Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for First Day Jitters will find this post helpful. It includes resource recommendations, free teaching ideas, and information about the book. You’ll have everything you need to deliver engaging interactive read aloud lessons based on this story.
With themes of feelings and positive self-talk, this First Day Jitters picture book by Julie Danneberg is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It will be a big hit in your classroom too! Learn more about this book below!
Engage Your Students with First Day Jitters Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of First Day Jitters. You can find it in the section below.
- Check out the teaching ideas for reading comprehension strategies, grammar topics and social emotional learning skills that can be taught using this children’s book.
- Download the book companion to make lesson planning simple with First Day Jitters reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
FIRST DAY JITTERS SUMMARY
The story First Day Jitters, tells the story of Sarah, who is very nervous for her first day of school. Her dad tries to get her out of bed and Sarah says she is not going. She is worried about starting her new school and not knowing anyone. As Sarah gets ready for school the more nervous she becomes, even her hands are clammy.
Sarah’s dad drives her to school and she begins to feel sick with nerves. When they arrive at the school, Sarah’s principal is there to greet her and show her where to go. The principal leads Sarah through the crowded halls to her new class. When the principal enters the room she introduces the students to their new teacher, Mrs. Sarah Jane Hartwell!
Students will love the surprise at the end of the story, when they discover that teachers also get nervous on the first day of school!
FIRST DAY JITTERS LESSON PLAN IDEAS
Each of our 400+ Starts With a Story book companions come with a teacher’s guide to make lesson planning quick and easy, printable worksheets and digital resources that cover ALL of the standards-based reading comprehension skills.
When it comes to writing lesson plans and finding activities for First Day Jitters, we’ve already done all of the heavy lifting for you.
We found this book was especially good at teaching the topics listed below.
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
The text-based First Day Jitters reading comprehension questions focus on:
- making predictions
- visualizing
- making connections
- author’s purpose
- analyzing character
- analyzing illustrations
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- feelings
- positive self talk
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- contractions
- action verbs
- multiple meaning words
- compound words
FIRST DAY JITTERS ACTIVITIES
You’ll receive all of the following resources aligned to the story:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
YOU HAVE 2 OPTIONS! WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK COMPANION?
BOOK INFO FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
What are the reading levels for First Day Jitters?
- Lexile® Measure: AD520L
- Guided Reading Level: N
- DRA Level: 24 – 28
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 2.7 – 2.9
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Julie Danneberg. It was illustrated by Judy Love.
What genre is First Day Jitters?
It is a fiction book. You may want to check out our genre activities or read our blog post, How to Teach Genre to Elementary Students.
How many pages are in the book?
The story is 32 pages long.
