At the beginning of the school year we spend a lot of time trying to create a welcoming, inclusive classroom environment for our new students. This week we are spotlighting the book All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold because it does just that! This book is a great way to build an inclusive community within the classroom and help students to celebrate their unique qualities. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold is a sweet story that celebrates diversity and inclusion. Using a rhyming pattern, students will hear about a community of people where everyone feels welcome. The children in the classroom feel safe to be themselves and celebrate their differences as they learn. The story takes us through a school day in this community and we get to see how they make everyone feel at home.
Students will enjoy listening to this rhyming book and discussing community. This is a great story to launch discussions about your own community and inclusion.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Not only can teachers can use the book All Are Welcome to create a classroom community, but it is a great way to teach reading comprehension, writing and so many more skills.
- The book has a great rhythm that can be used to teach the use of rhyme in writing.
- All Are Welcome has a great message about diversity and inclusivity. This is a great opportunity for students to practice identifying the message of a story.
- Use the rhymes in the book to encourage students to write poems with rhymes
- Experience narrative writing as students think about their own community.
- Discuss the use of commas, adjectives and proper nouns in writing.
- Teach the importance and meaning of diversity and inclusion.
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
- 30 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
Teachers and students are sure to love the sense of community All Are Welcome will help create in the classroom.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
- We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
- The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
- Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller
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!
