If You Give A Mouse A Cookie - Book Extension

We read this book because it's a perfect fit with the randomness of a first graders way of thinking. They will love filling in the blank when you ask them what he will want next, and then they will most certainly fight over it when you are finished. It's also so predictable that they can memorize learn to read it quickly. We all know the first step to reading is believing you can. This book has some negative reviews, but that's because none of the reviewers are 6 years old. 

After reading this book, try some of our activities in the following book extension. Check it out in our TPT store. 

Click here to get this extension.

How Do Dinosaurs Go To School - Book Extension

What if you were a dinosaur and you had to go to school? Kids are naturally fascinated with dinosaurs so it is not hard to keep their attention when you read this book.  One in a series of How Do Dinosaurs... this book is just as entertaining as the rest. It will bring a smile to your face as you see how dinosaurs handle the common situations in a classroom setting.  We ♥ this book. 

After reading, try some of the activities that we do with our first graders.  We use it to help reinforce rules, and have them create a rule of their own.  We then have them cut, read, sort, and paste things a dinosaur should and shouldn't do into their chart.  Reduced to 85%, the pages will fit into your interactive reading journals.  Check out the book extension below sold in our TPT store to learn more.

Click here to get this extension.

Harold and The Purple Crayon - Book Extension

This book has been a K-1 favorite for as long as we have been teaching, and that's pretty much FOREVER!  We love Harold and his UNBELIEVABLE  imagination.  Just where could a purple crayon take YOU! When he is supposed to be sleeping, Harold decides to create a whole world of experiences by drawing them IN his world with a purple crayon, until at last he draws his bed, and draws the covers up over himself and goes to sleep.  Most young children will relate to Harold, because they see the world through crayon purple colored glasses all the time.  After reading, try some of our favorite things to do with this book from our book extension in our TPT store.   

Get it here.

One of our favorite activities is getting to use all those odd colored purple crayons!  They get to color the picture using ONLY purple. Have you ever noticed how many shades of purple there are? 

Reducing pages on the printer / copier to 85% will make them fit into your Reading Journals! 

In this extension, you will find many engaging activities to promote comprehension, and much more. 

Things I Like - Book Extension

We just read Things I Like by Anthony Browne.  It's such a simple text and easy for first graders (and kindergartners) to relate to.  They love to tell you everything that they like!  We use this book as we introduce making lists.  They can make all kinds of lists like... "Things I like to do after school." Or, "Things I like to eat" or "Things I like to play".  And the list goes on and on.

We made a book extension to go along with this book!

Click here to get the book extension.

My Crayons Talk - Book Extension

Another fun back to school book we love is 

My Crayons Talk  

by Patricia Hubbard.

If you want to get a great conversation started with a first grader just ask one what  their favorite color is, and why.  They love talking about colors.  That converstaion makes a great intro to this book that goes through the colors in a crayon box, relates them to something that symbolizes that color, in a rhythmic silly way. If crayons could talk, what would they say??? Then you can follow up with activites from our book extension like the ones below.  Also the writing possibilities are endless.  What colors should dragons be? If you could change the color of the sky, what would you make it? Why DOES red mean stop and green mean go? Hmmm.

Click here to get this extension.

Franklin Goes To School - Book Extension

We love reading Franklin Goes To School 

by Paulette Bourgeois. 

 
Let's face it. First days of school can be scary for everyone, including teachers! This book is perfect for the first week of school because Franklin has all the same fears and anxiety we all can relate to when doing something for the first time. Once he gets to school his teacher sees that he is a good artist and he suddenly doesn't feel so scared anymore. It teaches us how the smallest amount of kindness can change a child's world.  We put together some fun activities to go along with this book to get them to dig a little deeper into the story to work on comprehension skills. Here is our book extension in our TPT store. Your kids will love it! 

Click here to get this extension.

Sequencing / Retelling

Sorting

Flip Book

These are just a few of the activities in the extension.

Cookie's Week - Book Extension

We love reading Cookie's Week by Cindy Ward. This is a story about a cat that has a very eventful week.  It's a very simple book that is perfect for learning the days of the week.  It's also a perfect book for a re-write!

We created a book extension to share some of our favorite activities to do with this book. It is filled with engaging and entertaining activities  that will keep your children thinking about the details of the story, and having fun while they learn.  We use this book to teach vocabulary, cause and effect, story sequence, ordering the days of the week, characters, setting, labeling, retelling,

and much more! 

Click here to get this extension.