Back to School Read Alouds for Kindness and Confidence in the Classroom
By Becky Cummings
What you do in the first few weeks sets the tone for the entire year.
I’ll never forget my professors at the NEAG School of Ed sharing this principle with me. I remember being one of the only teachers that spent about 6 weeks on setting expectations, building routines, and fostering the culture of my classroom. Many teachers were worried about covering curriculum, so they rushed ahead to start early. But my 6 weeks always paid off because while the other teachers did get a jump start, they spend all year stopping to “fix” classroom issues, that I never had. I was able to plow full steam ahead because I had taken the time to lay the foundation in the early weeks.
One method to lay the groundwork for kindness and confidence is through books. Read alouds in the beginning of the school year should teach children what you expect to observe in your class for the entire year. Here are my top 5 picks I would include in all k-4 elementary classrooms.
We all desire our children to speak kindly to each other, yet we don’t always focus on how they speak about themselves. This book teaches kids 12 positive affirmations to speak about themselves with love and confidence. As their own self-esteem soars, they quickly will use these magical words when encouraging peers.
Written by Shannon Olsen, who has quickly gone from classroom teacher to best-selling Amazon author, this is a winning pick for the first days of school. She finally takes what teachers have been preaching for years and envelopes it in an adorable, rhyming, brightly illustrated picture book.
Many kids don’t realize they can choose how their day will go. Although they can’t always control what happens, this book teaches them they can decide how to respond to it. When we inspire kids to choose positive actions, they feel happier and build lifelong healthy habits. There are 13 “I choose” statements that empower children to take responsibility for their days and inspires them to choose to be calm, forgiving, brave, honest, friendly, and much more.
It’s hard to read this book and not feel your heart break for Brian, the main character, who feels invisible in his class. We all can relate to a time when we felt lonely like Brian. He is left out at recess, birthday parties, and class group work, that is until he meets a new friend that changes everything. Foster compassion and teach kids power of being a friend.
Kids are never too little to dream big! As their teacher you are there to help them set goals and work to achieve them! This book asks 12 fun questions to get children thinking, visualizing, and discussing their future hopes, big or small, and encourage their little minds to dream about the wonderful things they want to do and learn, places they wish to explore, and much more.
