Happy World Read Aloud Day!

While I LOVE home projects, my heart is really in teaching Kindergarten at this stage in my life. As a Kindergarten teacher, there are few things that I think are as important as instilling a love of reading in your children. You can do this by expressing your own love of reading, reading to them daily, and (gasp!) reading on your own in front of them! I tell my students every single day that story time is my favorite time, I compliment their reading (even if they're just looking at pictures), and I talk to them about how I read every morning and every night before bed!

Since today is world read aloud day, I thought I would share some of my favorite books. Today, I'll share my favorite books for the littles (or littles at heart). I will share my adult favorites another day! :)

If I was forced to choose just one FAVORITE, this would be it. Elmer is such a great, feel good story! The illustrations are incredible and the message is my favorite (be yourself)!

This one has a special place in my heart because my godchild Joshie can probably recite every rhyme in it without looking at the pages! I bought this for him when he was really little, and he WORE THIS BOOK OUT - Just ask my poor sister who can also recite the entire book verbatim. ;) Sorry, sis! I love this one for the little boys (or girls) in your life who love nursery rhymes and cars!

This is not necessarily MY favorite, but this is at the top of my class's list for BEST BOOK EVER! It is all about a cat who thinks he is a chihuahua. Every time he enters his closet, it is a different world-Animal Narnia, y'all!

A book that doubles as a song AND has a good message?? LOVE!!! All Pete the Cat books are amazing, but the Christmas one is my personal favorite. I may or may not sing the song in my head on a daily basis. Bonus points for Pete the Cat books - they ALL come with a free reading of the book/song that you can download off of their site! SWEET!!!

This is my favorite collection of poems. I love everything that Shel Silverstein puts his hands on (specifically this and The Giving Tree)! My personal favorite is the poem in this book is the one about the lady with all the snakes. <3

This story is a classic, and it has some of my favorite illustrations ever! This book also gives you a great opportunity to read a book and then watch the movie to compare (Venn diagram, anyone?)!

I can't help but love a story with a good lesson behind it! I also love the illustrations in this story! Can you even imagine the art projects that go along with this one??? EEK!!
 

This is a new favorite! My nephews (who both love reading) introduced this to me, and I immediately bought it for my class! We laughed so hard at this interactive book. My practicum student told me that she went to buy it RIGHT after we read it because she loved it so much, too!

If you want to transition your child into chapter books, READ THIS TO THEM!!! This is perfect for a read aloud because Junie B. uses some inappropriate language (she uses the words stupid and hate often), so you can change that up a bit! She also says some things wrong (ex. "nouncements" for announcements). I change those, too, when I'm reading aloud. Junie B. is a VERY naughty little Kindergarten student who happens to be one of my K students' favorite characters! They can't get over how hysterical she is! We read a chapter or two a day. I'd suggest recapping what you read the night before if you do this with your child. :)

I just couldn't compile a list of my favorite books for kids without a Dr. Seuss classic! I love ALL Dr. Seuss books, but this one is my favorite! We read it when we learned about the food guide pyramid and we were talking about proteins! I made green eggs and ham by putting green food coloring in scrambled eggs and rubbing it on deli ham. The kids LOVED it! You could do this at home with your own kids! Giving them experiences with books is a great way for them to fall in love with reading!

While the list could go on and on and on and on FOREVER, I narrowed it down (a bit). Which books are favorites in your house/classroom/childhood? Have you learned about any new books? Are you RUSHING to Amazon to order some of these? Please do!!! If you do anything for your children, READ to them! It is the greatest gift! :)

(Need hints to get your non-readers reading? E-mail me, and I can give you some suggestions! :))