If you’re planning ahead for Valentine’s Day ideas, “1 2 3 Valentine’s Day: a counting book” by Jeanne Modesitt and Robin Spowart is great for preschoolers and kindergartners. The rhyming text helps build phonological awareness, and little ones get to count to ten as the mouse delivers Valentine’s Day gifts to his friends. The visual of the corresponding number of hearts at the bottom of the pages is a nice touch. My fellow librarian and early literacy champion, Ms. Marge, uses this in storytime, and brings a big red box with her. In the box she has one of each item the mouse delivers – a silk rose, a paper heart, etc. – that she pulls out as she reads. Try reading the story to your young ones, then let them retell the story and pull out the objects from the red box. Your active, “body smart” kids will love it!
Guess Who Is Out of the Den?
