Class books are one of my favorite ways to Kindergarten students excited about writing! They are always a favorite in the classroom library and it is so important for kids to share their writing and illustrations with their peers. This post has tons of ideas to get you started creating class books!
What is a class book?
A class book (also called a class-created book or a class-made book) is a book created by the students where each student contributes a page. They can be created about pretty much anything and are frequently used in preschool, Kindergarten, and even first-grade (and beyond) classrooms.
Class books should be a safe choice for any reader regardless of their reading level. Any student should be able to choose the book and feel confident reading it.
Beginning of the Year Ideas
Class books are a great writing activity for the beginning of the year. They can be used to help students learn and recognize each other’s name and to go with different teaching concepts. Here are a few of my favorite books to make at the beginning of the year.
Environmental Print
This book is perfect for involving families! Ask parents to help their child gather environmental print in their house. Then, students can glue their environmental print examples on their writing page and the whole class can enjoy reading the class book and building their confidence as readers and writers!
You can read more about environmental print in this post, Environmental Print in the Preschool Classroom.
Our Families
Most students love sharing their family with their school family! This family book is perfect for the beginning of the year and can easily be created by having each student bring a picture of their family to glue on the page or students could also draw their own picture of their family!
Our School Friends
At the beginning of the year, you will definitely be spending time with your kindergarten class learning each other’s names! This class created book is perfect for that! Take and print a picture of each student and quickly create this book!
Fall Class Books Ideas
Seasonal books are always a favorite for Kindergarten students! Here are a few ideas for the fall:
Apples
This is a great activity to go with the book, Ten Apples Up on Top! It also incorporates math and counting practice.
Pumpkins
Social-emotional learning is so important for our youngest students. Recognizing feelings is an important skill. Kindergarten students will love drawing a face on their pumpkin to go with a feeling word! You can read more about this important topic in this post, How to Promote Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom.
Thanksgiving
These Thanksgiving Class Books are the best for encouraging creativity and can even be used as fun family projects.
I Am Not a Turkey
Poor turkey doesn’t want to be eaten for Thanksgiving! A fun preschool turkey project is to create a disguise for a turkey to wear! Turkey Trouble is a great read-aloud to do before the project.
Thanksgiving Dinner
This class book is called, Thanksgiving Dinner, and on each page students will draw food to eat for Thanksgiving dinner. Students will love thinking of other things for people to eat besides turkey this thanksgiving! It’s so fun to see what creative ideas they come up with!
We Are Thankful
You can find more Thanksgiving activities for your students to enjoy in this post, 10 Thanksgiving Activities.
Christmas and Holiday Class Books
Keep your Kindergarten students engaged and writing during this crazy holiday season with these fun Christmas Class Books.
Gingerbread Man
Here is a simple book you can create with your students featuring The Gingerbread Man! Each student will contribute a page and an idea about where the gingerbread man could hide!
Counting Cookies
Students will write a number and draw that many cookies for Santa to eat! It is helpful to give students some guidelines when creating a counting story. For example, students must choose a number between 1-20. Or you can assign each student a number and then work as a class to put the pages in number order!
Winter Class Books
These books are perfect to make with your students during the winter months or after the holidays!
Snowmen
This activity pairs perfectly with the read-aloud, Snowmen at Night. What do snowmen really do at night? Students will love getting creative with writing and drawing their idea. This is a really fun one to create during the months of January or February!
Valentine’s Day
In this book, students will draw chocolates in a Valentine’s Day chocolate box. This is another counting activity, so it may be helpful to assign students numbers or give them some guidelines for choosing a numner. Students could also use these pages in a wiritng center to create their own counting book! You could also use scratch and sniff stickers too!
Spring Class Books
Here are a few fun ideas for springtime. Each book is included in this set, Spring and Easter Class Books.
St. Patrick’s Day
This class book is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day! Students will write and draw a picture of something that means more to them than gold!
For more ideas, check out this post: St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Kindergarten.
Easter
Who Took the Cookies From the Cookie Jar is always a favorite rhyme for Kindergarten students! That’s why this class book is always a favorite! Students will just write their name and draw a picture of themselves. This book features a surprise ending featuring the Easter Bunny too!
Bugs
The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle is a great book to pair with this writing or any other feeling book. Students will love drawing a face on the bug and writing the matching feeling word.
Concept Books
Class books can also be great for reviewing and reinforcing academic concepts. Each students will create a page to go in the book that reinforces the concept.
For example, this book is about the color blue. Each student drew an item that was blue. Then the teacher and students reread the book together!
Here are a few ideas of Kindergarten academic concepts that could be turned into a book:
FAQ About Class-Created Books
What are the benefits of class-created books?
Creating these types of books with your students have so many benefits. Students will:
- Practice writing in a meaningful and authentic way
- Students will gain confidence in sharing their ideas and writing with others
- Opportunities for creativity and art
- Students will make connections and learn from each other
How do you make class books?
I have found the best way to create these books with my students is by using a folder with prongs! In August when school supply sales start happening you will be able to find them for only a few cents.
I buy as many as possible and use them throughout the school year. Just glue the cover on the front and “laminate” with packing tape. Then, use a three-hole punch and add student pages! You can also use clear report covers or binders with a clear front cover and page protectors!
What to do with class-created books?
Class-created books can be added to the classroom library. I use a colored bucket like the one pictured below and add books throughout the year as the class creates them.
At the end of the school year, these books can be sent home with students to reread at home! Just make sure you have permission to share student work and pictures in this way!
How can I help students with reading books?
Little ones just learning how to read need picture support, especially in peer-created writing. Adding student pictures to each page will really create ownership and help little ones learn to read and recognize the names of their classmates. At the beginning of the year, I take each child’s picture in a square shape.
Then I upload them all into a document and add each student’s name below their picture. Each time we make a book together, I just print the page and give each child their picture to glue on the page. I have an Editable Class Book Author’s Picture Template that will make this process a piece of cake for you!
Class books are a wonderful teaching tool for writing and reading. You can check out all of the class books shown in this post by clicking any picture or checking out the Class Books in my TPT shop!