THE BEST READ-ALOUDS for Preschool/Pre-K and Kindergarten.
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^^This was me.
First day of school in my second year of teaching.
My boyfriend, now husband, doesn’t take pictures of anything.
Seriously, these days I have to beg him to take photos of me with my daughter, June (pictured above)…
He doesn’t even want pictures when he catches HUGE fish…
But for some reason,
there was more than one year— that he snapped a picture of me on the first day of school.
Isn’t that sweet? (Forget the fact that I have to beg him to take a photo of me and Junebug)… Just think about how sweet it is that he captured my first day of school (as a grown up) so many times… It’s cute. (Don’t tell him I said that.)
They are great photos to look back on and I love him for taking them.
I think about each year I spent in the classroom and I am flooded with every possible emotion I can think of… I felt them all.
But in this particular post,
I want to talk to you about that “uhhh, what do I do now?” feeling.
Have you had it?
If you’re a teacher, you have to know what I’m talking about.
Especially in the early years, man, I had this feeling all the time.
And, I can laugh now, because I’ve come a long way…
but - you know what?
There’s one situation, where I still get that “uhhh, what do I do now?” feeling…
AND IT’S THE WORST.
Can you guess what it is??
Baby June sure wants to know…
IT’S
WHEN
I’M
reading a new story…
that I haven’t read before…
And the story is tanking…
But whoever I’m reading to (a whole class, my kid… your kid… the neighbor kid - DOESN’T MATTER WHO)…
The kid starts feeling it.
You feel it.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN, FEEL WHAT?
THE AWKWARDNESS!!!!!!
You’re thinking, “WHERE IS THIS GOING? THIS STORY IS SO WEIRD. WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON HERE?”
Kid’s thinking, “What did she just say? What is she even talking about?”
Or, maybe it’s not one of those rambling-so-you-guys-are-lost-and-confused ones…
MAYBE it’s an accidentally super creepy book… that you had no way of knowing, was going to be so creepy…
OMG, those are the worst…
(I tell you what — choosing “new read-alouds” around Halloween is riskier than peeling the diaper back to see if the baby went potty. One year, I ASKED families to send in their favorite Halloween books!!! It was like Nightmare on Elm Street every afternoon… SERIOUSLY, WHO WRITES THOSE BOOKS? I finally had to just cut that whole idea off… “I’m sorry, but please keep those terrifying stories to yourself! How could you let your child bring in this story? Didn’t you see what’s on the third page?!! I’m not going to sleep tonight, and I know no one in this class is either… that witch’s face WAS NOT OK and it’s going to haunt our dreams.”)
Like, the image on the page, CLEARLY just scared the child…
DOOOO I….
SHUT THE BOOK? (No, that’s too dramatic.)
Try to skip some pages with a slight of hand and hope they don’t notice?
(No, if they notice, it will only bring MORE ATTENTION to the creepy thing on the pages I was trying to skip.)
No matter what version of this we go through…
It all comes back to the same, terrible, “uhhh, what do I do now?” feeling…
But,
FINALLY…
I have a solution for you…
LET ME READ THEM FIRST.
I’M THE CRASH TEST DUMMY.
I’VE READ THE BOOKS. (ALLLLL the books.)
I HAVE SEEN THE CONFUSED FACES.
I HAVE STOPPED THE BOOKS, MID-SENTENCE, by creating a diversion.
I HAVE READ ALL THE CREEPY AND WEIRD HALLOWEEN TALES…
AND NOW,
I am bringing you—
THE
GOOD
ONES.
I have compiled a list of THE BEST READ-ALOUDS FOR Pre-K/Preschool/Kindergarten…
(basically any kids under the age of 6… but, I’d read the books on this list TO ANY AGE KID, ANYTIME… THEY ARE MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES.)
If there are some books on this list that you don’t even know about yet, I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!
I hope you enjoy going on this POSITIVE and ENJOYABLE (FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED) journey of discovering new books…
God help those of us who picked up a new book from the library and thought, “We’ll try this one today.”
You don’t have to be that person.
I WAS THAT PERSON FOR YOU...
and I suffered through the bad ones,
SO THAT YOU COULD BE *THE FAVORITE READER VISITOR* ALL THE TIME.
(I wasn’t always the FAVORITE reader visitor, but it’s OK, I’m stronger because of it.)
AND, now, I have enough favorites that I don’t need to stoop to the level of trying NEW HALLOWEEN books on an innocent group of children. (WORST IDEA EVER.)
***Make sure to bookmark this page, I will update it with new SAFE AND FUN read-aloud options in the future!
These are a collection of my favorite read-alouds… they are the books I purchased to keep and have forever because I loved them so much and read them over and over year after year!
Peanut Butter & Cupcake - By Terry Border
This is a cute story about friendship with some fun rhymes and predictable text that your kids will pick up (and laugh every time they say it!)
A VISITOR FOR BEAR - BY: BONNY BECKER
This might be my #1 favorite book to read aloud of all time.
