T Is for Teachers: A School Alphabet

by Steven L. Layne

From yellow school buses and one-room school-houses to the roles of principals, nurses, and custodians, enjoy a behind-the-scenes peek at one of the most important buildings a child will ever enter.

Genres: Childrens, School, Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2005

About the author

Award-winning author and educator Steven L. Layne is the director of the Master of Education in Literacy program at Judson University in Elgin, Illinois, where he is also a professor of literacy education. He is a respected literacy consultant, motivational keynote speaker, and featured author at conferences and literary events worldwide. He lives with his wife and children in Saint Charles, Illinois.

Reviews

[Sue]

The book includes many facts about the topics mentioned on each page. For younger grades, I would skip the facts and stick to the rhyming verses because the younger students tend to lack the attention span needed for the longer bits of information. The book is an American publication, so a couple of pages don't really apply to Ontario students.

[Faloni ©]

📢 @ always providing me with the daily word.

[Holly M]

This book does a remarkable job introducing the alphabet to children. I love how each letter of the alphabet is practiced by provide information about the school, people, and subjects. I find it very helpful for the young children, especially for kindergarteners. They are able to learn the ABC’s as well as getting familiar with the concept of school. The information provides great facts to explain to children who people are that they will be seeing throughout the school day and what all will be happening. It’s written not only for young children but older children as well. They use rhyming text for beginning readers, and provide expository text for older students. The illustrations are colorful and very inviting to readers. I also like how children can test themselves at the end of the book about the facts they read about. I would recommend this book to anyone who is learning the alphabet or starting school.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

This alphabet book describes words connected with school. Authors Steven and Deborah Layne do a nice job with their choice of words, covering people from the teacher and the custodian to the nurse, secretary, principal and librarian, as well as subjects such as math and history and objects such as the flag and books. The rhymes are simple and informative for younger readers, and older readers can get more information from the text in the sidebars. The illustrations were colorful and interesting. I was happy to read that the librarians also teach research skills, which many books on librarians seem to leave out. My only fault with the book is that, under the letter J, it refers to the nine planets--but then, the book was written in 2005, before Pluto was officially made a "planetoid". Recommended!

[Kathleen Ruff]

This book was absolutely fabulous and touched my heart deeply as a pre-service educator. This would be a perfect read for upper elementary students. It goes though the alphabet giving mean to each letter, but the meaning it gives only applies to the realm of education such as people in the school and things learned and/or valued in education.

[Randie D. Camp, M.S.]

I am a huge fan of Sleeping Bear Press' alphabet books and this one is a fine example of their great work.

Each letter of the alphabet is connected to school with a brief passage to read aloud and a lengthier explanation of the word's meaning to the side for interested readers.

Great book to start off a new school year.

[Cws]

JEPIC-Lay

[Theresa]

Enjoyed reading it with my four year old who will start a new school next year. Very informative and fun to read. Many great conversations about school can come from this story.