Starting school: on the first day of school, some children are eager, some are anxious, but all will relish settling in with a good story that mirrors their school experiences - Booktalk - The Little School Bus - Countdown to Kindergarten - Sweet Briar Goes to School - Elizabeti's School - Give Maggie a Chance - Read Anything Good Lately - Clever Lollipop - First Day in Grapes - Almost Late to School and More School Poems - Dork on the Run - Sahara Special - Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems - Great books and creative activities to go along with them - Children's Review - Book Review - Brief Review

Instructor, August, 2003 by Judy Freeman

ACTIVITY: As students learn new facts and lessons each day, have them recite the Conjurer's magical rhyme for remembering everything: "The facts I'm going to learn today / Will find it hard to go away. / Most will remain inside my brain. / I shan't need to be told again."

FIRST DAY IN GRAPES (Gr. 1-4)

By L. King Perez; illustrated by Robert Casilla. Lee & Low, 2002; 32 pages; $16.95. Chico's family has just moved to a new migrant camp in California for grape-picking season and he's not looking forward to school, where he knows kids will tease him. First he encounters a mean-tempered school-bus driver, and then he meets Ms. Andrews, an empathic teacher who recognizes his talent with numbers. Then two fourth-grade troublemakers taunt him in the lunchroom, making fun of his tortilla. Chico uses his facility with numbers to stand up to them.

ACTIVITY: Chico is apprehensive about his first day of school. Discuss with your students: What is he worried about and why? Before finishing the story, ask children to do a quick-write, offering their own advice to Chico on how to be accepted in a new school, and then compare their suggestions with Chico's actions.

ALMOST LATE TO SCHOOL AND MORE SCHOOL POEMS (Gr. 1-5)

By Carol Diggory Shields, illustrated by Paul Meisel. Dutton, 2003; 40 pages; $15.99. Twenty-two easy-to-read poems, along with breezy watercolors, introduce us to a bevy of cheerful children as they scamper through school days. An attack of the giggles, a science fair project gone awry, a bit of recess, and even a poem from a beleaguered teacher round out a collection sure to start your kids storytelling and composing still more school poems.

ACTIVITY: Read some of the poems aloud, and hand out copies of others for children to practice and perform for the rest of the group.

DORK ON THE RUN (Gr. 3-6)

By Carol Gorman. HarperCollins, 2002; 184 pages; $15.95. Having overcome Dorkiness at his new school (Dork in Disguise, HarperCollins, 1999), Jerry Flack now decides to run for sixth-grade president. Jerry is a good guy with lots of innovative ideas. His opponent, popular but obnoxious Gabe Marshall, will stop at nothing to win. First Jerry responds in kind, but then he has to decide: Is he just as amoral as Gabe if he gets even? This entertaining story presents lots of thorny issues to mull over and discuss.

ACTIVITY: Discussion points: As Jerry retaliates against Gabe's tricks, he wonders if he's just lowering himself to Gabe's level. How does he handle Gabe's humiliations? Have you ever come up against a bully? How did you deal with it? Write and deliver a campaign speech about what you'd do if you were class president. Would you have a part of your platform address how to handle bullies in School? If so, how?

SAHARA SPECIAL (Gr. 4-6)

By Esme Raft Codell. Hyperion, 2003; 175 pages; $15.99. Sahara Jones has a True Ambition: She is going to be a writer. In the meantime, she's repeating fifth grade, having kept her abilities a secret from all her teachers. Her new teacher calls herself Madame Poitier; the kids call her Miss Pointy. She smiles on the first day of school and tells them that "boring" is a swear word. For the first time, Sahara confides in a teacher. "I am a writer," she pens in her journal. And Miss Pointy writes back, "I believe you."