Friends Can Help Solve Special Problems During a Day at Kindergarten in Colorful Picture Book

The first week of kindergarten can be stressful for a lot of young children. Kindergarten classes are underway across the country and parents are finding ways to help their young student feel great about the first week. Picture books can be a great tool to use when opening conversations about how kindergarten classes might go during the first week. Vanessa Roeder's colorful picture book Narwhal vs. Kindergarten is a fun read for the first week of kindergarten.

Hugo is ready for his first week of kindergarten and he has a big problem with his height. Hugo is very tall and the spike on his head is causing a big problem for him. He knocks over all of the blocks on the first day. The teacher has organized a Silly Hat Day and this causes a problem for Hugo. Hugo finds that his tusk can be helpful sometimes as he uses it as a pointer for a lesson. But he decides that hiding is the best thing to do because of all of the trouble that his height is causing. It is time to go outside and play baseball with Coach Cooper. All of the other kids have an enormous amount of problems. There are mistakes made and misunderstandings during the game. Everyone pulled together to solve each problem and Hugo learned a life lesson that friends can make everything better by working together to solve problems. Hugo has ten new friends at the end of the first week of kindergarten.

Roeder contributed her talents as an illustrator for her delightful picture book. Each page is filled with engaging and fun illustrations that depict the first week of kindergarten.

Narwhal vs. Kindergarten is recommended for ages 5-8. It was published by Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin/Random House. It has an ISBN of 978-0-593-85850-9-

Teachers who teach in kindergarten classrooms will want to add this entertaining picture book to their classroom library. The first week of kindergarten can be stressful for young children who have not attended school before. The entertaining illustrations and story of friends who can help solve problems by working together in Narwhal vs. Kindergarten is a fun read for the first day of kindergarten.

*Read Narwhal vs. Kindergarten in a story time session. Call attention to the fact that Hugo is ready for the first week of kindergarten. He knows that his tusk is already a problem when he gets on the bus. Hugo is too tall. Engage children in a discussion of what might cause a problem for them when the first day of kindergarten arrives.

*Call attention to the illustration of the blocks being knocked over when Hugo's tusk hits them. This problem causes a problem with making friends on the first day. Engage children in a discussion of how they can make friends on the first day.

*Hugo's teacher has organized a Silly Hat Day. Organize a Silly Hat Day for your students during the first week of kindergarten.

*Call attention to all of the activities in the kindergarten classroom. There are easels for painting. Provide a time for your young students to use easels in your classroom for painting. Display the paintings in the classroom with the title of First Week of Kindergarten. Invite parents to see the paintings during the first week.

*Coach Cooper organizes a baseball game for Hugo's kindergarten class. Call attention to all of the mistakes that are made. Call attention to the illustration and text that depicts all of the students working together to solve each problem.

*Call attention to the final pages with the text that all have worked together as a team to make the kindergarten class better. Call attention to the fact that Hugo has ten new friends by the end of the first week of kindergarten.

*Engage children in a discussion on the last day of the first week of kindergarten as to all of the ways the class worked together during the week to make the first week go well. Provide an opportunity for each child to name all of their friends that they made during the first week of kindergarten.