Must Read Monday: Must Read Books About Cooperation

The theme this week for Must Read Monday is must read books about cooperation.  I have been thinking about how much I have enjoyed this linky party this summer.  I love to read children's books to my students.  It is a nice time of the day that I generally have their attention and good behavior.  My students really like to be read to.  I hope you have the same experience.

It has been nice reading everybody's blog posts and hearing about favorite books to read in the classroom.  I have noticed that there are some similar themes and favorite books amongst the blog posts.  There is comfort knowing that we are all on the right track and have the same idea.  But, I also like that we have different ideas and bring something original to our own classroom.  It also seems to me that linky parties are all about cooperation.  We are all sharing ideas, willingly taking our time to write about books (or whatever the theme is), and then linking up!  This week the theme seems very appropriate for a linky party!

The Kindergarten Connection and I would love to know what your favorite book(s) about cooperation are.  You can link up with us and/or leave a comment down below!  Alex will be linking up tomorrow, Tuesday, with a brand new blog!  Be sure to check back and see her beautiful new design.

The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolf is a great book to read at the beginning of the year, and throughout the year as well.  A little girl walks into a toy shop and hears a box of crayons arguing.  She takes the box of crayons home, colors a picture with ALL of the crayons, and then the crayons realize that they work well together and start to get along.  This book rhymes and is absolutely adorable.  If my students seem to get off track with behavior, we always revisit this story and talk about how we are a class with many different personalities, but we are together for a year, and we need to learn how to accept each other, and get along.

My counselor comes in a does a great lesson with this book.  After she reads it she picks one crayon color (say purple) and asks them to describe the playground.  She draws what they tell her all in purple.  As she is drawing the children also get upset - "No, the grass is green" or "The sky is blue."  She asks what the picture is lacking at the end and they all say color!  She then puts paper out on a table and gives each child one crayon color.  They must cooperate, and draw a colorful picture by sharing, talking, and taking turns.  It is a very cute lesson and the children get to share their pictures at the end of the lesson.  Did I ever tell you that this past year our counselor was awarded the Oregon Counselor of the Year????  Our school is so lucky to have her!

Rabbit Stew by Donna Kosow is a funny book about a dog who has rabbit trouble.  By trouble, that means rabbits coming into his yard to eat his veggies.  He captures them, and puts them in a pot to make rabbit stew.  The only problem is...........he doesn't know how.  So the rabbits say, "You need some carrots" and the dog leaves to get carrots and the rabbits hop away.  This pattern repeats itself over and over until the dog has a pretty good rabbit stew going.........sans rabbits!  At the end, he ends up sharing the stew with the rabbits and tells them they know how to make a good stew.  It is super cute!!!

The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss is a wonderful book to read about learning how to get along and cooperate.  The Star-Belly sneetches are the "popular" sneetches and the Plain-Belly sneetches are not.  A man comes along and offers to put stars on those without.  So, they give him money and enter his machine and come out with stars.  Well, the Star-Belly sneetches don't like it so they go into his machine and take the stars off.  This goes on and on until all of their money is spent and then nobody remembers who should have stars, or shouldn't have stars.  They all realize that a sneetch is a sneetch and it doesn't matter if you have a star or not.  This fun rhyming book is also great to talk about getting along and cooperating and working together - no matter your differences!

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems is such a sweet story.  Trixie goes to the laundromat with her dad and then goes to leave and realizes that Knuffle Bunny is missing.  She keeps trying to tell her dad, but he doesn't understand.  When they get home the mom notices right away and they all rush back to the laundromat.  Spoiler alert: they find Knuffle Bunny..............but they find it b/c they worked together and supported each other.  In addition to this being a super cute story, the illustrations are amazing.  It is like cartoon cut outs over real black and white pictures of New York City streets (Park Slope, Brooklyn to be exact).

FYI - did you know you pronounce the "K" in Knuffle Bunny?

The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman is a super silly book that also rhymes.  It is mom's birthday and her seven children all have very different and specific foods they like to eat.  Mrs. Peters spends her days "catering" their meals.  The children decide to make mom a treat - but they make it with the food that s/he likes to eat best.  The children combine all the ingredients into one pot.  Guess what is makes?  Mrs. Peters' birthday cake!  Super cute story about cooperation!

For More Book Recommendations, please check out:

Must Read Books About the End of the Year

Must Read Books About Friendship

Must Read Books About Math

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