Supercharge your back to school routine with some awesome interactive read alouds and activities. Choosing the best books to read aloud in the beginning of the school year can save a lot of time and make getting to know your students and setting up your routines both fun and engaging.
These books are sure to engage your students and help you set the classroom culture. These books are sure to get your students discussing literature while also keeping that focus on rules, routines, and getting to know you. These fun books will get even your quietest of students talking and help you get to know them.
Best of all, you can align all of these to the Common Core standards to start teaching literature standards. I have a week of lesson plans and activities for each book. Click here if you want to see how I plan my read alouds!
Back to School Read Alouds
The list below is an overall list of some of the best back to school read alouds for elementary school from the primary grades to upper elementary. Here are some grade level-specific lists if you’re looking for a certain grade level:
Kindergarten Back to School Read Alouds
Back to School Books for First Grade
Back to School Books for 2nd Grade
Back to School Books for 3rd Grade
Back to School Books for 4th Grade
Back to School Books for 5th Grade
Here’s the overall list of the best back to school read alouds for any grade level:
Alma and How She Got Her Name
Grade Levels: PreK-3
You all know the book Chrysanthemum, right? It’s a classic. This book is a new age version about a girl named Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela. Naturally she dislikes her long name until she finds out the reasoning behind her name.
If you have Latinx students especially this book is a MUST READ. An amazing multicultural book that will help students appreciate and gain a curiosity for their own name and those of their peers. A fun activity would be to have students learn about how their parents named them and share with the class.
Even better this book is in English and Spanish (Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre). This book also was a 2018 Caldecott Honor recipient. Hands down, this is my favorite book on the list good for both young and old and reminding us all how important it is to honor each student’s name and how they pronounce it.
Check out my lesson plan and activities for Alma and How She Got Her Name
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
Grade Levels: PreK-2
Hey remember how I was just saying how Chrysanthemum was a classic. Yeah, it’s a classic and it should be on your list of books to read at back to school. It’s about a family of mice with a daughter named Chrysanthemum. She loves her name until she goes to school and is made fun of. She eventually learns to love her name again thanks to a teacher.
This book has AMAZING word choice, a perfect model for teachers and parents alike in terms of varying vocabulary. It also shows how one person can either make a person’s day or ruin it. If you do anything with “filling someone’s bucket,” this book would be a great connection or springboard into that discussion. Also in Spanish as Crisantemo!
Check out my lesson plan and activities for Chrysanthemum
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Grade Levels: 1-3
Lilly is a mouse who spent the weekend with her grandma, and Lilly DESPERATELY wants to share what she got. Her teacher asks her to wait, but Lilly eventually breaks and shares her purchases during story time. A great story for talking about classroom rules, respect, and doing the right thing.
Check out my lesson plan and activities for Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
This is a School by John Schu
A school isn’t just a building; it is all the people who work and learn together. It is a place for discovery and asking questions. A place for sharing, for helping, and for community. It is a place of hope and healing, even when that community can’t be together in the same room.
Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann
Grade Levels: K-3
Officer Buckle gives safety tips at a local school, but he’s not very engaging. Almost everyone sleeps during his presentations, so the students aren’t very safe. All this changes when he gets his police dog Gloria. She’s a riot, and suddenly ALL of the schools in the area want a safety talk from Officer Buckle and Gloria. Officer Buckle learns why everyone suddenly likes his speeches, and he’s not very pleased.
This is a great book for talking about being safe in the classroom and working in groups or with a partner.
This book can be found in Spanish as Oficial Correa y Gloria
Check out my lesson plan and activities for Officer Buckle and Gloria
Ruby the Copycat by Peggy Rathmann
Grade Levels: 1-3
Ruby is a new student in class, and she immediately becomes friends with a nice girl named Angela. The problem, though, is that Ruby copies EVERYTHING that Angela does. Angela eventually gets tired of it. Ruby then starts copying someone else. In the end, Ruby learns that she is special and starts to show the world who the real Ruby is.
An activity that I like to do with this is for students to stand in a circle and think of an action to do and say their name. So a student may act like they’re swinging a golf club and say “Billy.” Everyone then does that action and says “Billy.” A fun way to associate a student’s name with an action for everyone to learn each other’s names and maybe learn something about that student (like that they like to play golf for example).
Even better, this book is in Spanish too as Ruby, mono ve, mono hace.
