Throughout my years as a teacher, I have always developed a weekly newsletter for my students and my parents. I enjoy creating my newsletters. I think it is a great reminder to parents of upcoming events, feature fun happenings within the class, list what the class is doing academically, and offer supplemental resources for parents to use with their children at home. I respect the fact that many teachers do not take the time to create a weekly newsletter. This is due to the fact that many teachers will spend their valuable time creating such a resource only to be disappointed when the newsletters are continually lost or when reminders strategically placed in the newsletter are still forgotten. Yes, this will happen. And yes, it takes valuable time to create newsletters. My philosophy is that if it helps to make just one life of a parent easier, then it is worth my time. If you want to implement a newsletter but feel it is too time consuming, consider this…

• create a newsletter template and reuse it by simply replacing the info each week
• write a biweekly or monthly newslettter
• post your newsletter on a web page offered through your school’s website (This too can be a template that you use and then just keep replacing the info. Plus, you won’t have to make copies or deal with any not making it home.)
• jot down noteworthy events and have a parent volunteer or classroom mom create the newsletter for you
• To deal with lost copies, I keep ONE copy posted outside my classroom door. I make sure to mention to parents from day one that if a newsletter sent home does not make it, they can then access it outside the classroom.

The following is a list of read aloud books that are a great accompaniment to many lessons. They are sorted by topic. Check back as the list will grow.

First Days of School:

Fidgety Fish by Ruth Galloway (Great book to make a point with little ones.)

A Very Special Critter by Gina and Mercer Meyer (The Critter books are great for teaching manners.)

Just Say Please by Gina and Mercer Meyer

Just a Bad Day by Gina and Mercer Meyer

Alphabet:

The Handmade Alphabet by Laura Rankin

Say It, Sign It by Elaine Epstein

The Disappearing Alphabet by Richard Wilbur

Autumn:

A Book of Seasons by Alice and Martin Provenson

Autumn Days by Ann Schweninger

Picking Apples and Pumpkins by Amy and Richard Hutchings

What Happens in Autumn by National Geographic Society

The Lonely Scarecrow by Tim Preston

Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle

Being Brave:

Harriet and the Roller Coaster by Nancy Carlson

Colonial/Thanksgiving:

Turkey’s Gift to the People

Thanksgiving on Thursday (Magic Tree House #27) by Mary Pope Osborne and Sal Murdocca

Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland and Sonja Lamut

The Night Before Thanksgiving by Natasha Wing

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson and Judy Schachner

…If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern and Anna DiVito

A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman

Nine Days to Christmas: A Story of Mexico by Marie Hall Ets and Aurora Labastida

What Star is This? by Joseph Slate

Who is Coming to Our House? by Joesph Slate

A Child Was Born: A First Nativity Book by Grace Maccarone

Christmas Stories and Poems Illustrated by Lisa McCue

Classics:

The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson

The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Susan Blaire

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Colors:

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

Lunch by Denise Fleming

Counting:

Let’s Count It Out, Jesse Bear by Nancy White Carlstrom (Rhyming Book!)

One to Ten and Back Again by Ann Ferns (Rhyming Book!)

12 Ways to Get to 11 by Eve Merriam

The Best Bug Parade by Stuart J. Murphy

Days of the Week:

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

Earth Day:

The Earth and I by Frank Asch

Farm Life:

The Little Red Hen

Cock-a-doodle-d00 Barnyard Hullabaloo by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz (Rhyming book!)

The Cow That Went Oink by Bernard Most

Great Endings:

Doctor De Soto by William Steig

Individualism:

Something Special by David McPhail

Incredible You! by Dr. Wayne W. Dryer w/ Kristina Tracy

Mice:

Lunch by Denise Fleming

Scaredy Mouse by Alan McDonald

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

Mother and Child:

Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild! by Mem Fox

Just You and Me by Sam McBratney

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

Ocean Life:

A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle

Life in the Sea by Maris Rius and J.M. Parramon

Fidgety Fish by Ruth Galloway

Science:

Tadpole to Frog by Elizabeth Roger/Scholastic (Pop-up!)

Silly:

Counting on Frank by Rod Clement

Nobody’s Mother is in Second Grade by Robin Pulver

Mooncake by Frank Asch

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slbodkina

When the Fly Flew In…by Lisa Westberg Peters

Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin

The ____ from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler (series)

Spring:

The Baby Beebee Bird by Diane Redfield Massie

Our Two Gardens by Margaret Hebblethwaite and Peter Kavanagh

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

The Honeybee and the Robber by Eric Carle

Spider’s Babysitting Job by Robert Kraus

Hungry Harry by Joanne Partis

Miss Spider’s New Car by David Kirk (Rhyming Book!)

When Will it be Spring? by Catherine Walters

Weather:

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

One tool that I love to use as an informal assessment of understanding is the “yes/no cards”. These cards are simple to use with any elementary age group including kindergarten. I will take a stack of index cards without the lines, and write the word “yes” on one side and the word “no” on the other side. These are great to pass out quickly at the end of a lesson or you can even have kids keep their card in their desks (if you trust them!). I first used this idea when I was introducing my first graders to the concept of what a sentence was. You can access that particular lesson on this site in the section “language arts” under “subjects”.