Children's Books

[clarabelle]

Kevin Henkes books
Particularly Lillys Purple Plastic Purse
and Chrysanthamum

 

[SRUAlmn]

Just looked up a bunch on amazon.com. Some that I have never heard of and they look great! Saffron, thanks for the little teacher tips next to Pigeons and Peanut Butter Rhino. Never heard of either, and it looks like the kids would LOVE them

 

[VampHeartless]

Any thing that's won a John Newbury award is usally great. My personal favorite is Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson.

 

[kadaten]

Oh, I thought of another one (I don't think anyone said it yet.)
'The tenth good thing about Barney' by Judith Viorst- Love her!

I don't think I'd be able to ask the parents to bring in any since this school is in a very low socioeconomic area. I LOVE children's lit. and took a few classes in college which were required for the ed. department. I have quite a few already, but some of the ones you all have mentioned I had forgotten about. Thanks Keep 'em coming!!!


Lisa L and Marseeya, PMs coming your way!

Karen, where will you be teaching?
I did my student teaching at Angel Oak Elementary out on John's Island It seems like forever ago...wait...it was! That was 10 years ago!

 

[sjh801]

I agree with so many of the books listed. And I recommend a new copy of The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. I just bought my third copy. He has good suggestions. It's a great resource.

As for getting books for your classroom, once you begin teaching, think about doing the book clubs (Scholastic SeeSaw, Trumpet, etc). The bonus points add up and you can get lots of your books free that way. And remember, purchases for your classroom can be used as deductions on income tax if you itemize. We teachers do spend a lot of our own money.

Good Luck! By the way, I know Slippery Rock. It's 45 minutes from here. I'm a Clarion alumnus. And I have had student teachers from Slippery Rock. Yes everybody, it is a real place.

 

[SRUAlmn]

I agree with so many of the books listed. And I recommend a new copy of The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. I just bought my third copy. He has good suggestions. It's a great resource.

As for getting books for your classroom, once you begin teaching, think about doing the book clubs (Scholastic SeeSaw, Trumpet, etc). The bonus points add up and you can get lots of your books free that way. And remember, purchases for your classroom can be used as deductions on income tax if you itemize. We teachers do spend a lot of our own money.

Good Luck! By the way, I know Slippery Rock. It's 45 minutes from here. I'm a Clarion alumnus. And I have had student teachers from Slippery Rock. Yes everybody, it is a real place.

Hahahaha! The tag fairy decided to give me that little tag That's cool that you went to Clarion. I actually grew up in SR and met my fiance when he came out there to go to school. My mom & sister still live there


Kadaten:
No definite job yet. I'm waiting to hear from 2 North Charleston schools about Kindergarten jobs. I was offered one that I turned down, and I'm still waiting to hear about the other 2. The one I want more than the other and it seems promising so keep your fingers crossed I got here too late to get anything in Mt. P, but I really wanted Kindergarten so I'm excited at the prospect. It's going to be weird starting so late after school started, but I really like the fact that schools around here realize that class size is important and they open more classes to reduce large classes.

 

[kadaten]

Pixie Dust! Pixie Dust! Pixie Dust!
Here's hoping you get the VERY one you're hoping for!

Charleston is such a great area....I'm sure you guys are going to love it there!

 

[SRUAlmn]

Pixie Dust! Pixie Dust! Pixie Dust!
Here's hoping you get the VERY one you're hoping for!

Charleston is such a great area....I'm sure you guys are going to love it there!

Thanks Keep that pixie dust coming and I'll keep everyone posted. I should know for sure by the end of this week.

 

[Kermit]

My kids are little (1 and 2), but they love books. So far their favorites are:

Winnie the Pooh stories (esp. the chapter in which Pooh goes visiting and gets stuck in a tight place)
Go, Dog. Go!
Hop on Pop
Boxes, Boxes Everywhere
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
If You Give a Pig a Pancake (my 13 month old picks this one up and says, "Gake-gake! Gake-gake!")
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

 

[DVCLiz]

I enjoy:

Mary Poppins (like, duh)
My Brother Sam Is Dead
the BLoody Country
To Kill A Mockingbird

All great titles, but probably not for a kindergarten class!!!!

Also, to the poster who suggested the Newbery books, they are also mostly for older kids. The Caldecott Medal, given for illustration, is probably where more of the kindergarten favorites will come from ( Make Way for Ducklings, Where the Wild Things Are, etc.)

And "The Tenth Good Thing About Barney" is a great book, but we recommended it for kids who had just been through the death of a pet, so you may want to make sure you don't have too many tender-hearts, or you'll find yourself with a class of bawling kindergarteners!!!!!!

 

[Albertan mom]

My faves:

I Love You Stinkyface
I Miss You Stinkyface
Merry Christmas Stinkyface-Lisa McCourt

Just in Case you Ever Wonder-Max Lucado

Let me Hold You Longer-Karen Kingsbury

Adam,Adam, What do You See?-Bill Martin Jr.

