Back to School: On the First Day of Kindergarten by Tish Rabe

It can be scary, going off to the first day of "big school,"and it is important that youngsters know what's going to happen on that important day.

On the first day of Kindergarten I thought it was so cool.

Making lots of friends,
Riding the bus to my school.

Not all kids take the bus, but all of them come to that moment when they and their parents wave goodbye, and they are on their own, but not alone. And in Tish Rabe's jolly sing-along version based on "The first day of Christmas," On the First Day of Kindergarten (Harper, 2018) new students get a preview of school days to come, singing their way through the doings in the first twelve days of school.

Rabe's varied classmates chat excitedly on the bus, and Rabe's young Kindergartner, with her ladybug backpack, twists around in her seat to see the other riders as the bus pulls up to the school, where they are greeted and led into their classroom by their teacher, and their first day begins.

Soon the various touseled-haired moppets are busy doing new things, and adding each new day's events to their song.

On the sixth day of Kindergarten,
I thought it was so cool....

Sliding down the slide,
Singing a song,
Running in a race,
Counting up to ten,
making lots of friends,
and riding my bus to school!

And there are plenty more activities to come, with chances for all sorts of students to shine--painting at easels, laughing together at lunch, and learning new skills in gym--in the days to come in this cheery sneak preview of the opening days of Kindergarten recounted in author Rabe's familiar rhymes and rhythm and artist Laura Hughes' cute ink, watercolor, and digital illustrations of all kinds of kids making messes and working hard at their lessons.

Share this one with the classics, Natasha Wing's The Night Before Kindergarten and Joseph Slate's look at first days from the teacher's point of view, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten (Miss Bindergarten Books (Paperback)).

Off to School! K Is for Kindergarten by Erin Dailey

ARE YOU COUNTING THE DAYS UNTIL KINDERGARTEN?

A IS FOR AT LAST!

B IS FOR BOUNCING BALLS!

Erin Dailey's K is for Kindergarten (Sleeping Bear Alphabet Books) (Sleeping Bear Press, 2017) takes the rising Kindertgartner through the all important alphabet of school doings all right, from A to Z, with C is for Classroom and D is for Directions (like those School Rules to follow), Q is for Quiet Time and T is for Terrific Teachers.

But this book not only offers practice in alphabetical order and initial sounds. but also includes a lot of work with numbers, shapes, and other concepts as well. Each letter's page features a Kindergarten Countdown and a Kindergarten Challenge with plenty to do. For example, the Letter A has kids marking the first day of Kindergarten on a calendar and the current day, counting the days between, and making a paper chain with the days' numbers in between on each to remove as the days count down. The Kindergarten Challenge tells them to count the days until the 100th day of school and mark it with an X as well, and then suggest they learn 100 new words, one each day, by then. Each of the activities is imaginative, with some hands-on activities and some intellectual concepts, and with something for everyone that children will especially enjoy along the way.

Joseph Cowman's muted retro illustrations offer an attractive alternative to the usual cartoon kids found in most Kindergarten stories, and this book provides a lot for parent and child to do, also offering an opportunity to draw out feelings about the start of school that will help ease the transition to Kindergarten.

E Pluribus Unum! The Class by Boni Ashburn

The alarm clock sounds on that fateful morning!

SOME ARE EAGER, UP SINCE DAWN.
THREE JUST SIT AND YAWN AND YAWN.

It's the first day of Kindergarten, and all over the school district, twenty kids in nineteen different houses are getting up (or not!) to get ready for school.

FIVE BEGIN TO LOOK ALIVE.
ONE'S SURE HE WON'T SURVIVE!

Some breakfast heartily on pancakes, some with butterflies in their tummies can barely swallow a bite. Some have their first-day outfits at the ready. Some can't even find socks that match. Some have new shoes, shiny and stiff. Some have "the old shoe blues." Some have ribbons in their hair and others still have bed-head tangles.

FIVE PULL ON THEIR FAVORITE JEANS.
TWO ARE FASHIONISTA QUEENS.

And then by the big yellow bus, by family cars, and car pools in vans, and even trudging down the block, all the different kids converge on the school, where all ages crowd in through those open doors to begin again:

THROUGH THE DOORS THAT ALL MUST PASS....AND THEN..... WELCOME STUDENTS TO OUR CLASS!

Out of many... one!

Twenty different kids, all different in their different ways, meet their teacher, ready to start the job of making them into one class, in Boni Ashburn's back-to-school look at how one classroom worth of kids start to school, The Class (Beach Lane Books, 2016).

Author Ashburn has a wonderful way with rhyming couplets, portraying all the rituals, routines, and snafus of that first morning of school, as well as with honesty and humor the myriad of emotions that first-time Kindergartners must feel as they face that first day. The delightfully detailed artwork by Kimberly Gee gives each distinct child his or her own personality, style, and body language which together make clear the excitement, the anxieties, and the promise of starting school, and subtly reveals the task that that one teacher faces in bringing all that diversity together into a group that can support each other and learn through that all-important first year. It takes all kinds to make a world and a class, and each youngster who shares this book can see himself or herself in one or more of these rising Kindergartners.

