Does your first grader have a love of everything rodent-themed? From fancy mice and rats to hamsters and guinea pigs, rodents often become a central household fixture. Luckily, some fun books are available on the market that incorporates rodents to inspire a love of reading in your child and expand their minds. Homeschooling your child gives you the flexibility to seek out many of these fabulous books to use within your daily curriculum.
My Best Friend Hamster by Brie Wetherby
My Best Friend Hamster is an easy reader brought to you by the Mommy Daughter Love blog. You can find it on Amazon and over 40 other great books with sparkling pink themes made explicitly for homeschool girls. My Best Friend Hamster is an easy reader designed for first-grade girls or girls ages 6-8. It uses fun speech bubbles and simple words to help young learners practice their reading. First-grade sight words are the main focus of My Best Friend Hamster. Such words include: I, no, best, friend, going, my, and your. This book centers around two friends; one has a pet bunny, and the other has a pet hamster! Your daughter will love the simple illustrations and pink pages of this book. This book is currently available on Amazon in Ebook format and through the Kindle Unlimited program.
Hamy Learns To Save By Ivy Chow
Hamy Learns to Save is written and illustrated by Ivy Chow. It uses simple illustrations to teach a big message about money and financial literacy. Do you think these sound-like big concepts for first graders? In Hamy Learns To Save, these concepts are brought down to a first-grade level. While your child might need help reading some of the words or reading part of the book because it is pretty long, it is very educational. Some of the topics it brings down to a kid’s level and teaches using cute hamsters are:
- Saving and budgeting
- Needs versus wants
- Joys of reaching a big financial goal or dream
The adorable chunky hamster in Hamy Learns to Save is a total foody like pretty much every other rodent around, but his twin sister is not. On their 6th birthday, each of the twin hamsters starts getting an allowance. If you know anything about hamsters, you know that they live around two years, so my daughter and I joked that these baby hamsters must be 6 months old instead of years. Anyway, Hamy spends all of his money on toys and snacks while his sister saves hers. Hamy is pretty sad about it but learns to save and budget for needs and big financial goals from his twin sister, all alongside the readers, of course. This book gets five stars for its unique educational message. It is available in eBook, paperback, and through the Kindle Unlimited program.
Giant Hamster Coloring Book by M&D Co.
The Giant Hamster Coloring book is one of our activity books for first graders. It offers bold, fun hamster and rodent coloring pages for kids who love little critters. This coloring book features over 100 simple illustrations for kids ages 6-12, and on the cover, there is a giant squeaking hamster. The primary color of the body is purple and pink glitter to make it extra fun for first-grade girls to work with. Your young learner can use this book to practice with colored pencils, crayons, or even markers.
Giant Hamster Coloring Book Samples
There’s A Mouse Hiding In This Book (Tom and Jerry) By Benjamin Bird
This is a simple book in the typical Tom and Jerry format. However, it doesn’t make a lot of sense if you haven’t heard of these two characters because there is very little background within the book. Essentially it is very similar to the old cartoons where the cat chases around the mouse. In the book There’s a Mouse Hiding in This Book, Tom chases Jerry around the book, trying to find him. He almost gets eaten by a dog along the way. He also instructs the reader to shake the mouse out of the book and turn the page. While this book is available in ebook, through the Kindle Unlimited Program, and in a Paperback version, it would be the best read in a paperback version where your child could participate with the book more because that is fun. However, it is comical in the other formats as well. There is really no educational value to this book other than simply getting kids to read. While most of the words are at a first-grade level, your child may need help sounding out a few of them. However, the photos and text are very distracting to many young viewers because the book takes on Tom and Jerry’s Iconic chaotic style. If you are familiar with these characters, the book would be a hit. From the standpoint of liking rodents, it was also amusing.
