Teachers, if you are looking for the perfect read aloud for the first day of school, you’re going to LOVE School’s First Day of School. It is all about a brand new school experiencing students and teachers for the first time. This book is a great way for teachers to discuss the different feelings associated with the first day of school and how it’s okay to feel nervous. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Over the summer a brand new school was built, it was named Frederick Douglass Elementary. While the janitor cleaned, School was happy it was just the two of them. However, the janitor explained that soon the teachers and students would come for the first day and School did not know how to feel about that.
When the children came, they were everywhere. They played on the playground, used the lockers and opened all the doors. School felt sad when he heard some students say they hated school and a little girl had to be carried in by her mother. As the day goes on, School starts to enjoy itself. He hears a funny joke at lunch and learns about shapes in a kindergarten class. At the end of the day, School asks the janitor if he can invite everyone to come back again tomorrow.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
If you are using School’s First Day of School as your first read aloud of the year, you are going to love the lessons we’ve selected. Our planner for this book comes with comprehension questions, writing prompts, and lesson ideas for grammar and social emotional learning.
- Encourage students to make connections to School and the different students in this story.
- Discuss how School and the students were feeling throughout the story.
- Have students write narratives about their own first day of school.
- Ask students to write about their opinions of school.
- Teach a lesson on nouns and have students categorize examples from the book.
- Explain to students the various ways to use a comma.
- Discuss the different feelings students have about the first day of school.
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
There is so much to think about on the first day of school. We hope that having lessons and activities for this read aloud will make the day less stressful! These activities are a great way to transition students back into the routines of school while still having fun!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg
- The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors by Adam Rex
- The Day You Begin by Jaqueline Woodson
- We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T Higgins
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!
