A great back to school read aloud are a must for any elementary classroom. In fact, I’d argue a great back to school read aloud is a must for any aged classroom. A read aloud naturally builds classroom community by giving all the students a shared experience. Picture books can be use to teach all kinds of lessons during the essential first week of school. These lessons focus around friendship, being a part of a classroom family, important reading behaviors, and self identity.
In this post, I’ll walk you through my top five favorite books to use for a back to school read aloud. I’ll also give you ideas about how to build community while simultaneously building our first bulletin board together (because Lord knows I hate making bulletin boards!). Visit my instagram to see a picture of this welcome wall we created. It’s so fun to assemble the first week of school together!
Books for the first week of school
When picking your books for the first week of school, it’s important to preview your books ahead of time. Even though it is my 10th year of teaching, I still use sticky notes to write down the teaching points I want to make on certain pages. It is essential that the language you use during this first week of school is explicit and concise. Not only do I preview the books for the first week of school, I have a plan on how to use each of these books to build our first bulletin board together. Each book will build upon the previous book. Each book will also have a small craft or project that we do together after the read aloud. All these pieces and parts will come together for our first bulletin board display which I assemble at the end of the week.
Books to build classroom community
For my back to school read aloud I make sure each book chosen has 2 purposes. First, each child should feel seen as a unique and important individual. Second, each student should understand their vital role as a part of our classroom family. This balance of building the importance of the individual as well as their role in our classroom community will make the basis of our classroom environment for the school year.
Books for the first week of school
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Memoirs of a Goldfish- Day One
The first back to school read aloud I share every year is my favorite picture book of all times: Memoirs of a Goldfish. I use this story the very first day of school to discuss what it means to be apart of a classroom family.
If you are unfamiliar with the book it starts with the main character the goldfish happily swimming around his bowl. As the book progresses, more and more characters get added to his bowl and eventually the crowded chaotic environment causes our main character to snap. He gets his wish and ends up in a small glass by himself, but finds that he misses everyone. The book ends with him realizing he is part of a big special family.
We use these parallels to discuss our overcrowded classrooms- we have 29 third graders in each of the three classes I teach. Our classrooms are hot, over crowded, and full of personalities. We discuss how sometimes the environment can cause us to feel like we are going to lose our cool, but we are all part of this classroom family.
This is the only back to school read aloud that does not immediately have a craft or activity to do as a follow-up due to lack of time. Our first day back is always a half day and a read aloud is plenty for that short period of time together.
2. Alma – Name tag creation
The second back to school read aloud I share with the students is Alma. With Alma we focus on the importance of each of our names. In the story, the main character finds out the significance of her given name. After reading Alma and practicing some partner talking, each student receives a nameplate with their name on it. The name plates are printed in fun bubble letters ahead of time. You can use any fonts of TpT for this or if you want a free option the “Jokerman’ that comes in google docs is always a fun option! Students then color their name tags any way they want.
This is a low risk activity that allows an entry point for all students. There is no writing, cutting, for any sort of barrier to entry which allows a successful entry point for all students in your classroom, regardless of ability.
These nameplates are the first part of the bulletin board you are building. I take each nameplate, laminate them, and cut them out to about a half a page big. I use these nameplates in the hallway all year while changing out the writing beneath it. These nameplates then become the cover of their writing portfolios they take home at the end of the year.
3. The Skin you Live In- Hand Craft
The next back to school read aloud I share with the students is the The Skin You Live In. This is a beautiful story written in rhyme that discusses all the different colors of skin that people live in. At the end of the story, students create their own hand which we will use for the days to come. Offer many color options of skin shaded paper and allow them to pick one that they feel closely represents them.
We discuss how paper is not perfect and will not match each of us because we are all unique. However there are great packs available on amazon that have over 10 different shades so students can see how even if their skin is black or white, it may be a different shade than someone else who they consider the same as them. My favorite pack is linked here. It is a simple but powerful day. Students trace their hand on the paper and cut it out. Then save these for the next day.
4. I am Every Good Thing- Decorating your Hand
Building on the previous read aloud, I am Every Good Thing is another beautifully illustrated story showing students the power inside themselves. After reading the story, I pass the students hands back out to them. We practice partner talking again using sentence stems such as “I am _____.” Students then choose their favorite I am sentences to write on their hand. They are encouraged to decorate the remaining spaces in their hand with doodles of things that are important to them; items that represent them and their lives. These hands will go next to their name plates for the bulletin board you are building.
5. The Little Ouch- Ouch Stories
This is the last back to school read aloud before you are ready to create your bulletin board. The Little Ouch is about a girl that has to overcome her fear about getting a shot. I simultaneously use this story to launch the “Work on Writing” part of my reading centers. I loosely follow the daily 5 model, with many modifications, but use this structure as the stamina training basis for independence. This book launches students first stamina practice of working on writing.
When we are done reading “The Little Ouch” students pull out their work on writing journal for the first time. I have students brainstorm a time that they experience something that made them say “ouch!” This can be a fear, like in the story, or this can be something that happened to them like falling off their bike. Students then write their “Ouch stories” for as long as their stamina will allow- this usually is no more than 3-5 minutes as it is our first try.
After writing, I gather students back on the rug and have volunteers come up to the front to read their story. After each story is read I very DRAMATICALLY say, “ Oh my goodness, OUCH! That must have hurt so bad!” and put a Band-Aid on their hand. I do not tell the students why I am putting it on their hand. After about the 4th or 5th volunteer students start to giggle about my dramatic performance.
This leads us into a conversation about why I put each band aid on everyone’s hand, even if their story was about scraping their knee or getting stitches in their head or breaking their foot. We discuss how each person had an “ouch” but needed to be treated the same. This is a powerful way to show students that “fair is not always equal” and what one student needs in a classroom, might not be the same thing that the next student needs.
Then each student chooses a Band-Aid to put across the hand they created in the last two read alouds. These Band-Aids serve as a reminder. This bulletin board with the hands and band aids becomes a reminder during the first month of school. It is a great reference around conversations about why one student may need a different seat, why one student might get a different reward, and so on. Not all injuries are treated the same; not all students need the same thing to learn.
Empowering Education also writes about this lesson on their blog and provides some great question stems to enhance this lesson if you are looking for more. You can check that out here.
More best read alouds for 3rd grade back to school
There are so many other great back to school read alouds for third grade. Below are some other favorites I use in my third grade classroom for various lessons.
- What would Danny Do
- Linus
- Grumpy Monkey
- The Bad Seed
- We Don’t Eat our Classmates
- Molly Loo Melon
- The Day you Began
- A Letter from Your Teacher
- We are a Classroom Family
Feel like you need more? I can never get enough picture books. Check of We are Teachers for their top 41 picture books for third grade! Be sure to drop a comment if you try any of theses activities with your kids! I love seeing pictures of classrooms in action during the first week of school.
In addition to creating this bulletin board together, I also like to prep my walls with bulletin boards I can leave up year round. This takes away a lot of stress the rest of the year. Check out my store for some things you can put on your wall and leave up year round like an alphabet and a vowel valley.
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