Back to School Read-Alouds Your Students Will Love

Finding back to school read-alouds can be a little bit challenging. Some students are still learning how to sit quietly on the rug, and students’ attention spans are short. I’ve compiled a list of my go-to back to school read-alouds that your students will love!

I read soooo many books to my students during the first week of school. I have them all lined up by my rocking chair, and I can pick and choose what I need at a moment’s notice.

The first two weeks of the school year follow a typical pattern:

• 1 – Teach a procedure
• 2 – Complete an assessment activity (scissor skills, pencil grip, coloring, etc.)
• 3 – Read a book together on the carpet
• Repeat steps 1-3

I LOVE reading to my students, but the time spent doing so at the beginning of the year serves other purposes as well. I’m keeping a close eye on the following things:

• Which students have the attention span to listen to a whole story without moving around?
• Do students have personal space awareness and keep their hands to themselves?
• Which books does this particular class find the most interesting (helps to inform future read-aloud choices and purchases)
• Which students understand story sequencing?
• Who can answer comprehension questions about the text?
• Can they make connections to their own life through the text?
• Who understands the need to raise their hand when making a comment or asking a question?

Books About Back to School

The first books I read were about feelings about school. We discussed how we felt preparing for and arriving on the first day. We talk about how it’s okay to be nervous, excited, or scared when doing something new. These are my favorite school-related read-alouds:

• Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten
• Miss Malarkey Doesn’t Live in Room 10
• The Night Before Kindergarten
• The Invisible String
• First Day Jitters
• Wemberly Worried
• The Pigeon Has to Go to School
• Tomorrow I’ll be Brave
• Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes
• David Goes to School

Books About Back to School Behavior

These books often change based on the students’ behaviors during the first couple of days. As a general rule, I would say that remembering to raise hands when speaking and staying inside your own personal space are always topics that need to be covered in depth in the first week.

• Personal Space Camp
• Interrupting Chicken
• Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker
• We Don’t Eat Our Classmates
• My Teacher is a Monster
• The Paper With No Name

Don’t forget to check out this blog post I did with some Lacey Walker freebies: First Week of School Lesson Plans – Lacey Walker Nonstop Talker

Books About Friendship

Many times, students come in on the first day fearful that they won’t meet any new friends. I believe that it is absolutely crucial to teach them HOW to make new friends. They need to learn to look at each other with an open mind, to start a conversation with someone new, and to respond to an invitation to play. Here are some of my favorite first-week friendship books:

• The Sandwich Swap
• The Crayon Box that Talked
• Huggapotamus (which also talks about personal space)
• The Name Jar
• Our Class is a Family
• Stick and Stone

These are some of my absolute favorites! Comment below and let me know which book is your favorite back-to-school read-aloud!

Check out my other blog posts on back to school organization:

• Back to School Bulletin Boards
• Back to School Procedures Checklist
• First Week of School Lesson Plans – Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Here are some back-to-school resources that might make planning a little easier as you try to navigate that hectic beginning of the school year season!