It’s a classic text and rightly so. There is a lot of vocabulary that can be practiced and learned beyond that included in this delightful and engaging book. I have a regular copy and a pop up version for special occasions.

I read this book at the beginning of term as it helps establish my expectations of classroom behaviour. I have also read this to parents, and sen it read at a teachers PD. A classic book for teaching empathy and understanding. It is available in multiple languages too.

I learned a lot about animals myself from this book! All animals are drawn true to life size, or at least as much as will fit on a page. Students love to touch the real size hand of a gorilla or see sharks teeth.

A great class / crowd participation book. Practice reading this book before you do so with students for the first time so that you know where all the coloured dots get moved too. Students love to play along.

A delightfully cheeky boy called David doing everything that he shouldn’t. For engagement substitute the word David for your own child’s name or those of your students. This was bought for me by none other than David from The Magic Crayons.

This book was probably written to be read at halloween, and does a great job at those events. Over time I have begun to use it to teach young children what to do if they are approached by a bad person. Go away ! they shout.

Elephants Cannot Dance!

An Elephant and Piggie Book
By Mo Willems

Once students are learned phonics this series of books become s delight to read. Straightforward text and engaging storyline. Equally fun for parent or child to read aloud.

Piggie would like to help his good friend Elephant to dance. But Elephants cannot dance. But there is nothing to say he cannot try !

Happy Pig Day!

An Elephant and Piggie Book
Mo Willems

Elephant feels sad that he cannot join in on Pig Day day

Today I Will Fly!

An Elephant and Piggie Book
By Mo Willems

Piggie wants to learn to fly. Maybe he will with the help of his friends !

I could easily fill this list with Eric Carle books. Children here lean colors, animal names, and to stomp, thump and wiggle! I bought the giant book version to read at my tim sensei schools xmas party.

Great for expanding vocabulary. I often ask students to draw their own hat idea afterwards and describe it to me.

An engaging and easily to follow book explained by the title. On each page there is a different animal of a different colour looking at me.

… jumping on the bed! I’ve found the children get so excited by the images and characters they need a little extra encouragement to read with me, but it’s still a real favourite. You can sing the words or read them.

Working as both a Private Teacher and as Manager of a dispatch teaching company I have been continually impressed with the value for money that Jolly Phonics proved with their resources. All 7 workbooks for around $20! The content is excellent too. Jolly Phonics offer all resources in Print or Cursive fonts, so be sure to select correctly. All links here are for Print.
The complete set of 7 workbooks covering all the 42 letter sounds in print letters.