10 AWESOME Birthday Books for First Grade
After I wrote last week's post about the ways I celebrate classroom birthdays, I thought it would be fun to put together a collection of birthday books.
To be honest, I've never really given birthday books much thought. But it occurred to me that it might be nice to have a small collection at school. I was thinking the birthday child could choose one to take home for the evening to have his or her parents read to them.
In any event, here's my list of fabulous and highly recommended birthday books! with a suggested activity to go with each.
One Word from Sophia by Jim Averbeck and Yasmeen Ismail: This is a really fun and modern take on a little girl trying to convince her family she needs a giraffe for her birthday. She presents her arguments with pie charts, graphs, and formal presentations, but in the end all that's required is one simple word. Bonus: The family is mixed race AND her mother is a judge. I love that.
Activity: Have your children brainstorm an item they'd really like and then create a persuasive argument using one of Sophia's methods.

Activity: The author uses some repetition on each page, e.g., "Today is a filling day. Filling ... filling ... filling." The kids in your class could use this technique to write their own simple story. For example, "Once there was a dinosaur. Stomp ... stomp ... stomp. He was lonely and wanted a friend. Looking ... looking ... looking."
Monster Party! by Annie Bach: I think any child from 3 to 8 will enjoy this book. The monsters have just the sweetest little faces and the text has a lovely rhythmic rhyme. It's a circular text beginning with birthday preparations and ending with another invite. The middle? Well, it's pretty much your typical birthday party mayhem with a few tears thrown in. I liked it!
Activity: You could do a rhyme roundup or have some fun creating your own monsters. I have some monster art ideas on this page and even more over here.

Activity: After reading this book your children will probably be inspired (with a little help from you) to write their own Q and A book called "Who Will Come to My Party?"
Activity: I think this book would lend itself well to a Grand Conversation about whether one birthday or many birthdays is best. It would be interesting to hear their different ideas, plus the Grand Conversation format is a great way to teach children how to value the opinions of others.

Activity: It might be fun to draw a dog with a birthday hat. This link to Deep Space Sparkle shows you how to create a pup with chalk pastels. Just substitute the glasses for a party hat.

Activity: Before reading this book, I think it would be lots of fun to brainstorm all the "bad" gifts you could give a snake and the reasons why. I'm pretty sure the kids would find this hilarious.

Activity: I think this book also lends itself well to a Grand Conversation. It would be worthwhile discussing the importance of looking beyond appearances and taking the time to really get to know someone. I'm going to read this one to my class at the beginning of the year for sure!

Activity: This book is a lovely reminder about the person (or people) in your life who make your birthday extra special. After reading it to your class it would be fun to write thank you cards to those people.

Activity: A natural would be to have a birthday cupcake sale and send the proceeds to the Kenyan orphanage. This book would also be an excellent start to a discussion about children's rights.
I hope you enjoyed this round-up of books and that you found a couple you like.
8 comments
These are all new to me, I added a few to my Amazon wish list! :) I like the idea of letting the kiddos take a book home to share with their families. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi Miss Trayers! You're super welcome. All of the books were new to me, too, until I borrowed them from my library. I'm glad I took the time:)
DeleteThey were all new to me too. I have one book in my birthday pile - Moira's Birthday by Robert Munsch.
ReplyDeleteI only have one right now, too! I think it's Froggy's Birthday. I'm going to buy Today is the Day and Two Speckled Eggs, though. I really like those two. Thanks for stopping by, Sandi!
DeleteI don't think I have a single birthday book in my collection. I never even thought of it!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, Tammy. I didn't give it much thought myself until recently:)
DeleteThese sound great! I especially like the sound of Boa's Bad Birthday! :D
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was a good one:). Thanks for popping in, Eric!
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