For SharePoint specifically, I'd highly recommend looking at microsoft's free learning plans for developers at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ee513148.aspx. A lot of the information will be covered by the class you're attending, but it never hurts to be armed with information prior to the class.
For books, I highly recommend looking ast Sahil Malik's SharePoint 2010 book which will walk you through setting up your dev environment as well as the basics of SP development.