As Publishers Weekly says, "the book’s biggest strength is its subtle recognition of difference: even though these kids are all headed to the same place, their individual family situations, moods, and interests all play roles in bringing them there."

Back to School: Monkey Not Ready for Kindergarten by Marc Brown

Monkey's got a bad case of the Kindergarten jitters.

With just one week to go to the big day, those unknowns, the WHAT IFs, are worrying.

WHY DOES MONKEY NEED TO GO TO KINDERGARTEN ANYWAY?

HE ALREADY CAN COUNT TO 12, AND HE USUALLY REMEMBERS MOST OF THE ALPHABET?

But what if--he misses the bus... makes no friends.... can't locate the bathroom in time... can't stomach the lunches.... and forgets the whole alphabet?

But mom and dad reassure Monkey that he IS going to be ready.

First things first. Mom takes Monkey to pick out the perfect lunch box and promises to pack nothing with peas in it. Monkey gets a new backpack, and he and Mom and Dad read books about the first day of school.

But Monkey still does not feel ready.

THE DAY BEFORE KINDERGARTEN, MONKEY HAS A PLAYDATE WITH SOME KIDS WHO ARE GOING TO BE IN HIS CLASS.

His friends are full on enthusiasm about all the things to look forward to: The cubbies have their names painted on them! Their teacher is very nice! The playground has great slides and monkey bars. What's not to like?

And when the first day of Kindergarten dawns, Monkey is ready.

The beloved author-illustrator Marc Brown, creator of Arthur and D.W.'s aardvark adventures, takes on Kindergarten anxiety headlong by pointing out things to do to head off the worst case scenarios that new students imagine, and Monkey feel ready to handle what comes when he waves goodbye in Brown's latest, Monkey: Not Ready for Kindergarten (Alfred A. Knopf Books, 2015). Knowledge is power, and armed with information about Kindergarten, this newbie feels empowered. For more pre-Kindergarten prep, pair this one with Katie Davis' Kindergarten Rocks! (review here) or Sue Ganz-Schmitt's Planet Kindergarten (see review here.).

Back to School: Planet Kindergarten by Sue Ganz-Schmitt

TODAY IS LIFTOFF.

I SUIT UP. DAD HELPS ME WITH MY GEAR.

INTO THE ROCKET!

BOOSTERS FIRE...  BLAST OFF!

There are times in life when a person just has to boldly go...into a new frontier... into a new place in space... even into the world of Planet Kindergarten.

This little astronaut has all the right stuff his mission requires... he hopes! But what if his lunch floats off into outer space?

There's plenty to worry about as the family space shuttle searches for a place to dock, but once inside the big space station, he gets the idea that this command crew knows the drill.

WE ARE ALIENS FROM MANY GALAXIES.
OUR COMMANDER GIVES US OUR FLIGHT PLANS FOR THE DAY.

The little crew mates notice that things in their pod are different from home. There's a different atmosphere here. Even gravity seems to be altered.

WE HAVE TO TRY TO STAY IN OUR SEATS. AND OUR HANDS GO UP A LOT!

It is a new environment, and some of the rookies can't help eyeing the escape hatch. But their training prevails, and they soon get to work executing their mission. Planet Kindergarten is a whole new world, but it is a stimulating one, and before the crew knows it, it's time for splashdown on their home planet ... until tomorrow, when their explorations continue.

Author Sue Ganz-Schmitt's& Planet Kindergarten (Chronicle Books, 2014) offers a unique concept of Kindergarten as a voyage to a different world--which in many ways it is. Some kids contemplating the liftoff to Kindergarten will like to think of themselves as intrepid astronauts on a mission to explore a new world, and artist Shane Prigmore's retro space cartooning, set in digital electric colors against glossy black backgrounds, offers plenty of visual humor in his spoof of the Jetsons-style school that will give rising Kindergartners a giggle and perhaps a new, more heroic view of their mission. "A genius way to ease kids into the new adventure," intones Kirkus Reviews.

Graduation Evaluation: The Best Thing about Kindergarten by Jennifer Lloyd

It's not over until it's over, but for Mrs. Appleby's Kindergarten class, all a-bubble over their graduation program today, it seems like it is. They've practiced singing their song on the stage and finished their craft-paper mortarboards, and they can't wait to march in with their parents as the audience and stand up there proudly.

But there is still a little time until they get the call to line up for the procession, and Mrs. Appleby has one lesson left to teach.

Mrs. Appleby looked at her class proudly.

They had made fancy hats... and special decorations.

They knew how to sing their graduation song.

"We still have time for one last guessing game. See if you can guess what is the best thing about Kindergarten?

Hands shoot up. Tabitha says it must be Calendar Time, and some of the kids who agree start reciting the days of the week!

Corinne disagrees. It's the Playhouse Center for her. Benjamin favors the Block Box, and Clara goes for Arts and Crafts.

Suggestions fly--everything from Math Time to the all-time favorite--Recess!

But Mrs. Appleby smiles and shakes her head. Nobody has guessed her best thing yet. But just as the circle of kids are racking their brains, the call comes to line up and go to the auditorium for the big ceremony.

