First Week of School: Purposeful Mentor Texts

I love a good read aloud!

The first week of school is a time to build relationships and become a class family, learn and practice routines and expectations, and hopefully have some fun in the process.  Of course you have to figure out what works well for your own classroom, but these activities help me to fulfill many purposes at once.  I wanted to take today and share what I read to the kids the first week of school.  

I love to use picture books for a specific purpose.  The kids learn that about me right away in a new school year.  Here are my favorites - Links go to Amazon, not an affiliate link.

*7 Habits of Happy Kids - 

I read one per day the first 2 weeks of school, short stories that teach about responsibility, organization, priorities, friendships, etc. and we do short activities after each.

*The Important Book -

I read this in the afternoon of the first day and they do an art project from Teaching in Room 6 that describes themselves.  They trace their arms and write characteristics inside, then I display those arms on a year long bulletin board.

*The Golden Rule - 

It's our first Mentor Sentence book, but also a good reminder to treat people the way they want to be treated.  

*Juice Box Bully - 

This book is great to help build character.  We make a class promise (Idea from Head Over Heels for Teaching) after reading the book and display it by our arms.

*Do Unto Otters - 

This book is great to read right before you brainstorm your rules for the year.  It talks about the importance of manners, and the kids easily can brainstorm how they want their classroom to look like and sound like.  

*What Do You Do With a Chance -

This book is great to read for a growth mindset message.  We read it and then do a growth mindset challenge, then we watch the Growth Mindset Yoda video.  

*The Dot - 

This book is great to get their creative juices flowing.  It's also great to talk about expectations, how we don't just do the basic, we push ourselves to do our best.  It talks about growth mindset, leaving a mark. We do the Dot project that's in the book after reading.

*What Do Teachers Do After You Leave School? -

This book is a fun one to use as a kickoff to have the kids learn more about you.

Yep, tons of books that first week of school.  A lot of great discussions come from them and I wouldn't change that for anything.  This post was getting pretty long, so I'll come back another time and write more about the other activities we do.  

Hope this helps!