I remember reading it out loud to a classroom of college students who wanted to become teachers when I was studying to be a teacher. I actually had a whole course on doing read-alouds.
I loved it. I love changing my voice for the mouse and the bear and startling all the kids by knocking on the wall or board closet to me when instead of just saying, "knock knock.”
I fell in love with this book right there in the room with my peers... cheers to all my teacher friends out there! 💕
FRIENDSHAPE - BY AMY KROUSE
This is a simple story about the joys of friendship. (Bonus teaching point-SHAPES!) 👍🏻👍🏾👍🏿
LITTLE BY LITTLE - BY AMBER STEWART
💕Another great read-aloud!! We connect with the adorable little otter who has a list of lots of things he CAN DO and a list of things he can't do with just one thing on it.
The story unfolds to show how he tries and tries until finally, he does it! This is so relevant for preschool students who are constantly facing things they can't do YET (shout out to growth mindset, woo!)...
Books like this are great to read and reflect on as students are trying new things and getting better at them, LITTLE BY LITTLE. 💙💙💙
PLEASE, MR. PANDA - BY STEVE ANTHONY
💜🐼Want your kids to use polite phrases, like PLEASE, more often?
This book can make it fun to help your kids pick up a polite habit! 👏🏻👏🏾👏🏿
This book is another one of our favorite read-alouds and we read it over and over again!
PINKALICIOUS - BY VICTORIA KANN & ELIZABETH KANN
PINKALICIOUS💓... I know there are lots of versions but THIS IS THE ONE WE LOVE... it's a fun story and year after year we love to read it over and over again!
The cupcake theme is one that you can easily add into Playdoh play, dramatic play, writing centers--you name it!
Kids love the story so you can use that motivation their learning in lots of fun ways! 💕
I am SO PROUD to say I PERSONALLY know the author of What’s The Commotion in the Ocean? … She is a teacher turned activist/author and she is a passionate WORLD-CHANGER… Her books are A MUST-HAVE for your classroom library!
Here’s a photo of Nyasha and I dressed up as Anna and Elsa for Halloween a few years ago. 😊
Here’s her latest book: I Affirm Me: The ABC’s of Inspiration for Black Kids.
TINKA - BY: RAINY DOHANEY
TINKA!!!!! 💕 We love our sweet TINKA.
She's a sheep that's the size of a cupcake. (☺️)... and she just wants to fit in with other big sheep. But they aren't nice to her until she finally gets her bird friend to take her on an adventure.
It's a great story and my kids loved it so much I went on to create works for my class based on the story. The sheep can see something in the distance that they think is a big purple spider. But Sooty, the crow brings Tiny Tinka along on a flight to see what it really is...
It's so well written and the pictures are BEAUTIFUL.
A Unicorn Named Sparkle - By: Amy Young
I was lucky enough to get to see this author speak in person… she was a lot of fun and the book is too. Your kids will laugh and they will enjoy hearing about Sparkle. This is not your typical unicorn story… you’re gonna love it!
NO WHINING BY JANICE C. VILLNERVE
🙌🏼🙌🏿🙌🏾 Hands down one of my Top 10 Favorite Read-alouds… because this is a book KIDS NEED TO HEAR!
If you don't know this book, it's time to say hello, introduce yourself and GET TO KNOW IT!
If you hear whining, you need to read this book to them....again and again.
It's fun. It's simple.
And the message is loud and clear, SO MUCH SO, that your kids will be able to recite it to you... and THAT'S what becomes so powerful!
I CAN HANDLE IT - BY LAURIE WRIGHT
REMINDER: THEY (our kids) CAN HANDLE IT!👍🏾👍🏿👍🏻👍🏽...
Here's a story where the kids are reminding you (and themselves!☺️) that THEY CAN HANDLE IT!
This is a sweet book that uses repetition and even suggests actionable ideas kids can use to handle strong emotions like sadness and frustration. All they need from us (the adults) is a little reassurance!
We have to support our kids as THEY face kid sized problems before they grow up and face adult size problems with no experience!
ABIYOYO- BY PETE SEEGER
Another great read-aloud! 💙💛💚 The kids are always captivated by this story!
PETE THE CAT AND HIS MAGIC SUNGLASSES - BY KIMBERLY AND JAMES DEAN
IT'S SO SIMPLE, yet so well done... The idea of putting on shades and seeing things differently--IS BRILLIANT.
The story is Pete the Cat, feeling sad or down (negative) and putting on sunglasses that help him see things from a new angle (basically teaching kids how to be grateful, look for positives and give thanks out loud and often!😍💙💙)
How fun--to collect some old shades and let your students actually put them on and try to find the bright side of things?
THE CHICKEN POT TURTLE BOOKS ARE SO MUCH FUN!
AND, THE SAME GOES FOR GINGERBREAD BOOKS...
There are SO MANY bad versions!
(AND, SO MANY GOOD ONES!!)
