Some of my favorite back to school picture books... and more SUPPLIES

I LOVE reading all the posts lately about back to school ideas, classroom makeovers for the new school year, and deals on school supplies.  Thanks for sharing!!  I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite picture books to read during those first few days of a new school year.

The "David" books by David Shannon

 I realize these are below the reading level of my third graders, but they enjoy hearing these books and the mischief David gets into.  ( David reminds me a bit of my boys also. He he he!) I use these books when going over school rules with the students.  I had found a great idea through ProTeacher a few years ago to create a "Yes, David" book about the rules David should follow in school.  After reading the David books, we brainstorm together the different parts of the school day and the rules we should all follow to keep us safe and others safe during this time.  Then I divide up those times and give each student a situation such as the cafeteria, restroom break, hallways, classroom and etc and each student is to draw a picture of a student following a rule and write " Yes, David" at the bottom of the page.  For example, a student might draw David raising his hand in the classroom and at the bottom write " Yes, David".  Another student might draw kids walking in the hallway and then write " Yes, David".  I then put all of these pages together and create a book.

Another favorite of mine to read during the first few days of a new school year is:

This book is such a fun read aloud.  It's all about the adventures this teacher has during her EXHAUSTING first day of school.  I LOVE to read this book at the end of the first day, and we often discuss whether our first day was anything like the one in this book.  It's a great way to end that first day of school.  The kids are usually exhausted ,and I DEFINITELY am.

This last book I'm going to share with you is also one of my all time favorite picture books.  I like to read it during the first few days of school.

 There are so many fabulous things I can discuss with my students after reading this book.  AND I can never finish this book without shedding  a few tears. 

AND I have spent way too much already on new school supplies!  Yikes!  Today my kids and  I stopped at a Dollar Tree on the way to visit my Dad.  I purchased too many of these darling things for my library.

I keep rethinking  my classroom library set up.  Currently, I have my books organized into baskets according to their A.R. level... BUT then this doesn't help  when  students choose genres that they enjoy reading.  SO... after already entering most of my books into Library Thing and noticing the different genre categories for each book, I think I'm going to change how my books are organized in the library. I am going to categorize them by their genre rather than Accelerated Reader Range.  Each level has a color coded sticker on it so my students will know what reading level the book is, but I think I'm going to then put them into baskets based on its category or genre. What do you think?  How do you organize your books in your classroom library?   By the way if you haven't checked out Library Thing definitely take a look at this.

I also picked up a few of these to use with a few games I am working on.

Then at Wal-mart this evening, I had to pick up a few of these.  They smell fabulous, and these will be at my stellar student desk. ( I pick students who display our V.I.P. principals throughout the day to sit at this fancy desk with new school supplies.)

What are some of your favorite picture books to read to your students during the first few days of a new school year?