September 2021 - Miss Clark's Spoonful

Favorite September Read Alouds for the Primary Classroom

favorite read alouds for september in the elementary classroom

I absolutely love September in the classroom. The beginning of the school year brings a month of community building, fall, and all things apples!

Here are some of my favorite read alouds to enjoy all month long, and some ways I incorporate them into different lessons.




This book is fun to read during the first weeks of school. Amelia Bedelia is a character that your students will love visiting again and again!

Whether she's hopping off the bus, or gluing herself to her seat, Amelia finds herself on the first day of school with feelings of anticipation and excitement.

It's relatable for any student or teacher during the first few days back to school.

If you're using this as a Mentor Text for a poetry lesson, I have a great activity in my TpT shop to go with it! Your students will love creating a class book of idioms.

Idioms Activity by Miss Clark's Spoonful on Teachers Pay Teachers



"There's something peculiar about that plant!"
is a phrase your students will love reading throughout this story.

As Cassandra (the main character) starts school, her mother wishes she could go back to second grade again! So naturally, she disguises herself as a plant... a perfect tie in to Miss Gardner's lesson on plant facts! Overall, this is a funny and super lovely story about the relationship between how plants need love and care, and the love any parent has for their child.

This is a very fun Mentor Text to use for lessons on expanding vocabulary! With words like peculiar and ridiculous being repeated throughout the story, students can use context clues to determine definitions. I also love to encourage my students to use them in their Word Collectors so they can use them in the future!




This book is actually a realistic fiction text from the Scholastic Guided Reading Program, level E... but it can be used as so much more!

The story beautifully and simply follows two friends as they demonstrate activities that can be done in the Fresh Fall Leaves. In addition to building foundational skills like retelling the order of activities (jumping in the leaves, raking the leaves, etc.), it's a fabulous opportunity to build in visualizing by describing how leaves can look, sound, and feel.

Your students will most likely love to tell you all about their fall adventures, as well. Hooray for text-to-self connections!




In this story, a child takes a walk greeting the trees, birds, animals, insects, and even weather as he goes. Along the way, each one tells him how it is preparing for autumn! With beautiful illustrations that students will marvel at, this book is an awesome opportunity to discuss Author’s Purpose. I love to discuss with my students that even though the story has illustrations, it still gives us real information about the changing seasons.

In another nonfiction connection, this text is filled with ways for students to dive in and identify how Summer and Autumn are alike & different.




As you know, I'm a huge Gail Gibbons fan!

In this book all about, you guessed it, APPLES, your students can explore a simple concept in such rich, diverse ways! One of my favorite things that I've done over the years with this unit is Cara Carroll's Apple Investigation.

The students always have so much fun, and learn a ton about the different types of apples, and uses for them.





This book is always a favorite among my students each and every year. 

Bruce Goldstone takes us on a journey through all of the amazing phenomenons of Autumn. We use this in our classroom to focus on questioning of nonfiction concepts (Why do leaves change color? How does frost form?) and of more figurative, creative concepts (How does autumn taste? What is autumn shaped like?). Throughout the book, all of these questions are answered!

Another great way to enjoy this story is through the lens of nonfiction features, and author's purpose. The visuals allow students to truly immerse themselves in the beauty of the fall season!

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You can encourage your readers to enjoy books all month long with this FREE September Reading Log.


Did I miss any of your September favorites? I'd love to hear about the books you enjoy reading in your classroom this month.

Happy reading!


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