VIRTUAL Read Alouds for the First Week of School

This week I thought it might be helpful to round up some books and activities that you can use during the first week or two of school! A lot of the books that I found promote Social Emotional Learning, which I know is a big focus as we return from what has been referred to as a "traumatic" school year and enter another one full of unknowns.

For each book I have included a link for you to access and read it online and/or play a YouTube video of someone else reading the text out loud so you don’t have to buy anything! Some links are to books on Epic! which is FREE for educators! I’ve also included links to order hard copies on Amazon if you would prefer to do that.

I was thinking that you could read or watch the video of the book during a live meeting and have a class discussion and then ask kids to respond to the writing prompt in the chat on your video platform or on Canvas/Seesaw/whatever platform you will have up and running during the first week of school. I've included ideas for discussion questions and writing prompts for each book below.

This book teaches students virtual classroom expectations including: don’t wear pajamas to class, eat before class, bring everything you need to meetings, etc…)

Discussion: Create a list of guidelines/expectations for virtual learning. 

Writing Prompt: Write down one rule that you learned from the book and explain why it is important.

Available On: Amazon & Epic (Read Aloud Video)

Discussion: Why is it important to make everyone feel included?

Writing Prompt: What are some things that you can do to make someone different than you feel welcome? 

Available On: Amazon & Youtube (Read Aloud)

Discussion: Share a time that you thought you couldn’t do something, but someone believed in you, and that gave you the confidence to try. 

Writing Prompt: Write about a time that you thought something was too difficult for you, but you tried to do it anyway.

Available On: Amazon & Epic (E-Book)

Teaching Idea: Identify rhyming words in the story.

Discussion: What lesson do you think the author wanted to teach readers when he wrote this book?

Writing Prompt: Write about a time that you weren't able to do something that everyone else seemed to be able to do. How did you feel? What did you do about it?

Available On: Amazon & Epic (Audiobook)

Discussion: How did working together help Rafael and Maya?

Writing Prompt: Write about a time that you did something tough or solved a problem by working together with others.

Available On: Amazon & Epic (Read Aloud Video)

Discussion: What lesson did you learn from Stillwater’s story about his Uncle Ry?

Writing Prompt: If your school had “Uncle Ry Day,” how would you celebrate it? What kinds of Uncle Ry things would you do?

Available On: Amazon & Epic! (Audiobook)

Discussion: If you were in this story, how would Louis’ actions make you feel?

Writing Prompt: What is wrong with letting words erupt from your mouth while others are speaking?

Available On: Amazon & Youtube (Read Aloud)

Discussion: In this story, Rosie demonstrates perseverance. What does it mean to persevere?

Writing Prompt: Write about a time that you showed perseverance.

Available On: Amazon & Epic (Read Aloud Video)

Discussion: Do you think that Wallace was telling the truth about what he did this summer or exaggerating? What makes you think that?

Writing Prompt: Write about how you spent your summer vacation.

*Have students write about what they did this summer OR make up a story about what they did since they were supposed to be in quarantine and then share & have others guess whether or not what they wrote really happened.

Available On: Amazon & YouTube (Read Aloud)

I hope this saves you some time and stress as you plan for the beginning of the school year! 

A Tale of Two Beasts (YouTube - Read Aloud by Sarah Silverman)

First Day Jitters (Epic, YouTube)

I normally read this one every year, but the teachers at my school suggested that we find another book for the first day since this book is all about kids being in a school building on their first day.

Chrysanthemum (Amazon, Epic, Google Play)

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? (Amazon, YouTube)

The Name Jar (Amazon, YouTube)

This is a sweet story about Unhei, a little girl who comes to America from Korea.  When she goes to school, none of the other kids can pronounce her name, so she starts thinking about choosing a new one. Her classmates start putting American name suggestions in a jar for her to choose from. One day she arrives at school and the name jar is gone. She realizes that she likes her name best and tells her classmates that her name means grace. The kids and the teacher applaud her choice and try to learn to pronounce her name. Her new friend Joey admits that he took the name jar because he wanted her to keep her real name.

Laura Candler has a great blog post about this book with ideas for teaching 20 different reading skills using this book and a free worksheet to go along with it!

The Invisible Boy (Amazon, YouTube)

This story is about a little boy named Brian who is quiet. His teacher is too busy dealing with louder kids in his class to notice him. When it's time to pick teams at recess, the kids who are better than him are chosen and he is forgotten. The other kids talk about a birthday party that he wasn't invited to and he feels left out. Then, a new boy named Justin comes to their class. He eats bulgogi at lunch and the other kids make fun of him. Brian wonders which is worse - being ignored or being laughed at. Brian befriends Justin even though the other kids teased him. When the kids have to work in groups, Brian is left out again, but Justin invites him to join his group. Justin asks Brian to draw the pictures for their group project. Later that day, Justin invites him to sit with him at lunch and Brian doesn't feel invisible anymore.

Discussion: Why did Brian feel invisible? Have you ever felt that way?

Writing Prompt: What can you do to make sure that none of your classmates ever feel invisible like Brian did in this story?

We Don't Eat Our Classmates (YouTube)

This is a story about a little dinosaur named Penelope who is nervous about going to school for the first time. When she gets to school, she finds that all of her classmates are children and she eats them. Her teacher tells her, "We don't eat our classmates!" and she spits them out. Everyone starts making friends, but she is lonely. One day, the class' pet fish bites her finger and she doesn't like it. Once she finds out what it's like to be someone else's snack, she stops eating other children.