First Week Picture Books

I was so excited to find the Picture Book Linky Party at DeAnne's blog, First Grade and Fabulous.  I read through so many wonderful ideas, I didn't even know if I could add anything to this linky party.  I reflected on it for a long time, and then I thought that with Common Core being on everyone's mind it might be helpful to link some of my favorite picture books to Common Core standards.

"The First Day of School" by Patricia Relf

So here we go.  The First Day of School by Patricia Relf is one of my favorites because it shows the fear that sometimes five-year-olds have.  It's also told from Elizabeth's point of view.  It's great for linking with kindergarten standard:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.6:  With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

and first grade standard:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.6:  Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.

I also like this book because I think it's more realistic than other first day of school books in my collection.  Elizabeth has some bad things happen to her in the course of the story, but when she makes a new friend the day seems much better.  It's also important to me to choose books that show a diverse population in the classroom, and this book fulfills that nicely.

"Kindergarten Rocks" by Katie Davis

Another picture book that I like for the first week of school is Kindergarten Rocks by Katie Davis.  This book is hysterical!  The conversations between the kindergartner and his sister and exactly like the conversations that my students have with their siblings.  Here's an example:

"Jes, Rufus is scared I might get lost."
"You won't."
"But what if I do?"
"You won't."
"But what if I forget to make a map and I get lost then?"
"You won't."
"I might."
"You won't."
"But what if I do?"
"I'm not that lucky."

You see what I mean?  So, the Common Core standard that I would use for this book would be:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.1:  With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

The first grade standard is the same as the kindergarten one, except without prompting and support.

If your students are particularly observant, they will see that the boy is saying one thing (that he's not scared about going to kindergarten), but in the illustration his face does show that he's scared.  You can ask questions to your students to get them to reach this conclusion, such as "How does the boy look in this picture?  Do the words match what he's saying?  Tell me about it."

I can't wait to continue to read more posts in this terrific linky!  Let me know if you have ever used these books, and what you think of them.