Books I Read In My Preschool Special Education Classroom

It’s not secret books are versatile teaching tools. They can be used for fine motor, social/emotional, language, cognitive, and pre-academic skills. Books can be used in centers, whole group instruction, small group instruction, and even for assessment purposes. In this blog post, I will break down my favorite books by category. Don’t worry, they will all be linked so you do not have to go searching for them!

Language Promotion

One of the main things I use books for in my preschool education classroom is langue promotion. I try and utilize books that have repetitive phrases and especially ones that use core words. This is a great way to engage students and boost stimulate language. Here are a few of my favorite books benefiting language development:

Core Words
- One Duck Stuck By Phyllis Root
  - Core Word: Help
- The Little Red Hen By Lucinda Mcqueen
  - Core Words: Not, I
- Brown Bear What Do You See? By Erice Carle
  - Core Words: What, See, You
- If You Give A Mouse A Cookie By Laura Numeroff
  - Core Word: Give
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar By Eric Carle
  - Eat

Repeating Phrases
- The Little Old Lady Who Wasnt Afraid Of Anything By Linda Williams
- The Gingerbread Man
- Jump, Frog, Jump! By Robert Kalan
- Is Your Mama A Llama By Deborah Guarino

Interactive And Sensory Integration

Sometimes kiddos just need to touch and feel as they read. Books with interactive components like textures and sounds are an awesome way to get students involved with reading.

Poke A Dot Series By Melissa and Doug
- Tactile input and fine motor practice (isolating index finger)
Never Touch A… Series By Rosie Greening
- Tactile
Don’t Tickle The… Series By Sam Taplin
- Auditory Input

Social-Emotional

There are some amazing books out there promoting emotional regulation skills, appropriate social skills, and inclusion. These are just a few of my favorites but there is a TON out there.

Social Skills and Self Regulation
- Milestone Series By Michael Dahl’s
- Best Behavior Series By Martine Agassi
- The Feelings Book By Tod Parr
- Glad Monster, Sad Monster By Ed Emberley
- Llama Llama Misses Mama By Amanda Dewnedy
- B Is For Breath By Melissa Murno Boyd
- What Should Danny Do? By Adir and Ganit Levy

Inclusion and Self Advocacy
- Why Is He Doing That? By Rachel M. Cuellar
- You Are Enough By Margarert O’Hair
- Say Something By Peter H. Reynolds
- Be You By Peter H. Reyonlds

Cognition and Pre-Academic Skills

Books are a fun way to introduce new cognitive skills like numeracy, color identification, and phonemic awareness. Check out some of the ones I use in my classroom below!