I hope most educators who read this still have a week or two of summer vacation, but here in Springfield, Massachusetts, today is the first day of school. To get everyone back in the swing of things, I am going to post a review every school day this week with books that may be useful for the first few weeks of school.

For more ideas, be sure to check out my back-to-school book list. I updated all my book lists over the summer. Some others that might be helpful for the beginning of school include the lists about persistence, kindness and community, Labor Day, and Hispanic Heritage (Hispanic Heritage month starts September 15). To see all the book lists, move your cursor to “Book Lists” under the blog title, and they should all appear.

To get things started, here are two books for those who are going to school for the very first time!

Kindergarten Gets Ready by Naomi Danis, illustrated by Pete Oswald (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 40 pages, ages 4-6). Mr. Bee spends a week getting ready for his kindergarten class. When he arrives on Monday, the classroom is dark and disorderly. Each day, he cleans and unpacks: books, blocks, toys, dress-up clothes, art supplies. He rolls out the story rug and hangs the alphabet banner. He practices saying his students’ names and labels a seat and cubby for each one. By Friday afternoon, the classroom is bright, clean, and organized, ready for the most important thing of all–the children! The final illustration shows them enjoying every part of the room while Mr. Bee welcomes them.

I can’t wait to share this book with the kindergarten teachers at my school. It’s a perfect introduction to kindergarten, with just a sentence or two of text on each page, and colorful illustrations that introduce the different parts of the classroom and will get kids excited and ready to play and learn. Mr. Bee has a cute hamster named Yoshi who makes a Where’s Waldo?-style appearance on every page.

What Do We Do in Preschool? by Kathryn Wanless (Red Comet Press, 40 pages, ages 3-5). “What do we do in preschool? We wash our hands, we say hello/We sing, we snack, we hide…uh-oh!/And all too soon…it’s time to go!” In three verses, readers get a chance to see how preschool works. Each verse portrays a child surrounded by smiling teachers, classmates, and, at the beginning and end of the day parents (or other caregivers) who drop off and reliably pick up. Each vignette features a different colored text and follows a different child through their day. Includes a note from the author, who’s a preschool educator, and ideas for how to use the book.

And here’s one for the preschool teachers (and parents of preschoolers) to use during the first week of school. It’s a perfect introduction for young kids, just the right length, and with plenty of illustrations to show what happens at preschool and initiate conversations that will allay anxieties about what school is like. The rhyming text is bouncy, and I love how each vignette ends with, “And all too soon…it’s time to go!” including the final one that shows kids graduating from preschool.