Expected and Unexpected Behavior

At the beginning of every year I read aloud You are a Social Detective, by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke. After being introduced to this book by the special needs teacher at my previous school, I used it only with my students who had difficulties in social settings. Then I realized, all children can benefit from the detailed picture stories in this book, and it became a go to book through out the year. I use this book to introduce rules in my classroom and what expected and unexpected behavior sounds and looks like. The kids love the pictures in this story! After we read aloud the first two sections, we discuss social scenarios and if the behavior is expected or unexpected. The whole activity leads children to understand that their actions affect all of those around them. They begin to be true social detectives thinking about what others are feeling about.

First Week Read Alouds

I love using picture books for team building during the beginning of the year.


On the first day of school I read aloud First Day Jitters, by Julie Danneberg, and as a class we discuss that we all have jitters on the first day, even the teacher! I also use this as a lead to a writing assessment and have the kids write using the prompt, My first day jitters are...

I use this prompt to assess my students writing and save it in their writing portfolio for them to compare to throughout the year. You can also visit First Day Jitters activity guide for some other great ideas for the book.

During the first month I love reading aloud The Crayon Box that Talked. This book has a beautiful
message for children. At the end of the read aloud, we discuss that we all have our own special gifts and we design a gift box labeled with the gift we are bringing to the class (kindness, sillyness, sense of humor, etc.). This is also a great activity to teach tolerance of others and makes for a great bulletin board!

Another story to help build self-esteem is Little Prickles. This adorable story
is written by seventh grade students, and helps children understand that we all are special and unique!




If you are looking for a picture book to start a discussion on team building, The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark is just perfect for that. This book helps trigger a discussion on team-work and how we all need others to help us.

Meet and Greet Activities

As the end of your summer is coming to an end, and your dreams are starting to be filled with your classroom to-do list, I have decided to post a month of freebies to help relieve the stress. For a great "greet and meet" make sure you have the children busy putting away those school supplies, while you get to chat with parents and students. Along with the class directory, parent volunteer and other paper work, I ALWAYS have my parents/guardians fill out an input letter. You can have them take this home to fill out and return the first day of school. This letter becomes a piece of gold for my year and gives me great insight to students.

Parent/Guardian Input Letter