If you’re looking for some new additions to your class reading selection, try any (or all!) of these awesome first grade read-alouds! Reading stories aloud to young children is crucial for their development. Stimulating imagination and developing language, listening, and auditory processing skills will prepare children for future cognitive endeavors.
Table of Contents
- So What Is a Good Read-Aloud Book for 1st Grade?
- Best Social Emotional 1st Grade Read-Aloud Books
- Best Culturally Responsive 1st Grade Read-Alouds
- Best Classic 1st Grade Read-Alouds
- Just-for-Fun 1st Grade Read-Alouds
- Best 1st Grade Audio Books
- What Level Reading Book Is Best for First Grade?
- Check Out These Additional 1st Grade Resources
So What Is a Good Read-Aloud Book for 1st Grade?
Kids in grade 1 are often receptive to stories about friendship and families, and they tend to gravitate toward rhyming text and vibrant illustrations. These components aren’t just for entertainment though; children’s books are often laced with crucial messages that will help prepare students for a greater understanding of the world around them. Reading aloud helps children learn pronunciation and reading fluency. Books with dialogue or characters adds interest and complexity to a read-aloud story too.
In partnership with Teach Simple, whose marketplace is full of educational materials created by actual teachers (plus 50% of all revenues go to them), I’ve gathered 27 totally-awesome Grade 1 read-aloud books to help inspire your students and liven up your classroom reading routine! Have a look.
Best Social Emotional 1st Grade Read-Aloud Books
- When Grandpa Gives You A Toolbox By Jamie L.B. Deenihan
This heartwarming story explores a social-emotional concept that nobody enjoys —disappointment. Walk your first graders through the stages of anticipation, disappointment, and delight as you read aloud how this boy discovers that his grandpa has given him the best gift of all!
- My Magical Choices By Becky Cummings
Parents and teachers love the social-emotional message behind My Magical Choices! Through vibrant illustrations and rhythmic text, children will learn all about their power over their own happiness. This story sets the tone for positive decision-making and allows discussion during the read-aloud about the benefits that come from positivity!
Supplement discussions about choices with a Social Emotional Learning Unit on Thoughtful Choices by Kindergarten Cafe, to make a lesson out of it.
- You Hold Me Up By Monique Gray Smith
Introduce empathy and respect to your classroom while reading aloud this lovely book. You Hold Me Up takes readers through the importance of reconciliation, connection, and relationship building.
- Kindness Starts With You – At School By Jacquelyn Stagg
If your classroom is in need of a little community kindness, this story is a perfect go-to! Your students will follow the main character as she shows small acts of kindness that make a big impact throughout her day at school. Discuss acts of kindness in your classroom with students as you read.
Supplement discussions about kindness with a Social Emotional Learning Unit on Kindness Activities by Kindergarten Cafe, to make a lesson out of it.
- Gratitude Is My Superpower By Alicia Ortego
This powerful social-emotional read-aloud will help your first graders grasp the concept of happiness and gratitude. With a little help from her magic stone, Betsy learns that gratitude comes from inside her heart and lights up the world.
Add an extra worksheet resource to hit the idea of gratitude home with your first graders using an activity likes this 5 Finger Gratitude sheet by Jennifer Moyer Taylor.
This awesome story teaches first graders about the power of resilience. Through vibrant illustrations and rhythmic rhymes, the main character owns her mistakes and reflects upon them as learning opportunities. Growth-minded and mature, this book will help your first graders to reframe their own mistakes.
Pride is one of those social-emotional learning concepts that can be tricky for first graders to grasp. King Khalid is PROUD will introduce your kids to the concept of pride, and open a discussion around their own prideful experiences.
- The Cot In The Living Room By Hilda Eunice Burgos
This charming story takes readers through a lesson of exploration and appreciation from the eyes of a little girl. Sometimes our curiosity is met with disappointment, and in this girl’s case, readers navigate her disappointment that later yields appreciation—an important social-emotional concept for your young kids!
- Don’t Feed The WorryBug By Andi Green
Show your first graders some love with this story deemed by the Child Mind Institute as the Best Children’s Book about Mental Health. Here, Wince worries about absolutely everything, and as the fear creeps up, so does his WorryBug. This book is an excellent story to start a conversation around worry and anxiety at an age-appropriate level.
Supplement this discussion about worry with some Worry Says You Say Boom Cards by Jennifer Moyer Taylor, where children can think about their own worry bugs or worry monsters and how to decrease worry in specific situations.
Best Culturally Responsive 1st Grade Read-Alouds
- Your Name Is A Song By Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
This book is favored among most CLD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) support professionals. Through colorful illustrations and gorgeously crafted verbiage, the main character learns all about the origins behind her beautiful name. This book easily leads into a class discussion about names in the classroom and their meaning in different cultures and families.
This heartwarming tale teaches first graders about cultural diversity in a digestible way. They will meet six-year-old Bilal, who is excited to help his dad make his favorite food of all time: daal! But as they cook, Bilal worries that his friends might not like daal as much as he does. When you’re done reading, have a conversation with your students about their favorite foods cooked at home.
- The Proudest Blue: A Story Of Hijab And Family From Social Justice Books
Your first graders are bound to love this New York Times Best Seller! Take a deep dive into cultural diversity, acceptance, and belonging through the eyes of one very powerful little girl on her first day of school.
- Eyes That Kiss In The Corners By Joanna Ho
Self-discovery is put on blast with this lovely, lyrical picture book. Follow this young girl on her journey through family history to appreciate her culture and its effect on her appearance. Use this story to facilitate discussion in the classroom about different features and how everybody looks unique and beautiful.
