First Week of School: A New Back to School Book and Freebie

I have a bit of a book haul for you today.  

I went to the public library at just the right time. 

The librarian was putting out some brand new books in the children's section. 

I grabbed this stack to check out. 

I am always on the look out for new books to share with my kids.

I think I may have found some great fresh reads to use for the beginning of the school year.

One of my favorite back to school books has always been Chrysanthemum.

It is a great one to use as a springboard to talking and learning the names of all of our new friends. 

In this book, Chrysanthemum dislikes her name until her teacher convinces her it is beautiful. 

I shared a free math follow up to this story on my TPT store. 

You can access it here: 

Chrysanthemum Math Freebie

During my trip to the library, I came across another book based on a child's name that I may want to use in place of Chrysanthemum.

It is called, Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal.

In this book, Alma also dislikes her name. Her full name is 33 letters long and "it never fits"!

  She complains to her father and he goes on to explain where each part of her name came from. 

After learning more about her name she changes her mind and begins to love and appreciate it. 

Another character who has a problem with her name but through events in the story, changes her feelings. 

I switched up the math follow up to go along with this book. 

You can click the link below to grab this free file: 

Alma: Math Follow Up

Students write the letters of their name in the ten frame boxes.  Then they record the number and try to represent that number in as many ways possible. 

Students may start with simple addition or subtraction equations, but challenge them to add other representations such as money, clock time, drawings, even tally marks. 

This activity ends up being a quick informal assessment of a student's math understandings. 

Do you want to add this book to your library?

Head here to grab a copy:

Alma and How She Got Her Name

Do you have books that you love to share with your students during those first weeks of school?
Would love to hear!

Please comment or email at youngdor8@gmail.com.