Chalk Talk

I just added a RSS feed. It's called Chalk Talk and it is all about teaching tips for early educators. Check it out!

Scary Stories

When it comes to library time in a kindergarten class boys tend to take forever choosing books because they want "cool" books. I noticed one day that a few of the boys were consistently taking out "The Teacher from the Black Lagoon" books. One of the boys told me that he liked it because it had scary monsters in the story. Another said this what happens to the teachers when the kids leave for the day (which I thought was hysterical). Have your students check them out and see what they think!

Positive Message Books

Kindergarten can be a stressful time in a kids life. I know you are all thinking "Come one seriously?! All they do is color all day." But this is usually the first time that they are away from their parents for a long period of time every day. They have to learn how to do things on their own. So I found some stories that have a positive message in them. A parent could read them to their child and then talk about what they story was about and the message in it. There are a lot out there but here are some that I know have had some benefit.

Helping Hands on PhotoPeach

Series Books

There are some books out there that are great stories but are way too high for your kindergarten age students. A good way to get around this problem is to read these stories to your students during a break time. A teacher I used to work with would read a story to her students during their snack time. She would use series such as the Fudge Books by Judy Blume or  the A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy. The teacher would use this opportunity to explain characters and plot sequence to her students. The stories were so engaging that the students loved snack time because they wanted to find out what happened next. And isn't that what we want for our students to engage them in new stories?