Building Community Through Books
We’ve just finished our second day of school. I love beginning first graders. They are so eager and ready to learn. They say whatever is on their minds and they go with gusto until they drop (which is around 12:30). I know that within a month, they will quit asking to go home after lunch and they will be able to get through the afternoon without their eyes drooping shut.
Today was an amazing day with my young learners. They are already showing me their thinking as we read several books aloud. We started the day with First Grade Here I Come by Nancy Carlson. Henry isn’t sure he really likes first grade. It’s just not kindergarten. However, as he tells his mother about his day, he realizes that he really does like first grade and there are many positive things happening in his classroom. This book gave us the opportunity to talk about how first grade is different from kindergarten and how much more we can do now that we are older. Later in the morning, we read I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry. In this story, Squid brags about how much bigger he is than all the other animals in the ocean, until he comes across a whale. The kids loved this book and their conversations told me that they were thinking about the
author’s words. What was most exciting to me was the way they talked back and forth about their thinking. They’ve only been in first grade for 2 days and they already are learning that talking about books deepens their understanding. (I’m thankful to the kindergarten teachers who set the foundation for these conversations).
As all teachers know, the first few days in the lunch room can be daunting. Today, we ran into a snag as the older kids were coming in to eat and some of the little ones from next door were just getting through the lunch
line. I offered to take the kids who were done eating back with my class. I walked into my room and pulled I Know An Old Teacher by Anne Bowen, illustrated by Stephen Gammell. In this hilarious story which mimics the I Know An Old Lady stories, the teacher offers to take the class pets home for the long weekend. Much to their dismay, her students discover that she is eating each of the class pets. I looked up and saw kids who didn’t know each other hugging and laughing as they shared their disgust over the teacher’s antics. The end was especially enjoyable exciting! I sent the book with our after lunch guests so their teacher could read it to the rest of their class. They were so excited to share it with their classmates and their teacher. I knew we had taken the first steps in learning that books give us the opportunity to connect with others.
Our final read aloud was The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neill. In this story, Mean Jean is the queen of recess. The other kids don’t swing
until Jean swings; they don’t bounce until Jean bounces, and they don’t jump until Jean jumps. That is until Katie Sue comes to school. Not knowing Jean’s reputation, Katie Sue runs outside and plays without a worry in the world. The other students watch to see what happens. Jean tries to no avail to boss Katie Sue around, and in the end, Katie Sue invites Jean to play with her (which no one else had ever thought to do). This book gave us the opportunity to talk about how we want to be treated in our classroom and how we should treat others. It was the beginning of our class promise. Again, we had a lively conversation. I was able to show the kids how books can be used to learn life lessons.
As I reflected at the end of the day, I thought about all the different ways we connected with books. I know that this is the time to fosterbuild an environment that honors conversations as we read, write, and learn together. It is the glue that will bind us into a strong first grade learning community.


I was drawn to
One of the books we chose is a brand new one by 