K-1 Read-Alouds for February

5 Fantastic February Read-alouds for Kindergarten and First Grade

We hope your students are enjoying these read-alouds as much as our kindergartners and first graders are. We love seeing the students’ excitement as we introduce the new book each week. There were so many fun books to pick from for our February pack, it was hard to choose just 5.

Groundhog’s Runaway Shadow by David Biedrzycki

With Groundhog’s Day at the beginning of the month we knew we needed to include a groundhog book. We found ‘Groundhog’s Runaway Shadow’ by David Biedrzycki. It is such a fun book! This book puts a fun spin on traditional Groundhog’s Day books. In this story Phil’s shadow doesn’t do what it’s supposed to and it starts to annoy Phil. For the first lesson we discussed the character’s, problem and solution in the story. The second lesson guides students to look at how the shadow made Phil feel. For the third lesson students look at what the illustrations show the shadow doing and compare it to what the text tells them. Finally, for the fourth lesson students write what they would do with their own shadow and complete the groundhog craftivity.

Love is my Favorite Thing by Emma Chickester Clark

The second book we chose was ‘Love is my Favorite Thing’ by Emma Chichester Clark. This darling book is about a dog named Plum who loves so many different things, but love is her favorite. Plum keeps getting in trouble by doing typical things that most dogs do. She starts to worry that her owners won’t love her anymore. For the first lesson students brainstorm all of the things that Plum loves. The second lesson has students think of the different causes (what Plum does that gets her into trouble) and effects (what her owners say to her) throughout the story. Finally for the third lesson students make the craftivity by brainstorming all of the things that they love and write about their favorite thing. So cute!

Love Monster by Rachel Bright

This adorable series by Rachel Bright is irresistible. Monster feels down because he doesn’t fit in in a world of cute, fluffy things. He ventures out to the Big Wide World to find someone who will love him. He searches high and low to no avail. Just when he is ready to give up, something unexpected and wonderful happens. For the first lesson, students make a map of the story’s setting, which will help them recall key ideas from the story. The second lesson has students analyze how Monster’s feeling change in response to events. Next, students think about how illustrations and text work together to tell the story. As a culminating activity, students make their own Love Monster Craftivity.

National Geographic Koalas by Laura Marsh

National Geographic Kids Readers are perfect for close reading. They are complex enough to merit several revisits and contain beautiful photographs and a variety of text features. The first lesson students compete a koalas idea map to recall key ideas and details from the text. The second lesson students learn about the author’s point by listing reasons the author gives to support information. Students will use the information and facts learned in previous lessons to write an “If I were a Koala” informational book. Students will have a blast making koala masks to present their books to the class, which is perfect for hitting speaking and listening standards.

Koala's National Geographic Book Activities

You Will Be My Friend by Peter Brown

This book stole our hearts the first time we read it. It is about a bear names Lucy who tries to find a new friend and it turns out to be harder than she expects. She almost gives up, but she perseveres and reaches her goal in the end. This book is a great example for kindergartners and first graders and makes for a great class conversation about making friends. It is the perfect reminder right around Valentine’s Day. The first lesson the students draw and label the characters Lucy tried to make friends with. Then they used the graphic organizer to retell the story with a partner to work on speaking and listening. Check out these other strategies we use to get our kindergartners and first graders talking to each other here. The second lesson students think about how Lucy is feeling as she tries to make a new friend and why she is feeling that way. For the final lesson students wrote ways they can be a good friend and they make a super cute Lucy bear craft with to go with it.

You can purchase each of these Kindergarten and First Grade read-alouds for February from our Teachers Pay Teachers store individually or you can purchase them in a monthly bundle to save money. Your students will love these read-alouds and you will love meeting so many Reading Literature Core Standards. Download our free scope and sequence to see what standards are being taught in each read-aloud.