"This is our grade today.
With much pride we are on our way!" they sing.

The diplomas are passed out to much applause from their teacher and the whole audience. But some of the kids still have a question for Mrs. Appleby, and this time she has the answer:

"Kids, what's the best thing about Kindergarten?" she says, with a dramatic pause.

"It's each one of you, of course. My students are the best thing about Kindergarten!"

Jennifer Lloyd's newest, The Best Thing about Kindergarten (Simply Read Books, 2013) is a great read-aloud for the end of the school year for kindergartners, a simple, child-centered story which celebrates how a group of very different preschoolers have made the transition into a class of real school kids. Qin Leng's illustrations are full of movement and colorful energy just like any group of five-year-olds, and  Lloyd's text recalling the academic adventures of the year has earned this one a gold-star review from Kirkus. A Kindergarten teacher herself, Lloyd is also an experienced author. (See my review of her earlier book, Ella's Umbrellas, here.)

Back to School: It's Your First Day of School, Annie Claire by Nancy White Carlstrom

Little Annie Claire is suffering first-day jitters on the night before her debut at preschool, and her anxiety manifests itself in a series of questions directed at her ever-patient mother. Her worries range from the trivial...

"What if at story time
I sleep and I snore,
And everyone laughs,
And I just snore some more?"

...to the deepest fears of the very young:

"What if no one will play
Or be friends with me,
And I'm all alone
Sitting up in that tree?"

But Mama warmly but firmly counters all Annie Claire's anxieties with words of reassurance. To the snoring worry she calmly predicts the teacher's reaction:

"Teacher will say
'Annie Claire, sleepyhead!
Remember tonight
It's early to bed!'"

And to the fear of friendlessness she reminds Annie Claire that her friends will be there for her:

"Some of your old friends
Already wait
There in the classroom.
Let's not be late!"

But the empathetic Annie is also worrying about Mama, left alone at home.

"Mama, what if you're sad
And can't eat your lunch,
'Cause you're home all alone,
And miss me a bunch?"

"We will get used to this.
We both have to try.
It will be okay."

"But why, Mama, why?"

"Because, Annie Claire,
I'll always love you.
No matter what happens
Or what you might do."

Despite the promise of new experiences, the first "first day" of school also has a bit of sadness for both parent and child, and Nancy White Carlstrom doesn't gloss over the very real emotions of that momentous day in her latest, It's Your First Day of School, Annie Claire. Carlstrom, the author of the best-selling Jesse Bear books, again brings that parent-child empathy to this new picture book, ably illustrated by Margie Moore, to help ease the transition to those first days out in the wide, wide world.

Counting the Days: The Twelve Days of Springtime by Deborah Lee Rose

On the first day of springtime my teacher gave to me
A garden to water carefully.

Spring has sprung in Kindergarten, and the class follows their hopeful teacher outside for a bit of nature appreciation, beginning with a spot of gardening. Kids carrying shovels, seed packs, trowels, a watering can bigger than most of them, and a long, long water hose get their, er, feet wet in the arts of horticulture, with predictable results. In fact the kids wind up with more dirt and water than the seeds do, but it's all in good fun, and their teacher bravely forges on to the next day's challenge.

On the second day of springtime my teacher gave to me
Two turtle ponds and a garden to water carefully.

Of course, where there's water, there are many ways for kids to get wet--catching tadpoles, fishing (for sunken boots), and of course the ever-popular falling in!

But tomorrow is another day, and it's on to three seedlings to be planted, four ladybugs, and five daffodils ("like stars") to be counted. The kids get busy with their Acme Tree Planting Kit, all, including one kid's ever-present monkey doll, attired in construction paper lady-bug hats.

Of course, academics cannot be slighted in the giddiness of spring, so the sixth day of springtime brings "six signs to read (STOP, FIRE STATION, PUBLIC LIBRARY, POLICE, BOOK NOOK) on the traditional walking field trip. The fine arts can't be ignored, either, so the seventh day brings seven notes for singing (do, re, me, fa, sol, la, ti); the eighth day brings "wings for wearing" as the class dances like butterflies, bees, and dragonflies on the new grass; and the ninth day brings a field trip and "nine ducks for drawing" in an al fresco art lesson at Finkle Family Farm.

Back at school, the kids become poets, with "ten words for rhyming." Then it's back into the woods and over the creek on "eleven stones for stepping," and a return to their campus for "twelve flags for flapping." The kids celebrate their counting and the harried teacher celebrates the end of the celebration!

Carey Armstrong-Ellis' humorous cartoons of kids doing their favorite things in the balmy outdoors lend plentiful visual interest to this curriculum-related picture book. Each child in the class has his own personality--one girl draws horses, feeds horses, rides horses, and thinks about nothing but horses, while a chubby boy finds a way to chill out in every scene, and one horticulturist-to-be plants, tends, and picks her flowers in an impromptu bouquet for her long-suffering and deserving teacher. Even a friendly frog gets into the act, appearing on someone's head on every page. The Twelve Days of Springtime: A School Counting Book is a fine choice to introduce those annual classroom activities relating to the growing season.