Back to School Read Alouds and Activities

In today’s blog post, I am going to share three of my favorite Back to School Read Alouds! I have also created very full resource packets to go with each of these books! You definitely will not run out of activities to fill your back to school lesson plans with these activity packets. Each packet contains over 20 pages of activities that you can add in to your first week of school lessons! Click the image to jump right to them!

I love this book! The school in the story is brand new and feeling nervous about meeting the students. The school befriends the janitor, and we get to read about how the first day went! It is a wonderful story for discussing all the different feelings we have during the first day of school or the back to school season!

I have created a packet of activities to accompany this book. The one in this picture is actually a freebie! Click the picture to get the free one. Click the picture above to get the entire packet. The packet includes activities for students the describe their school, graph how they got to school, write about how they feel on the first day, describe school jobs, make a classroom map, and more!

“The Name Jar” by Yangsook Choi is an adorable read aloud all about moving to a new school and learning to feel comfortable being yourself. The story is all about a young girl named Unhei. She is struggling with confidence about her name in an American school. But she eventually learns to embrace her culture and her new friends!

This packet includes crafts, graphic organizers, and many activities celebrating our uniqueness! I love this “Let’s Collect Names” activity! Students will practice writing their classmates’ names in the jar! Click the picture to get this packet now!

Talk about the cutest book ever! “Peanut Butter and Cupcake” by Terry Border is a story about Peanut Butter seeking out a new friend! Peanut Butter meets lots of different characters throughout the story and learns many lessons about friendship!

Setting up your classroom community at the beginning of the year is so important! Through the use of back to school read alouds, you can start incorporating the values you want in the classroom! “Peanut Butter and Cupcake” is a perfect book for fostering friendship! Use this packet to help! Click any picture to grab it!