Get my lesson plan and activities for Ruby the Copycat
Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae
Grade Levels: K-2
Gerald is great at a lot of things, but when the Jungle Dance comes, he’s the worst. The other animals laugh at his awkward movements and Gerald runs off embarrassed. He meets someone, then, that tells him that maybe he just hasn’t heard the right music.
A great book for talking about friendship and respect and how it’s okay to be different. Also in Spanish as Las jirafas no pueden bailar.
Check out my lesson plan and activities for Giraffes Can’t Dance
The Pigeon Has to Go to School by Mo Willems
Grade Levels: K-2
Mo Willems and his pigeon, always hilarious. This book is no different and your students will love it. Why would the pigeon have to go to school anyway? He already knows everything already! A story recommended by one of the Picture Book Brain Trust community members, Cathy!
Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller
Grade Levels: 2-5
Some otters are moving in next door, and naturally you’re worried. How do you treat otters? What are otters like? What if they’re mean? I love this book for talking about classroom rules especially in terms of respect. Perfect for back to school and creating a classroom contract.
Check out my lesson plan and activities for Do Unto Otters
David Goes to School by David Shannon
Grade Levels: K-1
David’s teacher has her hands full. From running in the halls to chewing gum in class, David’s high-energy antics fill each schoolday with trouble — and are sure to bring a smile to even the best- bahaved reader. A classic David book that’s also available in Spanish as David va a la escuela.
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
Grade Levels: K-2
It’s the first day of school for Penelope Rex, and she can’t wait to meet her classmates. But it’s hard to make human friends when they’re so darn delicious! That is, until Penelope gets a taste of her own medicine and finds she may not be at the top of the food chain after all. One of the newest books on this list of the best back to school read alouds.
Get the lesson plan and activities for We Don’t Eat Our Classmates Here
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book? by Lauren Child
Grade Levels: 1-3
This book is an amazing book to read to reluctant readers. Herb loves story books even though he isn’t a really good reader yet. Have you ever fallen into a storybook? Well, if you do, just make sure it isn’t a fairy tale. Because in every one there is a wicked this, an evil that and a hungry somebody. Find out what happens to Herb when he falls into a fairy tale.
Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson
Grade Levels: 3-5
Maya is a new girl at Chloe’s school, but she’s different from the others. Her clothes are old or from a thrift store. Chloe doesn’t really try to be particularly kind to Maya, but Maya does what she can to try to make friends with the other kids. Maya is isolated from the other kids, and eventually leaves one day. Chloe realizes the error of her ways, but she can’t do anything to change them since Maya left.
This book will tear out your students’ hearts and leave them dead silent. A perfect social emotional learning story to start out the year and make students think about how their actions and word cannot be taken back and create a ripple effect on those around them.
Check out my lesson plan and activities for Each Kindness
Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
Grades 1-4
A new boy next door becomes enemies with the narrator. The boy’s father says that the surefire way to get rid of his enemy is to make Enemy Pie. The key step in making Enemy Pie is spending the day with your enemy. A great story about learning how to deal with difficult people and how it is important to not judge a book by its cover and to give everyone a chance.
Pastel para enemigos is the title of the book in Spanish.
Check out my lesson plan and activities for Enemy Pie
Frederick by Leo Lionni
Grade Levels: K-2
A family of field mice are busy getting ready for winter gathering supplies. All of them except Frederick. They all wonder why he is not helping, but he says that he is gathering other things like warmth and colors. Winter comes and the mice learn just how important Frederick’s work really was.
This book is really good for teaching students to work with partners and groups. Not everyone contributes the same way, but everyone does contribute.
Also in Spanish with the same title of Frederick.
Check out my lesson plans and activities for Frederick
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
Grade Levels: PreK-2
Little Chicken is really excited for story time, and despite her papa’s reminder to not interrupt, she invariably interrupts. It’s a funny story within a story that will have your students in stitches. This is a great story for talking about rules during read alouds.
Also available in Spanish titled No interrumpas, Kika!
Check out my lesson plan and activities for Interrupting Chicken
My Name Is Yoon by Helen Recorvits
Grade Levels: K-2
Yoon is an immigrant from Korea, and she is learning English and how her name is written differently in English. She doesn’t like the change. When she goes to school, she doesn’t understand much and when her teacher asks her to write her name, she writes one of the words that she did understand from her teacher’s lesson “Cat.”
