I Had a Favorite Dress

Posted by kremenar on Dec 1, 2011 in Early Learning, Integrating Knowledge and Ideas, Michigan Author, Vocabulary | 1 comment

As the season of present-giving draws near, I’d like to mention two books that not only make great gifts, but also talk about the value of making the most of what we have as well as recycling. I Had a Favorite Dress written by Boni Ashburn and illustrated by Julia Denos is a terrific twist on Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.The little girl in the story has outgrown her favorite dress, but her crafty mom uses it to make a cute shirt. When the girl outgrows that, mom uses it to make a tank top, etc. I won’t spoil the ending, but it comes full circle beautifully, making it clear that creativity can help us take minor tragedies and turn them into something wonderful. And not only is it eco-considerate, it even teaches the days of the week! Woohoo, Boni Ashburn and Julia Denos! Purchase “I Had a Favorite Dress”

After reading I Had a Favorite Dress to your kids, compare it with the Caldecott-award-winning story, Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback. Both stories talk about taking an article of clothing that’s either worn out or outgrown and turning it into something else. Comparing and contrasting the two books will hit the Common Core State Standard of Integrating Knowledge and Ideas and inspire lots of higher level thinking. After all the analytical thinking fun is done (Venn diagram, anyone?), give your students scraps of fabric, scissors, glue, etc., and encourage them to make something from a bit of what looks like nothing much. Encourage everyone in your life to take their old, worn, outgrown clothing and either make something new or donate the items to charity. In the words of Boni Ashburn: “Make molehills out of mountains!”

For more information, visit boniashburn.com, juliadenos.com, or simmstaback.com.

I’m a Turkey!

Posted by kremenar on Nov 15, 2011 in Body Smart, Color Knowledge, Early Learning, Holiday, Music Smart, Nature Smart, Non-Fiction, Rhyming, Song Books | 0 comments

When I was little, I had a book with a 45 rpm record (yep, I’m that old) that I loved. It was “A Lot of Hot Water” read by Gordon from Sesame Street. Audio recordings of books have gone through a media transition or two, but it’s still a thrill to hear a good story read aloud by a talented reader. Jim Arnosky has a free downloadable MP3 version of his song “I’m a Turkey“, and my preschoolers this week gobbled it up. Arnosky’s folksy singing style is just right to get little listeners talkin’ turkey with him. The large art and short text in this book make it a fast, easy storytime choice. I’m going to share more books with cds or MP3 versions with my students. I’m sure they enjoy listening to another voice besides mine!

After sharing I’m a Turkey, we stretched by doing the Turkey Jerky. It’s like the Hokey Pokey, except you put your right wing in, your left wing, your tail feathers , etc. After announcing “that’s what it’s all about!”, we gobbled twice instead of clapping.

Next, I gave each student a feather from the craft store. I showed them this turkey decoration (the kind that folds flat to store but unfurls into a kind of fan for show) and we said this rhyme:
There was a little turkey who had lost his tail.
When he saw it was gone, he began to wail.
“Oh woe is me! Please tell me whether
You have found my red tail feather!”
Whoever had a red feather could stick the feather in one of the holes on the turkey. We repeated the rhyme and changed it until all the colors of the feathers were used. It took me less prep time to use the turkey decoration and feathers we already had than to make the bulletin board out of construction paper like I’d originally planned, and the students loved sticking in the real feathers. Having two easy, inexpensive activities to go with a book sung by a fun artist made me very thankful indeed!

For more information, visit jimarnosky.com.

November is National Adoption Month

Posted by kremenar on Nov 10, 2011 in Early Learning, Holiday, Integrating Knowledge and Ideas, Non-Fiction | 0 comments

 I like that we celebrate adoption in the same month that we celebrate Thanksgiving. For preschoolers and kindergartners, Thanksgiving doesn’t have much to do with Pilgrims and Native American Indians. Honestly, it doesn’t even have much to do with giving thanks for all we have (kids in the single-digit club live in the moment and aren’t prone to introspection.)  Nope, for little ones, Thanksgiving is all about a big, lovely meal and family. So let’s celebrate families, in all their wonderful shapes, sizes, and forms, with some of my favorite books about adoption.

Want well-written non-fiction? Get Shelley Rotner’s books. Her latest is called I’m Adopted and it is wonderful. Co-written with Sheila M. Kelly, this book is full of Rotner’s gorgeous photos showing all kinds of kids and families. The book is simply written but not watered down. One of my friends who adopted her son two years ago said the book is “so respectful, and heartfelt”. I’m trying to incorporate more informational books into my storytimes, and I’m Adopted will be perfect for my family-themed read-aloud time.

Todd Parr has been a storytime favorite for years. Who can resist his bright, bold art? I love the straightforward, positive tone of Parr’s books. In We Belong Together, Parr writes, “You needed a home… and I had one to share.” Gets me every time. The cartoon-y people and animals make the book relate-able for every child, and I like that Parr shows all kinds of family combinations.With the big art and short text, I can read this book to the youngest preschoolers as well as my older school-aged students.

For a more lyrical, snuggle-in-together book, try Sweet Moon Baby: An Adoption Tale by written by Karen Henry Clark and Patrice Barton. It’s about a baby girl born in China, and a mother and father far away, and the journey that brings their family together. Soft and sweet, this may be just the right book for some of your students who were part of an international adoption.

After you share a book about adoption with your students, let them talk about their own family stories, and when they were babies. Use your digital camera to take photos of your students, and paste the face of each student on a baby die-cut shape (they will fall down giggling seeing their faces on baby bodies!) Have students write or dictate the story of their birth, or the day they came home to their families, and attach the “baby picture”. Celebrate each and every student, because it’s November, and we are thankful for them!

