T is for Teachers

... A School Alphabet

Authors: Steven L. and Deborah Dover Layne
Illustrator: Doris Ettlinger
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Date: 2005

Ages: 6 through 12

Themes: Education, Teachers, Classrooms, Schools

First lines: Inside every schoolhouse there's much to do and see. Let's looks at all that makes school fun; we'll work from A to Z. A begins our alphabet- the letters that we need to make the words and sentences we want to write and read.

Book Flap: Did you know that "kindergarten" comes from a German word that means, "a garden of children?" Or that "arithmetic" comes from the Greek word arithmos? Now students of every age can get a first-rate education as Sleeping Bear Press goes "back to school" with T is for Teachers: a School Alphabet.

Written in a two-tier format with rhyming text for beginning readers and detailed expository for older students, T is for Teachers gives a guided A to Z tour through a day at school.

Why I like it: Being a former school teacher, and continuing as such in home educating our two teenagers, I like the idea of a book dedicated to our profession! Although most students know what a school day entails, this book would be appropriate for new students, whether kindergarteners or foreign students attending school for the first time. Or, it can be used as a "teacher/staff appreciation" tool to introduce the people who work with students on a daily base.

For crafts and other ideas, check out this link by the publishers:

http://www.sleepingbearpress.com/teachingguides/SchoolGuide.pdf

And, for more great book ideas, categorized by subject for use by teachers, librarians, and parents, see Susanna Hill's Perfect Picture Book list...truly an amazing resource!