For some areas, students arrived back to school in August, for others, September means the start of a new school year. A few fun themes are Transportation, Back to School, and Routines. Follow along some beloved characters such as Pigeon, Mouse, Elephant and Piggie, Pete the Cat, and Bear as your students learn all about school and following routines.
Biscuit Goes to School Biscuit runs to school and learns all about a school day. This is a great introduction to what students might do at school. The story begins with a large yellow school bus- which is a fun way to begin discussing transportation to school.
Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus In this classic story by Mo Willems, Pigeon tries his best to drive the bus. There is a repeating line that you can have students repeat or record on a switch “Let me drive the bus”
The Pigeon Has to Go to School Join pigeon again as he learns he needs to go to school. He is nervous about school starting and shares all of the reason why he’s worries. This story is great for talking through big feelings while learning about what is involved in a school day.
Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes Pete sings an upbeat song as he goes about his school day: riding the bus, eating lunch, playing on the playground and much more. The pictures can be a bit busy, this story is great to sing along with the story box items.
Mouse Loves School This book has colorful pictures and a simple storyline. It is a great book to use with a story box. Fill your box with items that your students will typically find in their classroom and use doing their school day.
Time for School Mouse Join Mouse on his next adventure as he starts school. This story is also an easy book to make a story box with many fun school items.
Are you Ready to Play Outside Elephant and Piggie are very excited to play outside, and then they find out it’s raining. This is a fun story to help students problem solve and learn what they can do when things don’t go as planned.
I Love my White Shoes Follow Pete the Cat as he wears many different shoes. There are a few ways you can teach this story such as learning colors and self-help- getting dressed for school. Students can share information about their shoes- the color, type, laces, etc.
Bear Can’t Wait Waiting is hard! And there is a lot of waiting to be done at school. Follow along as one of our favorite bears learns how to wait to surprise his friends. Not everything goes according to plan and Bear learns how to deal with his disappointment.
Waiting isn’t Easy Elephant and Piggie are back as they also learn about waiting for a surprise.
Time for Bed The baby animals in this story learn it’s time for bed and they snuggle in. There is a repeating phrase throughout the story: Time for Bed, which students can repeat. This book is great to teach about animals (of course), and what it is like at nighttime. This is a great book to teach about routines.
The Pigeon Needs a Bath Join our favorite pigeon again as he resists bathtime. This is a great story to connect to hand washing and learning about clean and dirty.
Bear Can’t Sleep Our sweet Bear just can’t fall asleep. Follow along with Bear as he learns what will help him to relax. Use this story to help students what will make them comfortable during the day.
The Napping House In this story by Don and Audrey Wood, a house full of animals and a couple of people, can’t sleep. The story builds each page, adding another character to the house. Students can work on predicting what will happen next- with a snoring granny, a dreaming child, and a dozing dog.
I will Take a Nap What will Gerald do? He is tired and cranky. Follow along as Gerald decides to take a nap but Piggie interrupts. This is a great social story about recognizing needs, and respecting others’ needs.
