Book Recommendations-First Day of School

The first day of school is a big deal, especially in the primary grades. The way a teacher looks, speaks, presents her/himself and what is covered sets the tone for the school year. In the primary grades children are often clinging to parents prior to the first bell ringing. Reading stories at the start of class is a great way to help them forget about their worries as they are swept away in a good book. In a future post I will list possible first day activities and a basic first day lesson plan. For today, I will just cover some books that you may want to consider adding to your library or at least checking out from the library to have on hand.

I know that there are many first day books on the market but these are just a few that I have used in my classroom:



First Day Jitters follows a girl through the morning of her first day of school. She doesn't want to go to school but a man, who appears to be her father, continues to make her get ready and eventually drives her to school while encouraging her that people will be nice to her. At the end of the story the reader finds out that the girl is actually the teacher. After the book is over I share with the students that I felt like that teacher this morning, because I was nervous too. We then have a discussion about feeling nervous the first day of school. This tends to break the ice with the students when they realize that others in the class, including the teacher, is nervous. This gives everyone some common ground. *A side note, quite often some of the young sensitive children will be overly nice and try to give me some encouragement and comfort at the end of this discussion. It is a very sweet experience.


Another good book to include in your first day pile is Oh, the Places You'll Go! Most children are already familiar with Dr. Seuss which helps them feel comforted by something familiar. The pictures in this book are imaginative and fun for all children. After the book is over I give a brief run-down on some of the places (field trips) and activities (art projects, themes, parties, etc.) we will go on/attend over the school year. It is important during this BRIEF introduction that the teacher is animated and friendly. Children read the moods of teachers very easily; therefore if the teacher is excited the children are likely to be excited.


Perfect for Kindergarten, Chrysanthemum is about a little mouse who loves herself and her name until the first day of school when children make fun of her name. At the end of the story she loves her name again and those who teased her are now envious. Children respond well to this story. I use it when we discuss classroom expectations and we discuss feelings. Then as things come up (as they are likely to, especially with girls) you can refer to the book which tends to help.


Often students have parents at home missing them the first day of school. This is the story of a little racoon and mother who are nervous about missing each other on the first day of school. She gives him a kiss on his hand to help him think of her while he is away. I do an activity with this book the first day (this will be described with my first day of school lesson plan mentioned above). As a mommy, I also read this to my daughter the morning of the first day of school.


Probably not suitable for primary grades (at least not kindergarten and first grade), but a must have for upper grades. The Teacher from the Black Lagoon is a about a boy who falls asleep on the first day of school and dreams that his teacher is a monster that does horrible things to the students in his class. He is relieved when he wakes up to find he has a nice (non-monster) teacher.
Happy Reading!!!