Holiday Activities and Freebies!
One of my favorite ways to set the tone for a successful school year is sharing engaging stories with my students. Read alouds are such a powerful addition to kindergarten lesson plans! In this post, I’m going to share some of my favorite September read alouds for kindergarten that I know you and your students will love! I’m also going to share some companion activities to go with each story.
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As you’re working on your September lesson plans, it’s a good idea to incorporate some engaging read alouds into your daily learning routine. There are several reasons why read alouds are so helpful in September:
Since read alouds can be such a helpful addition to your lesson plans, I thought I would share four of my favorite books to read aloud in September. In addition to sharing the book, I will also give you some ideas for themed activities that you can use to enhance the read aloud experience for your students. These companion activities and crafts can help reinforce new vocabulary, practice comprehension, and improve fine motor skills.
An apple theme is perfect for a September unit study in kindergarten. Not only does it have a “back to school” feel, but it also helps to welcome the fall season.
It’s always a good idea to start a thematic unit with a nonfiction read aloud. This can introduce students to the vocabulary and concepts that you’ll be referencing throughout the unit. For an apple unit, “Apples for Everyone” by Jill Esbaum is a great choice!
After reading about apples together as a class, students can apply what they’ve learned to an engaging apple craft. This apple labeling activity gives students the chance to review the parts of an apple. These make such a fun classroom display!
Another fun craft that can go along with this read aloud is this 3D apple life cycle craft. Each side of the apple describes a different part of the apple life cycle.
Another fun addition to an apple unit study is a read aloud about Johnny Appleseed.
There are many different books to choose from, but I’ve always liked “Johnny Appleseed” by Lori Haskins Houran.
After reading and discussing the life of Johnny Appleseed, students can complete some engaging activities to go with the story. For example, they can choose their three favorite facts about Johnny Appleseed and add them to this flipbook.
This Johnny Appleseed craft is another fun option! Students can make fingerprint apples on the craft and then fill in the sentence frame with the number of apples they see.
Scarecrows can serve as inspiration for another fun thematic unit for September. One of my favorite read alouds for a scarecrow unit is “The Scarecrow’s Hat” by Ken Brown.
In this engaging story, a chicken goes on a long journey to help solve a problem for the scarecrow. The chicken meets a lot of animals along the way.
This story is perfect for exploring problem and solution with your students. Students can complete this lift-the-flap activity to show the problems and solutions that come up throughout the story.
You can also use this read aloud to inspire other classroom activities, like this scarecrow craft and flipbook where students can share what they’ve learned about scarecrows.
Read alouds can also help you bring one season to a close and welcome a new one. This book is a great example of this!
In “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything“, the main character is followed home by a collection of noisy items that she turns into a scarecrow for her garden. This story is the perfect bridge way to end your scarecrow unit and begin a Halloween-themed unit in October.
After reading the story together as a class, students can complete a variety of activities to practice reading comprehension, fine motor skills, and more!
First, you can stop the read aloud right before the old lady opens her front door. Students can practice making predictions by creating this craft showing what they think is behind the door.
This story also allows students to practice sequencing the items from the story that were following the old lady home.
Finally, this pumpkin head scarecrow craft is a great way for students to practice fine motor skills. They make a great bulletin board display to welcome October!
All of the book companion activities I’ve shared in this post (and much more!) are included in one easy-to-download bundle of September thematic units for kindergarten. You’ll find everything you need to add engaging themed learning activities to your September lesson plans. You’ll even find a suggested unit plan, so you can easily decide how you can incorporate these thematic units into your daily routine.
If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included in this bundle, you can find it in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or in my TPT store.
Be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite board of kindergarten ideas. You’ll be able to quickly find these read aloud ideas when you’re working on your September lesson plans.
