Congratulations on your new teaching position! As educators, we commit to a lifetime of learning. You will learn more in your first five years of teaching than you can possibly imagine. To help get you started, we put together a list of books for you. Check out our list of the 5 best books every new elementary teacher should read.
It is easy to see why this would be the first of the 5 best books every new elementary teacher should read. This is the most requested book for what works in the classroom for teacher and student success. It’s an education staple for preparing effective teachers at all grade levels, pre-K through college, in all content areas. With the release of the 5th edition, it’s now bigger, better, and bolder. The book walks a teacher, either novice or veteran, through structuring and organizing a classroom for success that can be applied at any time of the year.
Build the foundation for a productive year of learning. Written by teachers, for teachers, this comprehensive K-6 guidebook shows how to:
Plan a great first day—set a positive tone right from the start.
Ensure that every part of the day flows smoothly—arrival, recess, lunch, and dismissal times, as well as lessons.
Teach positive discipline—invest children in the rules and build prosocial behavior skills that keep their learning going.
Present engaging academics—spark motivation and lay the groundwork for high academic achievement.
Foster community—start with a daily Morning Meeting and end with a closing circle.
The First Six Weeks of School is packed with practical teaching tips and examples of effective teacher language, along with activities and interactive learning structures—all in a lively, easy-to-navigate format. This book is your essential guide to the early weeks of school!
Teaching is made easier when you have a fast-acting classroom management system that works. Rob Plevin believes any teacher can dramatically reduce classroom behavior problems and achieve classroom management success by adopting this easy-to-follow 6-part plan adapted from his Needs-Focused approach to teaching & classroom management.
Enhanced with a suite of additional downloadable resources & videos, Classroom Management Success in 7 Days or Less provides teachers with a framework of fundamental preventive techniques and details a stepped process for responding to students who have difficulty following instructions.
If you’re a teacher facing hard-to-reach, tough groups of students who talk over you and won’t do as you ask, the ideas in this book will help you put in place a simple system for gaining respect, building positive teacher-student bonds, dealing with incidents and creating a calm, responsive classroom. All in 7 days or less!
Do you dream about increased student engagement and more effective classroom management? How about reducing teacher stress and overwhelm? Or leaving campus at a reasonable hour without dragging a cart full of lesson planning and papers to grade in tow?
If the answer to these questions is “Yes!” then this book is for YOU!
Based on current research in positive psychology and more than 15 years “real world” experience in the classroom, this book provides a practical roadmap to reduce stress, improve student behavior and be happier in your classroom and your life.
These 10 simple positive mindset habits train you to flex your “happy muscle” and easily:
Eliminate teacher overwhelm and stress
Leave school every day energized and fulfilled
Connect with students in a way that turns every group of kinds into a “dream class”
Rediscover the passion and excitement that made you want to become a teacher
A quick read in a conversational tone, this book will put a smile back on your face and laughter back in your classroom – two critical elements for teacher fulfillment and student success.
With hit books that support strategic reading through conferring, small groups, and assessment, Jen Serravallo gets emails almost daily asking, “Isn’t there a book of the strategies themselves?” Now there is.
“Strategies make the often invisible work of reading actionable and visible,” Jen writes. In The Reading Strategies Book, she collects 300 strategies to share with readers in support of thirteen goals-everything from fluency to literary analysis. Each strategy is cross-linked to skills, genres, and Fountas & Pinnell reading levels to give you just-right teaching, just in time. With Jen’s help you’ll:
develop goals for every reader
give students step-by-step strategies for skilled reading
guide readers with prompts aligned to the strategies
adjust instruction to meet individual needs with Jen’s Teaching Tips
craft demonstrations and explanations with her Lesson Language
learn more with Hat Tips to the work of influential teacher-authors.
Whether you use readers workshop, Daily 5/CAFE, guided reading, balanced reading, a core reading program, whole-class novels, or any other approach, The Reading Strategies Book will complement and extend your teaching. Rely on it to plan and implement goal-directed, differentiated instruction for individuals, small groups, and whole classes.
“We offer strategies to readers to put the work in doable terms for those who are still practicing,” writes Jen Serravallo. “The goal is not that they can do the steps of the strategy but that they become more comfortable and competent with a new skill.” With The Reading Strategies Book, you’ll have ways to help your readers make progress every day.
Conclusion
By reading the 5 best books every new elementary teacher should read, you will be even more prepared for your first few years of teaching. By setting up routines and procedures, focusing on mindset, and learning about leading reading strategies, you will be ready for whatever comes your way.
If you would like to read more, click on the 10 Best Books for Teachers in 2020.
