I always like to start off a new school year reading a fun picture book to each class.  I think it’s important to set the tone, and show them the power of a good story.  As a result, I’m always on the lookout for great books to read for the beginning of the year.  I found some really fun ones to read this year that I thought I’d share!

For my 5th graders, I read the story What the Dinosaurs Did At School by Refe and Susan Tuma.  This is a sequel to their first story What the Dinosaurs Did At Home.  This kids get such a kick out of the crazy antics that the dinosaurs do to avoid going into the “drawer of no return!”  Each page has so many funny things to look at, and I always have them guess which part of the picture is my favorite.  We ended up talking about the possibility of them creating their own versions using their own toys at home.   I may even surprise them and have them help me create our own version of “What the Stuffed Book Characters Did at the Library”!

For my 4th graders, I read the story Milk Goes to School by Terry Border.  I like to read this to our 4th graders because we have a huge emphasis on writing in 4th grade here in Texas.  I love the puns throughout the book, and it’s fun to watch the understanding come over the kids! Once again, we end up talking about the possibility of them creating their own versions of the book using things they have at home. I have a feeling I’m going to be giving a lot of time to the kids to explore creating animation this year!

For my 3rd graders, I read the story Don’t Let a Ghost Borrow Your Library Book by Terry Border.  The kids always giggle at the different VOG rules (Very Official Guidelines) on book care and the crazy scenarios that come up. I love the short pop quiz that appears in the book, and the kids love seeing the crazy situations with aliens, ghosts, and vampires!

For my 2nd graders, I read the story If You Ever Want To Bring a Circus to the Library by Elise Parsley.  We absolutely LOVE her books, and if you haven’t heard of them, you definitely need to check out her other books: If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to SchoolDon’t! and  If You Ever Want to Bring a Piano to the Beach, Don’t!   She has a new one coming out in October that we can’t wait to read called If You Ever Want to Bring a Pirate to Meet Santa, Don’t!   Kids love the little girl, Magnolia, and are always giggling at her expressions throughout the books!

For my 1st graders, I read the story Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar by Emily MacKenzie.  This is such a cute story about a rabbit who instead of dreaming about carrots, dreams about books!  So much so, that he ends up breaking into houses just to read their books! Thanks to his friend Arthur, Ralfy is introduced to libraries where he can read all kinds of books without having to resort to a life of crime!

For my Kinder students, I couldn’t resist reading them the story We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by H. C. Higgins.  This is my NEW FAVORITE BOOK, and I know your kids are going to LOVE it too!  Penelope Rex is a little nervous about starting school, especially when she sees that her classmates are all tasty HUMANS!  Unfortunately, she doesn’t make a very good first impression by eating her classmates!  My kids giggled each time we turned the page, but the ending was what really got us going! 

If you have any other good suggestions for books to read at the start of school, I’d love to hear your ideas!