Picture Books Linky Party for the 1st Week of School

Today I am linky up with my special blogging buddy DeAnne over at First Grade and Fabulous. During my last 9 years of teaching I was an ESL Resource Specialist at a Title I school in Anchorage Alaska. I saw the most limited English speaking students in Grades K-6 in my morning learning center. I had small groups of students who would come in for an hour to 3 hours a day. It was so important to make them feel welcomed and know that in my class it was safe to take risks and that each and every one was respected. Picture books were a very important part of my daily routine because they could relate to pictures. It also helped to build background for them and learn new words.

One of my favorites was "I Like Me" by Nancy Carlson. It is the perfect book to help ESL students feel good about themselves. It also teaches that it is okay to make a mistake and try again. I always told my students that in my class it was okay to make mistakes as long as they tried their best. After reading, my students would draw a picture of what they liked about themselves.

My other favorite book was "David Goes to School" by David Shannon. David so reminded me of my own son, David, who was always getting in trouble at school. When David graduated college I gave him a copy of the book and we read it and laughed about all the crazy things he did. Now he has a son of his own who luckily didn't take after him when he started school.

It was so easy for my ESL students to understand what was "not" acceptable behavior at school in such a funny way. I loved to listen to them laugh knowing that they understood without even knowing a word of English. It was easy to set some classroom rules after reading it. 

I can't wait to go back to DeAnne's linky and read what all the others love reading during Back to School week. Just click on the picture at the top of the post to access all the others who have linked up. How about linking up, too?

Thanks for all you do to make a difference for your students.  

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What are your favorite Back to School picture books?