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Books to Help Ease the Transition to Kindergarten
With a new school year in a few weeks, excitement and anxiety can be running at an all time high for new scholars. For both parents and kindergarten children, the important transition can bring out nervous feelings. For many kindergarteners, the not knowing what expect at school, fears about new rules and worries about interactions with other classmates can cause a wide range of emotions from excitement to fear that can often be overwhelming.
An incredible tool that can help young children adjust to school is to read books on the topic. Children’s books provide an opportunity to promote and strengthen literacy, while helping to set expectations, experiences and to calm fears.
To help your child prepare for kindergarten, The UM has put together a list of books that help parents answer questions and show their children what to look forward to, while answering questions about all the learning and fun that awaits them in the classroom.
Click here for a parent resource guide on transitioning to kindergarten from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Monkey Not Ready for Kindergarten
by Marc Brown
Dad’s First Day
by Mike Wohnoutka
The Name Jar
by Yangsook Choi
Wemberly Worried
by Kevin Henkes
David Goes to School
by David Shannon
Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten!
by Hyewon Yum
Kindergarten Rocks!
by: Katie Davis
How Do Dinosaurs Go to School?
by: Jane Yolen
The Kissing Hand
by: Audrey Penn
Look Out, Kindergarten, Here I Come
by: Nancy Carlson
Llama Llama Misses Mama
by: Anna Dewdney
Ms. Bitsy Bat’s Kindergarten
by: Pamela Duncan Edwards
Owen
by: Kevin Henkes
Chysanthemum
by: Kevin Henkes
When You Go to Kindergarten
by: JamesHowe
Countdown to Kindergarten
by: AlisonMcGhee
Tiptoe into Kindergarten
by: Jacqueline Rogers
One Happy Classroom
by: Charnan Simon
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten
by: Joseph Slate
The Night Before Kindergarten
by: Natasha Wing