Encourage your Young Readers

BUILDING YOUR CLASSROOM COMMUNITY SHOULD COME FIRST

We all put in hard work to establish classroom community and character building. How many of you use picture books in your classrooms for this? These are a great way to teach LIFE skills, and it is up to us to give our students access to these stories!  Below is a list of books I highly recommend. Some are new and some are older. Maybe one or two will speak to you and your class this year! Can't afford them all? Youtube it and play it for your classroom. 

—Community: Nimoshom and His Bus, You Held Me Up,  Blue Sky,

White Stars, Not Quite Narwhal, The Field.

—Identity:  Julian is a Mermaid, The Day You Begin, Beautiful, Cece loves Science,

I love My Purse (boy who gets made fun of and has a purse)

—Anxiety/Depression:  After the Fall, Small things (wordless picture book),

The Rough Patch (dog lover’s book), There Might Be Lobsters (underrated)

—Compassion/Empathy: Adrian Simcox Does Not have a Horse, I’m Sad, Teddy’s Favorite Toy,

Words and Your Heart, The Rabbit Listened, The Bad Seed (another book coming)

—Kindness:  I Walk With Vanessa(wordless picture book), Be Kind, Where Oliver Fits,

The Neighbor Kid, Albize Newton—that kid in your classroom that no one understands and impacts the other kids in a negative way,
The One Day House, Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers: Melissa Stewart (celebrating animal underdogs - NONFICTION)

—Acceptance & Inclusion:  Mixed: A Colorful Story (mixing colors in a segregated city),

All of Us, All Are Welcome (Aug 20) true story of a school that is super inclusive and diverse,
The Big Umbrella (doesn’t matter, umbrella is big enough for all), Strictly No Elephants (first day book)Emily Arrow video to go with,
Night Out

—Family:  Alma and how she got her name, Always Anjali,

Ocean meets Sky (pair w/ Drawn Together), Drawn Together,
Carried Away, Meet My Family (Family is Family is Family—paired with)

—Self-Concept:  Rainbow Weaver, Our Children Can Soar (different illustrator every page),

That Is My Dream (Langston Hughes poem), The Bad Seed,
Crown & Ode to the Fresh Cut (black barbershops), Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy (multiple illustrators),
My Hair is a Garden (how to take care of your hair), Hey Black Child

—Empowerment:  Don’t Touch My Hair, I am Enough, Rock What Ya Got, What If,

The Little Red Fort, Mae Among the Stars(Mae Jamison), Pearl

—Bravery:  Malala & the Magic Pencil, Brave, Rescue & Jessica, Off & Away, Jabari Jumps

—Cultural Awareness/Understanding:  Bow WOW & Pow wow, Dreamers, All Around Us ,

All the Way to Havana

—Activism & Social Justice:  Let the Children March, The Youngest Marchers,

The Rooster Who Would Not be Quiet, Here We Are

—Processing the World: The Breaking News, The Water Princess, Now,

Ten Cents a Pound, Her Right Foot

—Doing Right/Responsibility: We Don’t eat Our Classmates, Penelope the T-Rex,
Issa Gizmo, Shelter, When We Were Alone, Alfie, Hello, Hello

—Fun & Laughter & Surprises: The Itchy Book, Out, Festival of Colors, Dude!, Misunderstood Shark, Rapunzel, Creepy Pair of Underwear

Quick Tips As You Head Back to the Classroom

Become efficient with your time as your prepare to head back to the classroom using these quick tips.

Tip #1- Know the environment you need to stay productive. 

If you are like me, you need things quiet even though you crave a conversation with those you missed seeing all summer on staff. This means I stay home and do all computer things there. When I arrive at school I print and copy. 

Another tip is to close the door and place a sign on it that reads, “I apologize in advance but I suffer from being distracted so I closed my door to get stuff done.” 

Tip # 2- Have a to-Do list. I

 I have used both digital and pre-made forms or grocery lists for this. My FREE editable printable is attached HERE as a freebie for you. (Color and Black&White available)

I also use the app. “Any List” I love that this app has a share feature. 

I can share it with my husband so he knows I’m knocking out my list😜 rather than chatting with my colleagues all day. I also use this app for grocery lists or packing for trips! Give it a try for free!

Tip #3- Treat Yourself Well

Treating yourself well doesn’t mean you need to have fancy coffees and catered lunches. (However, sometimes a teachers has to do what a teacher has to do)  It simply means to manage your time so you can take care of you. For me this means breaking the stuff I have to do into manageable chunks so I do not have to make emergency drive through runs to McDonalds. However, I do still drink my Diet Coke 😜 Once the calendar flips to August, I have four weeks until school begins. I take my to do list tasks in 1-2 hour chunks 3 times those first two weeks of the month. Then I increase my time 1-2 weeks prior to school beginning by going 4 hours 3 times. By week one prior to the first day of school, I’m in full out school mode due to meetings and open house night. I tie up any loose ends this final week and work a normal work week. 

Tip #4- Limit Multi-tasking- Say what?

 Isn’t that the ongoing job of a teacher? It seems like a skill every modern worker is expected to possess, but countless studies show time and time again that multitasking can actually limit productivity. Granted, there are times when you’ll need to multitask, and to be honest, it doesn’t look good if you get flustered whilst trying to talk on the phone and perform another simple task simultaneously. So, where possible, focus on one thing at a time.

ALL ABOUT SHARKS

Who loves Sharks?? Maybe not swimming with them, but you love learning about them. 🙌 My children love sharks. 🦈 We recently took a trip to Sea World and we stayed by the shark exhibit for at least an hour.  Reading is something I want my kids to love, so I made an extra effort to pick a topic they LOVE and create organizers to help teach them what good readers do!

My kids will get to respond to what they learn by filling out some graphic organizers. I guess that's what happens when their mom is a teacher :)

Consider enriching their experience using informational text and organizers to show what they are learning! Check them out HERE

Teaching the Core Democratic Values

Any social studies class can apply the values: Life, Liberty, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Common Good, Justice, Equality, Diversity, Truth, Patriotism, and Popular Sovereignty.

This product includes:

Pennant Banner for bulletin board

Vocabulary Posters with each CDV (Color and B&W)

Vocabulary Puzzle pieces with CDV and kid friendly definition (Color and B & W)

Bookmarks in kid friendly terms (color and B&W)

Reading comprehension passages with questions