What Teachers Like to Read to Little Kids

Two of my friends from high school also became teachers, and we have reconnected with Facebook.  I recently asked them what books they especially enjoyed reading with their students. 

My high school BFF, Diane Cook Gaske, who has taught Kindergarten for many years, responded with these comments:

I like the Llama Llama series, there is a beautiful book by Eve Bunting called the Butterfly House (which I always read in the spring when we hatch butterflies) and fairy tales with different scenarios. Ex. The Three Little Pigs, then I also read, The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, The Three Little Fish and The Big Bad Shark. I also do a Gingerbread Unit where we do different gingerbread stories like The Gingerbread Baby, The Gingerbread Cowboy, The Gingerbread Girl and there's a new one about the Gingerbread Boy going to school. Very Fun!!! This is a hard question because there are so many books and so many favorites!!

Another teaching friend from high school, Lois Taylor-Johnson, ran a preschool. She made these comments:

My 3 and 4 years olds wanted any Dr. Suess Book all of the time. I would read "Good Night Moon" before naptime. They also enjoyed "The very Hungry Caterpillar" :). My favourite's to read to them were "Corduroy" and "Make Way For Ducklings" Those were good times. I also read them for Emma (my daughter) when she was young, and she loved them, especially "Corduroy" as I used the "Corduroy" puppet.

When I was teaching very young children, I also enjoyed Don Freeman's Corduroy and Bearymore. Beatrix Potter was fun, I remember making the screech, screech noise of Farmer MacGregor's hoe while Peter was sneaking around, although those stories are actually rather intense. But the ultimate is Dr. Seuss, with Horton especially, hearing the Who and hatching the egg.

If the Reader loves the book, that is the extra secret ingredient to inspiring the little listener to be a great reader, too. Is there a favorite book you have? Is it age appropriate for your little listener? Read it for a treat, a special reward,  for a bedtime ritual. These characters are truly lifelong friends and we get to introduce the kids to them.

Here are some more resources for early childhood learning.
http://www.journals.elsevier.com/early-childhood-research-quarterly/
http://journal.naeyc.org/btj/200303/InformationBooks.pdf  
http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=481