Professional Development Books for Kindergarten Teachers

I love to keep an Amazon wishlist throughout the year of professional development books that I hear other teachers recommend. I try to read at least one book during the summer when I have the time to sit down with some coffee and really soak in the new knowledge.

What to Plan During Your Summer Break

I usually try to pick an area of my teaching that I want to improve and look for professional development books that offer new ideas and challenge my thinking in that subject. Below is a list of some of my favorite reads over the years. If you’re looking to grow over the summer, this is the place to start!

Subject-Based Books

The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading – Basically the bible of guided reading. Everything is laid out in clear and easy steps. It’s a must-read for all kindergarten teachers!

Making Sense of Phonics – As kindergarten teachers, we are knee-deep in phonics skills daily. Even if you’ve been teaching for a while, this book provides a deep dive into why we teach phonics the way we do. It also has some great phonics lists in the back of the book, perfect for word ladders and guided reading sorts.

Reading Magic – If you are thinking of redesigning your classroom library, this is the book for you. It’s all about helping students develop a love of reading and letting them do so naturally. I’ve actually lent this book to a few parents who were overly stressed about their child becoming a perfect reader in kindergarten.

Math Work Stations – Looking to make the switch to guided math centers instead of whole group instruction? This book will give you some great ideas for centers that don’t cost much but intentionally build your students’ number sense.

Number Talks – Common Core standards in kindergarten expect students to develop a deep knowledge of numbers and how they are represented. In kindergarten, we lay a firm foundation that teachers in other grades can build upon. This book offers ideas for daily number talks to help you develop those skills.

Behavior Professional Development Books

How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen – This book offers practical solutions to common behavior issues. It is written with parents in mind, but teachers of young children can definitely benefit as well!

The Whole-Brain Child – This book helps you understand the developmental stages of each child. It explains how you can nurture healthy brain development. Essential for kindergarten teachers as our students can’t always clearly express how they’re feeling or what caused certain reactions.

No-Drama Discipline – Written by the same authors as The Whole-Brain Child, this book delves into how to set up a discipline strategy with whole-brain teaching in mind.

Kids 1st From Day 1 – The focus of this book is building relationships with your students and connecting with them on the very first day of school. It gives practical classroom design and routine suggestions to help you get there!

Grit – Grit is a fantastic book to read not just for teaching strategies, but also for personal growth. I think what I gained most from this book was how to talk to my students about the benefits of perseverance. The author also has a great TED Talk if you are interested in watching it.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Like Grit, this book is also fantastic for personal growth. It definitely changed the way I spoke to students about their successes and failures. If you want to incorporate a growth mindset in your class, this is the book to read!

Classroom Organization Professional Development Books

The Morning Meeting Book – Simple strategies to make the most out of your morning meetings. If you are looking to revamp this time in your schedule, start here!

Doing Language Arts in Morning Meeting – Clear and simple ideas to increase language arts learning during your morning meetings. They also have math and science versions of this book!

The First Six Weeks of School – Perfect for 1st-year teachers or veteran teachers who are changing grades. This book offers a lot of practical advice on structuring your days at the beginning of the year and teaching routines that will last.

Choice Time – This is the book I am currently reading! I feel like we’re beginning to see a swing back to play-based centers that are obviously more developmentally appropriate. This book gives some great ideas for exploratory centers that also hit all the standards!

Purposeful Play – Much like Choice Time, this book focuses on letting children explore and learn through play. Both of these books give great reasoning as to why this should be the norm in kindergarten, and how you can explain that to the admin!

Diving Into the Science of Reading

If you are just starting to look into the science of reading and want some practical advice about how you can transition reading instruction in your classroom, you should check out the following books.

Shifting the Balance – This book is a great place to start if you want to see how balanced literacy can be shifted into the science of reading. This book makes the science of reading seem less daunting!

How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction – Looking to change up your small group reading instruction to align with the science of reading? This is the book for you!

Equipped for Reading Success – This book dives a little deeper into orthographic mapping. It gives you quick strategies to help grow your students’ phonemic awareness.

School Leader Books

Before I became the vice-principal at my school, the position was always filled by middle school teachers. (I worked in a Pre-K-8 school) There is obviously value in having administrators in the upper grades. It’s also imperative to have leaders in the lower grades where the basic foundation of learning is taught!

By the time students were in 8th grade, I had already had almost a decade-long relationship with some of them, and that was invaluable in so many ways!

These professional development books are great for administration, hosting a student teacher, or if you are just interested in being a valuable asset to your team. These books will help you gain a campus-wide perspective that can help move your school forward.

Move Your Bus – Not every teacher is a go-getter, but that doesn’t mean they’re not valuable. This book gives ideas on how to get the most out of all your teachers. Regardless of their level of passion or drive.

The Art of Coaching: This book is wonderful for anyone who coaches peers or has a student-teacher. I would presume that most of us aren’t great at giving feedback, especially if it’s negative. This book helps you to improve your feedback and communication skills to help those around you grow.

The Book Whisperer – This book has many great ideas for building a love of reading; all grades should read it together. It raises many great points about how an entire campus can work together to instill a love of reading. (while increasing reading skills and scores at the same time)

Alright, that’s the end of my long list. I told you I like to read professional development books! LOL Do you have any professional development books you love? I always love learning about new must-read resources! If you have any thoughts, please leave them in the comments below!