A Letter from Your Teacher on the First Day of School is part of our Starts With a Story Collection, which includes more than 550 picture book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Learn more about this children’s book below! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
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SUMMARY
“A Letter from Your Teacher on the First Day of School“ by Shannon Olsen is an uplifting story written by a teacher to her incoming students. She shares that she can't wait to meet them and hear about their summer. She also mentions that she looks forward to getting to know them this year. Lastly, she goes on to share her goals for the upcoming school year including what she hopes to teach them. This uplifting story is written by a teacher to her incoming students. She shares that she cannot wait to get to know each student and what makes them unique. She looks forward to creating memories and conquering challenges together.
She’s excited to hear about everyone’s summer breaks, whether they traveled or did fun things at home. The teacher then shares her goals, from teaching math to showing students how to be empathetic. She hopes her class will develop resilience and kindness, and most of all, a community!
 USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Our read aloud lesson plans for this picture book come with reading comprehension questions (with sample student responses), 30 writing prompts, teaching ideas for grammar skills, social emotional learning discussion ideas, and more. Check out our list below to get a sneak peek at some of the skills this resource teaches.
- Analyze the illustrations in the story. Discuss how they provide meaning that the words might not.
- Have students identify the point of view and discuss the benefits of the narrator.
- Help students to analyze what the author’s purpose for writing the book might be.
- Teach a lesson on making connections to enhance comprehension.
- Introduce pronouns and practice using them.
- Explore exclamation points and why writers use them.
- Teach students about the importance of having a growth mindset using examples from the book.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30Â writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
This book is a must have for your school or classroom library. Your students are going to love completing these activities for the book and you will be impressed with how much they learn. You will want to read this book to your class every year.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will love the similar books listed below, which can all be found in our free picture book list.
- You're Finally Here by Melanie Watt
- First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg
- The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
- The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
- A Tiger Tail by M. Boldt
- School’s First Day of School by Adam Rex
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
