect spring board for talking about a name calling episode L. experienced at school. "What could Ronald have done differently?" "How do you think Molly Lou Melon feels when he says that?" leads right into, "How do you think Little E. felt when you called her a name?" "What could you have done differently?"

We talk about how characters change across the story, and what they might have learned along the way. Along the way in this book, the author repeats the line "and he felt very foolish..." L. asked about this one night. "What's foolish?" she asked. "It means he knows he did something wrong," was my response. "So why does he keep being mean to Molly Lou Melon?" L. asked. I had to think about it for a second. "Why do you think?" I asked L. She stopped to think about it too. "Maybe..." I said finally, actually having to really, truly, think about it, "...maybe, it takes some people lots of times to really learn something." Then on each subsequent page we stopped and talked, "Did he learn a lesson yet?" "Nope, not yet..." Next page. "Did he learn anything yet..." Nope, not yet. Then on the last page, it's so clear... Ronald finally learns how to be a friend, and isn't so foolish anymore.

We talk about why characters react the way they do.  In this book Molly Lou Melon always reacts very positively even when Ronald is being extremely mean to her. We talk a lot about why she's able to do that. "Some kids would be really sad if someone was mean to them. Why do you think Molly Lou Melon is still so happy and cheerful?" Little L. has to think about this, every time, even though we've had the same talk lots of time. But she always comes up with something along the lines of, "Because her grandma told her to stand tall."

With this book we talk a lot about how even though Ronald starts out as a bully, he's able to change, and if he can change, then anybody can. And thank goodness for grandmas!

Has your child ever had trouble on the playground? What books do you recommend? Leave a comment and share the love!

Songs to Sing About Peace and Love

Baby L. loves it when Daddy B. and I sing to her, so naturally we sing all kinds of songs: counting songs, alphabet songs, silly songs, animal songs, and sweet soft lullabies, just to name a few.

Our favorite songs of all are the ones that carry a little meaning - but are still really easy to learn and remember. Here's our gift to you: Ten easy-to-remember songs to get you thinking (and singing) about peace on earth with your little one. To hear each song, just click on the titles!

Peace Like A River by Elizabeth Mitchell: Elizabeth Mitchell is our favorite children's artist to listen to in our house. Check her out and you'll see why! On her website you can listen to songs, and even download a songbook so that you can sing along.

We Shall Overcome, Pete Seeger's version: Baby L.'s favorite civil rights anthem, along with This Little Light of Mine. Still appropriate today, don't you think?

Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles: When I taught fifth grade, this was one of my students' favorite songs to study. Kids love the Beatles (and so do I!). More recently, this has become one of my favorite songs to sing to Baby L. - it makes a great lullaby!

Imagine by John Lennon: Need I explain? Of course this song is on our list of favorite peace songs!

Give Peace a Chance by John Lennon: Yes, I realize this is the third Beatles/Lennon song on the list. So what?

We Are the World: When I was a kid, we did the "Hands Across America" thing at my school. Remember that? Around the same time, we all learned We Are the World. The video is awesome.

From a Distance by Better Midler: Cheesy, I know, but kids still dig it!

Where Have All the Flowers Gone? by Peter, Paul and Mary: To this day, I have my elementary school teachers to thank for all the Peter, Paul and Mary songs I know like Puff the Magic Dragon, Leaving on a Jetplane, and this one.

With My Own Two Hands by Ben Harper & Jack Johnson: Some of the first graders I taught didn't even know that there were Curious George books-- they had only seen the movie! But along with the movie came a really good children's album - so we have that to be thankful for.

What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong: These days, when I do workshops for teachers, I often use What A Wonderful World as an example, because everyone loves this song, no matter how young or old. Even adults will sing along to this song-- and that's saying something.

As a teacher, I always used songs throughout the day, especially for what we teachers call "shared reading," to study how words and language work and to spark conversation. Singing not only helps babies and children develop phonemic awareness, but the songs we sing also introduce new vocabulary and ideas. For more songs about peace and love, try these resources: Culture of Peace, Spinner, and Rolling Stone.