Duck! Rabbit!

Posted by kremenar on Nov 2, 2011 in Early Learning, Nature Smart, Readers' Theater, Science | 0 comments

Those of you who know me know I have a huge author-crush on Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I think her books are brilliant, and Duck! Rabbit! by AKR (as I like to call her) and Tom Lichtenheld gets me every time. Is this character a duck? A rabbit? Neither, or both? Two unseen narrators debate just what this critter is, and we realize that it’s all in how you look at it.

This book is a cool lesson in perspective. You can work the science angle if you’re doing a unit on the five senses and talk about how we see things. Get little plastic magnifying glasses, binoculars, or sheets of colored transparent plastic and let little ones experiment with looking through them. Share optical illusion books and art by M. C. Escher. Talk about how differences in perspective mean that we can have differences of opinion, too. We can see things from different points of view, and one way is necessarily better than the other. Share Duck! Rabbit! and see what happens!

For more information, visit Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s website: whoisamy.com or Tom Lichtenheld’s website: tomlichtenheld.com.

Skeleton Hiccups

Posted by kremenar on Oct 26, 2011 in Body Smart, Early Learning, Holiday, Nature Smart, Science | 1 comment

“Skeleton woke up.
hic, hic, hic,
Had the hiccups.
hic, hic, hic”

By the time you’ve turned to page two of Skeleton Hiccups written by Margery Cuyler and illustrated by S.D. Schindler, all your little listeners will be chiming in “hic, hic, hic”. Skeleton has the hiccups and nothing, not holding his breath, not drinking water upside-down (which makes the water pour out his empty eye sockets), not being scared by his friend Ghost, nothing seems to help. Then Ghost holds up a mirror for Skeleton to see his own scary reflection, and the hiccups are gone!

This is a terrific Halloween choice for kids who don’t really want to be scared. Skeleton and Ghost (who wears his baseball cap backwards) are more friendly than fearsome. The repeated “hic, hic, hic”, the short sentences, and the simple plot make Skeleton Hiccups a fun read-aloud for those with bare-bones attention spans. After reading the story, talk about the skeleton each of us has inside. Sing “Skull, Shoulders, Knee Caps, Toes.” (I know that “Arms and ribs and legs and hips” isn’t exactly rhyming, so if you come up with a better fit, email me.) Then, build skeletons!

At artprojectsforkids.org, I found this cute idea for making a skeleton out of uncooked pasta. I’m bookmarking this site, because Kathy Barbro’s ideas look fun and some look easy enough even for me. There’s also a cool paper plate skeleton on isharecrafts.com for those who are more craftily-gifted. For a great change from sugary snacks, make “bones” from refrigerated breadstick dough and dip them in pizza sauce “blood” Happy Halloween!

For more information, visit margerycuyler.com.

One Dark Night

Posted by kremenar on Oct 19, 2011 in Body Smart, Early Learning, Holiday, Michigan Author, Readers' Theater, Vocabulary | 0 comments

It’s October, and you want to read a not-too-scary book to get in the Halloween mood. But what if Halloween isn’t something you celebrate? At our public library, we have many patrons who don’t want a story with witches and ghosts. So, what can we read to get us shivery and snuggly? One Dark Night written by Lisa Wheeler and illustrated by Ivan Bates.

Mouse and Mole live “in a wee little house, in a wee little hole” but one dark night, they venture out into the woods. Meanwhile, “in a big giant lair, near a big giant glen” a big giant bear is growling – and hungry. As the two wee animals travel in the dark, the giant hungry bear gets hungrier. What will happen when Bear finds wee Mouse and Mole? “You’re late!” he grumbles, and the three go back to Bear’s lair for a big giant feast.

I like the juxtaposition of the wee little creatures and the big giant bear, as well as the happy surprise twist on a story that gives us just enough suspense.  After you talk with the students about what they thought would happen and what actually happened, divide the class in two groups to act out the story as you reread it. Let the Mouse and Mole kids stand against one wall and tiptoe from it when you read their scenes. Let the Bear kids stand against the opposite wall and take big giant steps forward during their scenes. Kids can even say the lines of the characters after you in wee or giant voices. The two groups will meet in the middle of the room for the Bear kids to announce “You’re late!” and they can all come back to your gathering spot together. And if there happens to be a wee little treat waiting there for them, even better!

For more information, visit lisawheelerbooks.com.

The Teeny Tiny Woman

Posted by kremenar on Oct 11, 2011 in Early Learning, Holiday, Print Motivation, Storybox Idea | 0 comments

In one teeny tiny tale, you can have teeny tiny listeners more than a teeny tiny bit hooked on a book. There are several versions of The Teeny Tiny Woman (the one pictured is retold by Jane O’Connor and illustrated by R. W. Alley) but if you have a teeny, tiny bit of trouble finding this one, check out versions by Barbara Seuling, Paul Galdone, or Arthur Robins.

The teeny tiny woman goes for a teeny tiny walk and finds a teeny tiny bone. Back in her teeny tiny home, she puts the teeny tiny bone in her teeny tiny cupboard. Soon, a teeny tiny voice begins to call, “Give me my bone!” This story is a teeny tiny bit scary, just right for listeners who want a spooky story for Halloween but don’t want to be *really* scared. With all the teeny tiny repetitions, kids will be chiming in and repeating the story in no time. Retelling a story is an important pre-writing skill, and this story is perfect for retelling. You can either make a teeny tiny house with a teeny tiny woman, or if you have a dollhouse and dolls, encourage students to use them along with the book to retell the story to a friend. Make a teeny tiny bone and a teeny tiny ghost from paper, clay, or any other crafty material you have. Great, big fun from a teeny tiny book!