All Robert Munsch books-he is the best!

 

[etwinchester]

Another vote for:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Giving Tree
Bernstein Bear Books (DD loves them all)
Curious George (my favorite)

 

[SRUAlmn]

All great titles, but probably not for a kindergarten class!!!!

Also, to the poster who suggested the Newbery books, they are also mostly for older kids. The Caldecott Medal, given for illustration, is probably where more of the kindergarten favorites will come from ( Make Way for Ducklings, Where the Wild Things Are, etc.)

And "The Tenth Good Thing About Barney" is a great book, but we recommended it for kids who had just been through the death of a pet, so you may want to make sure you don't have too many tender-hearts, or you'll find yourself with a class of bawling kindergarteners!!!!!!

Oh, I know. Thanks, though. I like to keep it on hand in case anyone goes through that. Just in one year of teaching pre-k I had 3 kids lose a pet

 

[DVCLiz]

Oh, I know. Thanks, though. I like to keep in on hand in case anyone goes through that. Just in one year of teaching pre-k I had 3 kids lose a pet

There was another good one we used to use - something about the big black dog who went into the woods, or something like that. Both much better than "The Fall of Freddie the Leaf", which I personally hated!!!

You'll be a great teacher!!!!!!

 

[SRUAlmn]

There was another good one we used to use - something about the big black dog who went into the woods, or something like that. Both much better than "The Fall of Freddie the Leaf", which I personally hated!!!

You'll be a great teacher!!!!!!

Thanks! A good teacher would have proofread that post. I like to keep IT on hand....

 

[Marseeya]

Good Luck! By the way, I know Slippery Rock. It's 45 minutes from here. I'm a Clarion alumnus. And I have had student teachers from Slippery Rock. Yes everybody, it is a real place.

Same here! I live about an hour and a half south of the Rock. Went to my very first rock concert there -- saw Donnie Iris. A very looooonnnnng, long time ago!

 

[Saffron]

You're welcome, Karen. Good luck with the perspective jobs! I'll be thinking about you next week, that's for sure!

I agree with sjh801! If you love children's books and want a library of your own as well as one for your classroom, Scholastic Book Clubs are the way to go!

I have my own personal children's book library. I switch out the books as the cirriculum changes ... bring home my books, take in new ones, but to be honest, I don't like to lend my books to the kids, I will sometimes, but I don't like it. LOL! I like nice, clean books. I hate to see the kids get into tugs of war with my books, use them as stepping stones, shove them in the book rack so half of the book gets torn, dog ear pages, turn the pages and bend them in half, break the bindings etc. I hate to see any books treated that way, but they're little kiddles, so I expect it to some degree - I just never expect to see a book go sailing across the room, over my head , but that's happened on occasion too. LOL! What I do now is ... if Scholastic is offering a book I want for my own library, I purchase the book through them (usually at a great price). That helps add to the bonus points for the class, then I use the bonus points to obtain a copy for our classroom. I love the Scholastic Clubs! Turn around from the time you mail the order, until you receive your books is about 2 weeks. Not bad.

I also buy a lot of books from closeoutbooks.com for the classroom's library. They may not have the best books, but for 35 cents each, I don't care if they get torn ... or thrown.

I purchase most my books through amazon.com and use the free shipping option as long as I'm not purchasing a book I need immediately. They used to be great ... turn around was less than a week, but I'm STILL waiting for my Sept. 7th order which was supposedly JUST shipped this past Wednesday.

Again, good luck! And check in with us to let us know which job you've accepted and all the details!

 

[mickey65]

My kindergarten students love the Jan Brett books (The Mitten and the Umbrella are 2 favourites)
Others include:

Kiss Kiss
Any Franklin book
Giggle, Giggle, Quack
Click, Clack, Moo cows That Type
10 Fat turkeys (which we just read in anticipation of the upcoming Thanksgiving...they also loved to dance like turkeys after reading this one!)

Where the Wild Thing Are

I get many of my books from Scholastic too. I also live near a Scholastic Warehouse and two times a year they have a 50% off sale for the teachers!

I wish you luck getting the job! Kindergarten is so much fun to teach! I absolutely love it!

 

[Saffron]

VAL! I keep checking this thread for books I may not have heard of. It's nice to see you!

Before I came back to this thread I ordered The Mitten and other picture books I need for January's cirriculum - that's what I did all day yesterday - lesson plans. Brett has a new one I saw in one of this month's Scholastic's clubs, I think it's called The Umbrella.

I love this thread! LOL!

 

[DVCLiz]

Since several of you have mentioned The Mitten, I remembered how I used to use this for preschool storytime. I orderd this set from some library supply company, but you could easily make it yourself with stuffed animals (Beanie baby size to begin with). We had a large knitted mitten, and as I told/read the story, I added another animal into the mitten. In the end, it was a huge stuffed mitten full of other stuffed animals. The kids LOVED to see them all fit in, particularly because I "acted" like it was getting harder and harder to find room. A real classic....