The Best Seat In Second Grade By Katharine Kenah
The Best Seat in Second Grade is actually the perfect book to read closer to the end of your child’s first-grade year or in the summer before second grade. It is one of those books that gets kids excited about the upcoming school year. As far as rodent books go, this book is also a success. The star of the show is George Washington, the classroom hamster. In this book, a little boy in second grade named Sam gets to sit by George Washington’s cage during class. Since the book is a, I Can Read Step 2, your child may need some help reading it, but it is a beginner chapter book. The text is split up into 4 fun chapters, and perhaps each of you could take two of them. Anyway, throughout the book, Sam makes jokes about George Washington, the hamster, takes him on a field trip, and accidentally loses him in a petting zoo area with other hamsters. It has a happy ending, though, so there is no need to worry. The illustrations in this book were done by Abby Carter and are a sketchy, light, whimsical design. The hamster always looks a little frazzled and sneezes a lot throughout the book, which kids find adorable. As far as educational value goes, this book does not have a specific word list or anything to it, but being a step two reader, it is designed to inspire a love of reading in young readers.
Mini Sight Words Book for Girls By Brie Wetherby
The Mini Sight Words Book for Girls is an early phonics reader that can be used in place of flashcards. It is perfect for travel, road schooling, or even just keeping clutter at bay and not losing flash cards. It is a collection of pink sight words surrounded by fun animals dressed as unicorns. Your child can practice reading foundational sight words without the context clues of complete sentences in this book. There are 6 words per page for kids to practice in this mini-book, and it as has a fun little rat dressed in unicorn pajamas on the cover. As far as educational value goes, if your first grader needs practice with over 130 common first-grade sight words, this is the perfect book for you. It covers:
- Common first-grade sight words
- Days of the week
- Months of the year
- Numbers in word form
- ABC practice and Vowels
This book is available in paperback, ebook, or through the Kindle Unlimited program.
Hamster Eats The Valentines By Brie Wetherby
Hamster Eats the Valentine’s is a valentine themed hamster book for first-grade girls ages 6-8. It is an easy reader about an adorable hamster that eats all of its owners’ Valentines. This easy reader for girls focuses on solidifying a variety of first-grade sight words: three, I, got, why, ate, and it. While this is specifically a book for Valentine’s Day, it could be read all year round by those who like rodents. It utilizes the approach of simple illustrations to amplify the text and allow the reader to focus in. However, the book itself will still catch a little girl’s eye because the interior pages are all pink. You can get this book on Amazon in eBook format, through the kindle unlimited program, or as a paperback.
The Clever Little Mouse By Jennifer Dovey
The Clever Little Mouse was an odd book, even for one centered around rodents, which can be odd creatures. It was a very simplistic read that most first-graders could probably tackle themselves with little help. However, the plot line was a little weird. It was essentially about a mouse who wanted to make friends with the two other animals in its home, both of which could be considered predators. The two different animals were a dog and a cat. The dog was super hairy, but the cat was a hairless Siamese. Since the cat was grumpy and cold all the time, and the dog was constantly stumbling around over its long hair, the mouse decided to trim off some of the dog’s fur and use it to make a sweater and boots for the cat. It is just a little gross when you think about it too much, a sweater out of dog fur. However, you can tell the author and illustrator were aiming for a comedic hit.
Free Handwriting Worksheets
If your homeschooler loves hamsters, then they are sure to love these free hamster-themed handwriting worksheets. This free manuscript handwriting worksheet packet comes with practice sheets for uppercase letters, lower case letters, and numbers 1-5.
Sum Up the First Grade Homeschool Lessons
If your child loves rodent-themed books and curriculum, then there are many options on the market. Check out a few of these fun books if you have the Kindle Unlimited program. It is the perfect library card for homeschoolers because you have access to over 2 million books and counting for a small monthly fee. If you are new to Kindle Unlimited, then check out some of these discounts for first-time sign-ups:
With the books in this rodent-themed lesson, you can capture your child’s love of reading and make them laugh. You can also teach them about money, sight words, and art.
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