Books & Read-Alouds {for the first week back}

So, it's almost July.
I always tell my oldest son that when the fireworks' tents go up around where we live, summer is almost over! (he hates that)
Now, for some of you, summer has only begun so hearing those words might bring a ton twinge of sadness.
Many of us have enjoyed a good 4 weeks off, and our minds are slowly starting to gear back into school-mode...or if you're like me, it never left:)

Before you know it, the somber days of August will be upon us, and we will start the definite process of planning for that exhilarating first week!

I love that DeAnne from First Grade and Fabulous is hosting a Picture Book Linky.
It's my hope that she will continue this linky with a different theme each time/week.
This week, the topic is books for the first week back to school.
Here are my favorite books and read-alouds for those precious few first days:

I'm sure most of you are familiar with this favorite story, and maybe you even use it on the first day.
 I love to include a discussion about what "jitters" are and what else may cause you to have jitters.
We make an anchor chart, and then have "jitter juice", which is really green Hawaiian Punch with a construction paper label:)
They all eat it up...or should I say, drink it up!

During the first few weeks of school, I use Made for First Grade's Color Days unit.
The colors we will be celebrating the first week: Red, Blue & Yellow.
The above are books we will use to help us with our color days/sight word kick-off!

Thanks to Amanda's (from First Grade Garden) suggestion, I use these three books to introduce the Sisters' 3 ways to read a book concept.

These titles are recommended for the Common Core ELA Unit 1 study of alphabet books and libraries.
I already own the alphabet books, and was very excited to find 2 "library" books that also tie into the Goldilocks theme that I use to introduce Daily 5....
 ...but I sadly do not own the bottom two titles yet:( They're on my (ever-growing) wish list, though!

I also read "Chrysanthemum" to introduce our Character Trait for the month (typically, Caring) and Loreen Leedy's "Missing Math: a Number Mystery" book to introduce the importance of numbers (math) in our everyday lives.
The last must-share is my favorite heroine, Ms. Junie B. Jones.
I love to start the year off with First Grader at Last :D...I'm sure they all relate!

I use several other titles throughout the year, as seasonally appropriate.
She is my absolute favorite read-aloud character!

If you can't tell by now, Children's literature is a deep-seeded passion of mine.
It's actually really hard to cut out books to include in lessons; I easily go overboard!

Anyone else with that problem?
If you've already got a plan you've used before, or a plan you're excited about this year, link up with DeAnne and share your picture book passion:)