Picture Books Archives - Team J's Classroom Fun

3 Book Ideas for Teaching Students to Make Connections

Reading May 31, 2023

Photo of book Super Completely and Totally the Messiest and schema anchor chart

Teaching students to make connections is an important reading comprehension skill. It’s important for students to be able to connect to what they are reading to help them understand it at a deeper level. Today I’m sharing with you some of my favorite picture books to use for this reading skill. These picture books work great for text-to-self connections.

Making Connection Book Recommendations

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Super Completely and Totally the Messiest

This hilarious story has many connections for anyone who is messy or knows someone who is messy. Olivia’s sister, Sophie is the messiest person around and students will love coming up with connections to the crazy things that happen. This is one of my favorite books to use with making connections and I often start with this book!

Ira Sleeps Over

Most kids can relate to the excitement and nervousness that comes with your very first sleepover, which is the focus on this story. Ira is excited for his first sleepover, but also unsure about bringing his teddy bear. Students often relate to the special stuffed animal, feelings about his older sister, and feelings surrounding the sleepover.

Charlie Anderson

Charlie Anderson is a sweet story about a cat who goes between two houses – one during the day and one at night, but the owners don’t know that at the beginning. This is a great book for students who have two or more houses to connect with. Students will also be able to connect to having a pet and worrying about what might happen to that pet if it was missing.

More Book Recommendations

For more book recommendations, check out the blog posts below…

8 Favorite Writing Mentor Texts

Picture Books for Opinion Writing

Picture Books for Place Value

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October Classroom Ideas

Holidays October 5, 2022

Halloween is coming and today I’m excited to share some October classroom ideas with you!

October Book Suggestions:

Photo of 5 fun books for October Classroom Ideas

Please note Amazon affiliate links are included in this post for your convenience. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Here are five fun books that you can share with your class during the month of October.

October Classroom Idea – Create a Jack-o-Lantern:

Photo of FREE create a digital jack-o-lantern activity

Students can use shapes and/or pattern blocks to create their own jack-o-lantern. I also have this activity as a digital FREEBIE in my TPT store >>> HERE. Students can use the shapes in Google Slides™ to create their own jack-o-lantern.

October Resource Suggestions:

Here are 2 of my favorite resources to use during the month of October.

October Morning Meeting Activity Slides – These fun fall/Halloween themed Morning Meeting Activity Slides will keep your students busy the whole month of October. Click HERE to grab them for your class and save time in your Morning Meeting Prep.
Halloween Word Problems – Story problems are a great way for students to practice a variety of math skills and build their problem solving abilities. These Halloween themed word problems are great for independent practice, can be used as an Around the Room Activity, and more! Get these word problems HERE for your math students!

October Writing FREEBIE:

Photo of FREE Writing prompts - Student writing example of a scary story

These Halloween-themed FREE Writing Prompts are perfect to use during the month of October! Click HERE to get your FREEBIE.

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Books for the First Week of School

Back to School, Books August 2, 2018

Please note Amazon affiliate links are included in this post for your convenience. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

So, I love picture books and I especially love picture books that serve multiple purposes. Today I’m going to share with you some of my favorite books to use during the first few weeks of school. These books can also be found on my Amazon List – Back to School Books.

First Day of School Books:

I always start the first day of school every year with the book First Day Jitters. It’s a cute book that gets some of those nerves and jitters out of the way. I also like that it shows that teachers are nervous too.

Be Kind Books:

Teaching social skills and life lessons are extremely important during the first week. These books are great for talking about being kind and respectful to one another.

Classroom Management:

The first few weeks of school are full of learning about classroom expectations and procedures. I love using the books below to discuss some of those topics. These books are also good to bring up throughout the school year if an issue arises.

Growth Mindset:

Growth Mindset is such a valuable skill for kids to learn. I love using these books to talk about it in kid friendly ways. It’s important for kids to know that it’s ok to make mistakes and that they won’t be perfect at everything on the first go – and these books do a great job of explaining that.

Those are some of my favorites. What are your favorite back to school books? Comment below…