Picture Book Linky Party

Man, I'm late to the party - but I Love Books! So I'm still going to join in with First Grade and Fabulous.

Book linky parties are great - here's another one I did in February - and I liked some of those books so much, I'm highlighting them twice!

First, I have to say this - my hubby and I bought books all the time when our girl was little. And quite frankly, we did a darn good job. We picked lots of good ones. Sometimes I don't feel like I do such a good job with my class. 

Anyhoo - 

First, I bet more than one person put this on their list:

This is such a fun book. And I like that the teacher in this story is named Sarah Jane - just like me! {But without the H.}

Next:

I really enjoy this book. The kid in the story has to tell his class about how he spent his summer vacation. It starts out pretty true to life - he gets on a train to visit his aunt. But pretty soon, he's doing all kinds of fun things. I read this to my class and we talk about what probably really did happen, and what he imagined. Then I give them a piece of paper and they fold it in half. On one side they draw and write about something that really happened on their vacation. On the other side, they draw and write about something they would have liked to have happened.  Last year, I even made them tell the class about their drawing. 

Number 3:

In this story, a farm lady can't get her cow to quit flying and come down to earth. You can use this story to make predictions about what Miss Rosemary will do next. You can also talk about problem solving and persevering, because Miss Rosemary does both. She has to try several ideas before she finally solves her problem.

Number 4:

Another good story. Wodney Wat has a speech impediment and the other kids make fun of him because of it. But then a bully joins their class and Wodney is able to help the other students. This is a good book for talking about not making fun of other people, and for encouraging students that even though everyone is different, we all can help each other.

Last year, I also started the year with an ocean unit. I had several books I used with that. I write about it here, if you are interested. 

What about you - what are your favorite books for the beginning of the year?