Each day this continues and she writes different words. She eventually gets used to her new home, and begins to make friends and like where she lives. Then is when she finally accepts that she is still Yoon even though she is in a new place and writes her name using English letters.
This book is perfect for if you have a new student or English language learners who may be nervous about speaking in English. This book is also good for bilingual classes as it is available in Spanish as Me llamo Yoon.
Check out my lesson plan and activities for My Name is Yoon
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
A beautiful book that follows the lives of a diverse group of children during their school day. What I love about this book is the rich conversations you can have after reading it about how the students are the same and how they are different. It is also a great opportunity to talk about each student in your classroom and let them share what makes their families special.
Oliver Button is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola
Oliver is not what most would consider a “normal” boy. He prefers to jump rope and play with dolls and dress up rather than play sports. The boys at his school make fun of him. For exercise, his parents sign him up for dance lessons. His dance teacher persuades him to sign up for a talent show. The boys at school continue to make fun of him and write “Oliver Button is a sissy” on the wall outside of school.
Oliver doesn’t care, and continues practicing. The competition comes, and Oliver does great, but doesn’t win. The sign outside of school gets changed to read “Oliver Button is a STAR.”
A great book about respecting each other’s differences and passions and ignoring others who may try to discourage you. Also in Spanish as Oliver Button es una nena.
Check out my lesson plan and activities for Oliver Button is a Sissy
What If Everybody Said That? by Ellen Javernick
Grade Levels: 1-5
If one of your classroom rules is BE KIND, this book is a must read. It shows several examples of what happens when students say unkind things and how it could be different if everybody said and did the kind thing.
A fun activity with this is proposing several situations and something unkind that someone may say in that situation. Then have students propose kind things to say. Another good book in this series is What If Everybody Did That?
Check out my lesson plan and activities for What If Everybody Said That?
School’s First Day of School by Adam Rex
Grades K-2
If you really liked First Day Jitters book, but are getting tired of it, THIS is the book for you! It takes the idea of first day jitters and make it so it’s the SCHOOL that has first day jitters. A funny and touching story filled with Christian Robinson’s beautiful palette of diverse children.
Get the lesson plan and activities for School’s First Day of School Here
You Are Special by Max Lucado
Grade Levels: 2-5
This story tells the tale of a community of puppets and their creator. The puppets spend their days putting stickers on each other that indicate either good or bad things. Punchinello is always making mistakes so he is always filled with bad stickers. This makes him very sad.
One day, though, he meets a new puppet who has no stickers, and no stickers will stick to her despite other puppets trying to put them on her. Punchinello goes to the creator and is told that he is special. When he heard this, the stickers began to fall off.
While this has religious undertones, you can also relate it to how our words can affect classmates and how we should not care about what others may say. Because we are all special. This is by far one of my favorite back to school read alouds for the upper grades. Also, it’s a great book for anti-bullying as well!
Also in Spanish titled Tu eres especial.
Check out my lesson plan and activities for You Are Special
The Good Egg and The Bad Seed by Jory John
Grade Levels: K-3
I love these books together. The Good Egg tells the tale of how stressful it can be for “good eggs” when they are surrounded by….less than good eggs. The Bad Seed talks about how being told over and over that you are bad doesn’t make you bad and that you can choose if you do good or bad things.
Both books have powerful messages about helping both your very respectful, engaged students and your students who may need help re-engaging with school.
Check out my lesson plan and activities for The Good Egg and The Bad Seed
Kobi Yamada What Do You Do With…? Trilogy
Grade Levels: K-4
This is a three part series titled What Do You Do With a Problem, What Do You Do With an Idea, and What Do You Do With a Chance?
I would say the central theme of each of these books is change and facing fear. Beginning of the school year and the new, more difficult content can cause a lot of anxiety.
These books help students with this anxiety and show them that problems, ideas, and chances can all be opportunities to grow.
Check out my lesson plans and activities for:
Other Great Children’s Books For Back to School:
25 New and Notable Books For the First Day of School You Need to Read
Best Children’s Books About Names
Conclusion: Best Back to School Read Alouds
Get this entire list of back to school read alouds as a printable PDF and a list of the books found both in English and Spanish below!
Also, are there any other back to school read alouds that you love that I forgot? Let me know in the comments!