- Areli Is A Dreamer By Areli Morales
This is an excellent story to help young children grasp the complexity of immigration. Areli takes readers along on her journey from Mexico to New York City, and she processes all of the vast cultural differences along the way.
Best Classic 1st Grade Read-Alouds
- A Bad Case Of Stripes By David Shannon
If you’re familiar with David Shannon’s A Bad Case of Stripes, you know it’s one that goes down in history! This classic tale tackles concepts around conformity all while keeping kids actively engaged with its absurdity! Bump this book to the top of your read-aloud list and watch those first grade faces ogle!
- Stone Soup By Marcia Brown
Town villagers are perplexed when they meet a group of soldiers who help them turn their stones into soup! This classic story is a great segue for numerous lesson plans around synonym identification, ordering concepts, or sensory exploration.
After reading, access this lovely read-aloud eBook companion and activity bundle by Classroom Complete Press on Teach Simple’s site! Use some of the activities and information in the PDF bundle to spend more time thinking about the lessons from this classic book.
- Where The Wild Things Are By Maurice Sendak
If you know it, you love it! A tale of reflection and remorse, Where the Wild Things Are is a cherished story among educators and adults alike. Introduce your first graders to Max, a mischievous boy who takes an other-worldly adventure in his vibrant imagination.
Then, download the eBook companion activity bundle to supplement the concepts in the book and get your kids thinking about story sequence and consequences.
Your kids will be just as enthralled with the If You Give series, but If You Give A Moose A Muffin is a great read-aloud because of the cause-and-effect scenarios that exist throughout the whole book. Inspire giggles with this story’s rhythmic tale and perennially lovable characters.
- The Three Billy Goats Gruff By Jerry Pinkney
This classic tale takes your first graders along on an adventure across an old bridge, but they’ll run into one pretty prominent obstacle—a troll! A story of bullying and redemption, this tale is timeless and bound to entertain.
Add to this lesson by having your student’s put on a small theatrical production of the story using this Reader’s Theater script.
- Charlotte’s Web By E. B White
Charlotte’s Web is the perfect class read-aloud. A story of friendship, love, life, and death, introduce your first graders to this generational joy and to a chapter book where they need to follow along with a longer story and grasp concepts and details from each chapter.
Just-for-Fun 1st Grade Read-Alouds
- Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! By Mo Willems
Get your whole class laughing with this one-of-a-kind children’s book! Filled with quick-wit and flamboyance, your first graders will giggle through this relentless pigeon’s pleads to drive the bus! Children will love being able to answer back and decide his fate.
- The Book With No Pictures By B. J. Novak
B.J. Novak’s The Book With No Pictures is hands-down, my favorite first grade read-aloud book. Children feel empowered by “making” the reader say words and phrases that don’t make sense! They will be actively engaged and will love determining your fate.
- Carpenter’s Helper By Sybil Rosen
This heartwarming story follows a young girl and a nest of birds—right into her bathroom renovation project! Learning kindness and compassion, your grade 1 class is bound to fall in love with this super-cute read-aloud.
This silly read-aloud will have your whole class laughing AND learning! The rhyming text takes readers on an alphabetical journey through a variety of neat occupations. This story encourages imagination and will have the class hooked!
- The Secret Lake By Karen Inglis
Often compared to The Secret Garden, this mystery adventure will have your kids itching for more! If your class enjoys stories with page-turning plots, you’ve got to give this a go during your classroom read-aloud time. This story in particular works well as a work or behavior incentive too.
- Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code By Laurie Wallmark
This children’s story walks through the inspiring story of Grace Hopper—the boundary-breaking scientist who forever changed the name of computer science. First graders are bound to be awed by this miraculous female revolutionist and the possibilities available to them within scientific discovery.
Best 1st Grade Audio Books
If you can’t read aloud and are looking for a quick alternative, try an audio book that can do it for you. These downloads are easy to put on and have children engage in a complex story.
- Can We Live In Space? Audio Book By Twin Sisters Digital Media
This easy-peasy audio download will have your class over the moon! Have your first graders practice their listening and auditory processing skills and extend your science curriculum with this fun and informative space text!
- Jack And The Beanstalk Audio Book By Twin Sisters Digital Media
You know the tale, and now your first graders will too! Download this classic story right and watch your class ogle at magic beans and a very hungry giant as it’s read aloud to them!
What Level Reading Book Is Best for First Grade?
First graders typically begin their school year at a Reading Level 4, and end at Level 16.
Grade 1 reading skills primarily consist of honing phonetic awareness, decoding strategies, and using context clues to sound out and make sense of unfamiliar words. Read-alouds provide the perfect opportunity for children to hear the proper pronunciation of big words, and they lend context to phrases and verbiage that might otherwise be beyond students’ cognitive level.
Complete with social-emotional, culturally responsive, and, of course, classic stories, broaden your kids’ minds with any of the awesome first grade read-aloud books above!
Check Out These Additional 1st Grade Resources
About the Author
Shannon Morris is a thriving Chicago-based elementary teacher. Her background in Cognitive-Behavioral Science coupled with her Masters in Teaching and Instruction have well prepared her to support her group of high-needs 3rd graders. Through extensive coursework and experience in the field, Shannon has absorbed an in-depth understanding of the power behind integrating proper tools and practices into the common core curriculum. She believes that streamlined and adaptable educational resources are crucial for enriching the developing mind and enhancing the learning experience. Shannon strives to share her favorite tips and resources in hopes of supporting teachers and students in classrooms everywhere.
