It’s Back to School We Go!

By Julie Yeros

It’s Back to School We Go! First Day Stories From Around the World by Ellen Jackson is a favorite read-aloud to start our year of global learning.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. By clicking through and making a purchase, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. All proceeds help support our free global education website. Thank you!

It’s Back to School We Go!

Anton, a seven-year-old boy from Kazakhstan, describes how his whole family walks him to school, buying flowers for his teacher at the bazaar on the way.

Rajani, an eight-year-old girl from India is excited to be starting grade three and takes the bus to school to find her new classroom.

Achieng, an eight-year-old girl from Kenya, explains how she sits on a straw mat as she learns how to read and write in Kiswahili.

Each two-page spread includes a first-person account of a child’s first day of school and general facts about children in that country.

The children start with a greeting in their language (Jambo, Konnichiwa), and then share information about their home, family, and experiences of the day.

Discover how they get to school, what and how they learn, and activities they do after school. The fact page allows you to go further – learning additional cultural information including animals, sports, clothing, and food.

Discussion Guide

Before Reading

Ask students to share what their own first day of school experiences included, and how they felt.
Introduce the book or video, and invite students to listen to what the first day of school was like for other children around the world.

During Reading

Locate each country on a globe or world map. Use push pins or flags to keep track of each place throughout the book.
Practice and review basic geography skills by asking students to identify the continent each country is on or to answer questions such as, “From our home country, what direction would I need to go to get there?”

After Reading

Students work in small groups to create a Venn diagram comparing first-day experiences from the book.
Make a class poster of words that mean”Hello” in other languages. Post it by the classroom door, and use it for personalized morning greetings. “Ni-hao, Kelsey. Privyet, Ryan.”
Students respond to the story in their writing journal with personal thoughts, opinions, favorites, questions, etc.

It’s Back to School We Go! First Day Stories From Around the World is a great book for practicing geography skills while discovering our similarities and learning about our differences.