We really enjoy learning about other cultures at our school. Learning about the Lunar New Year is especially fun . What better excuse to celebrate!? Red is a lucky color during the Lunar New Year. It is bright and festive and really makes our school come alive. It is also a wonderful time to talk… More MAISY’S CHINESE NEW YEAR by Lucy Cousins
Think back to the excitement of snow when you were a child! Did you sleep with your pajamas inside out? Or with a spoon under your pillow? All in the hopes that it would snow. I love this book because it captures the magic of a child’s excitement about snow, despite the world around saying… More SNOW by Uri Shulevitz
By Angela DiTerlizzi, illustrated by Lorena Alvarez “By framing low grades or mistakes as an opportunity to improve, instead of a final result, we provide ourselves and others with the confidence to continue learning — “yet” provides a path to the future.” -Carol Dweck I am a big fan of the Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck.… More THE MAGICAL YET
By Tara Lazar, illustrated by Ross MacDonald Detective Library showed up for this one: This book is brilliant! “As a Private I, I’m used to his type–numbers. They’re always stuck in a problem. But I knew this 7 fella. He was odd.” Yes, most of that goes right over the children’s head, but as an… More SEVEN ATE NINE
This is a beautifully illustrated and calming book. The children sang this song for the Christmas program, so they were excited to be able to sing along! I would like to jump into this picture and ice skate! Want to come with me? After the story we played with the nativity set: Projector image: Merry… More AWAY IN A MANGER, Illustrated by Thomas Kinkade
Look at Miss Library dancing as a ballerina…(totally not me, but I convinced at least a few of the children – hahahah): When I was a child, our family went to the Nutcracker every year. I did not know there was a story until I was much older, which is why I love this book.… More THE NUTCRACKER by Susanna Davidson, illustrated by Anna Luraschi
Just look at this cute little Stick Family… Another wonderful book by Julia Donaldson, with bright illustrations by Axel Scheffler. Wonderful rhyming, humor and heart, and fantastic vocabulary words make this book a winner. I like to stop and ask the children what happened to the snowman: When Stick Man ends up in the fireplace,… More STICK MAN by Julia Donaldson, Illustrated by Axel Scheffler
This is a silly and fun book for Thanksgiving. Another cumulative rhyming story, that repeats itself. This makes it easier for the children to remember it for retelling and is wonderful for language development. I like to point out the following illustration. The “Old Lady” is making her pie, but look at her cat. Ummm… More I KNOW AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A PIE by Alison Jackson, Illustrated by Judith Byron Schachner
It was raining in the library too: The text builds upon itself, and the children are always surprised when the flea bites the mouse and everything unfolds into pure fun: Retelling the story: “Snoring Granny”: Granny was “baking” a pumpkin pie: For my afternoon class we made “napping houses”, cut out the characters from the… More THE NAPPING HOUSE by Audrey Wood, Illustrated by Don Wood
This book seemed like the perfect choice for Halloween and the rest of the week. The book has a calming cadence to it, which is nice around Halloween time when children are either exhausted or so excited they can barely sit still. It also gave us a chance to talk about spiders. After the story,… More THE VERY BUSY SPIDER by Eric Carle
This book not only has wonderful rhymes, but the vocabulary is remarkable. I just love the amount of words in this book that a far from everyday words, but are used in perfect ease in this story. What a fantastic way to introduce children to new words. Our broom is looking pretty heavy…. Oh no….… More ROOM ON THE BROOM by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
I use sounds from Spotify to add to this story. A fire alarm, the sound of a fire engine, the sound of a dog barking and the sound of glass breaking (when he uses his ax to break the window). It really seems to pull the children into the story. They especially love to follow… More FRED THE FIREFIGHTER by Felicity Brooks, Illustrated by Jo Litchfield
Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler, Illustrated by S.D. Schindler. The Teeny Tiny Woman by Paul Galdone. We watched this on the projector: We then read The Teeny-Tiny Woman (Just a teeny tiny bit scary). This story is an old English ghost story: Each child received a “teeny-tiny” bone – what will they do with them?… More Spooky, Scary, Skeletons and Bones….Skeleton Hiccups and The Teeny-Tiny Woman
A Caldecott Medal book from 1996. It seemed like a fun pick for “police week”. Safety tips… We decided to write up our own safety tips: We watched police cars on the projector: October smells: We made police officer badges, and solved a crime during my after school class: Another Beatrix approved book…. For ideas… More OFFICER BUCKLE AND GLORIA by Peggy Rathmann
By Roseanne Thong, Illustrated by John Parra This is a colorful book. Full of culture, Spanish vocabulary and shapes. Perfect for preschoolers, and fun for Hispanic Heritage Month. I like to play the Mexican Hat Dance song after ” Round are the trumpets that blare out a tune”. It is fun to imagine being there… More ROUND IS A TORTILLA: A Book of Shapes
Illustrated by Gabhor Utomo. Yes, another Jack and the Beanstalk story. I still have a “Jack” “climbing down the beanstalk”, and the Giant looking down in the library. The children love it, they want to know everything. So of course I have to read Jack and the Beanstalk….again… but it is a different version than… More FEE, FI, FO, FUM…AGAIN!
by Mo Willems Berto the Book Worm loves this book! The children really giggle over this page: If you don’t know how much Pigeon loves a bus… check out video below. Pigeon has something important to say… Beatrix liked this book too! Oh no! Is Pigeon driving that bus???? DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE… More The Pigeon HAS to Go to School!
By Laura Numeroff, Illustrated by Felicia Bond It is so fun to be back at school! B and I are both well rested after a wonderful summer and are ready to get back to the important business of reading to children! 🙂 It can be hard to get up early again and go to school…… More IF YOU TAKE A MOUSE TO SCHOOL
BY ROWBOAT WATKINS (Rowboat Watkins? Hahahaha!) Poor Mable thought there was something wrong with her because she did not have a mustache! And she gets called a name!! (What is a Nudibranch?) But Mable finds a friend, who does not care what she looks like, and she does not care that he only has seven… More MABEL: A MERMAID FABLE
By Jory John A Beatrix approved book: This is a fun book to read aloud: I love that he DECIDES to be happy and that he is trying! This could be a great book to talk about the Growth Mindset. And he “keeps trying”. And guess what? He is not a bad seed after all!… More THE BAD SEED
By Lois Ehlert Another Beatrix approved book! Such a beautifully illustrated book: There is no better way to review the stages of a butterfly than THE BUTTERFLY SONG(I promise your children will LOVE it!): Eggs: Caterpillars (eating green leaves): Chrysalis: They look just like these don’t they? 😉 Our butterflies finally hatch, let their wings… More WAITING FOR WINGS…
Mother Goose flew in on her big goose to fill in for her sister, Miss Library, this week. (Miss Library went to Hawaii to surf). Mother Goose introduced the children to some of her many geese: The illustrations in this book are so beautiful: So many good stories and rhymes! Mother Goose gave the children… More MOTHER GOOSE AND FRIENDS by Ruth Sanderson
By Frank Asch Every day should be EARTH DAY right? We listen to birds and frogs from a recording when we get to this page: What an amazing gift when we get a rainbow! We play with our earth, our earth helps us grow, and she sings to us! Pollution and garbage are sad: The… More THE EARTH AND I
By Janet Schulman, illustrated by Linda Davick Did you know that Beatrix and the Easter Bunny are best friends? The children were able to see the Easter Bunny (on the projector): It is fun to look for the hidden eggs in this story. Can you find the two hidden eggs on the following pages? Hahah… More 10 EASTER EGG HUNTERS – A HOLIDAY COUNTING BOOK
PIRATES GO TO SCHOOL by Corinne Demas illustrated by John Manders The children were met at the door by “Captain Library” and asked to “walk the plank”(over sharks) into the library: They were met with more sharks (on the projector) when they got into the library: This is a cute and funny book. The pirates… More YO HO HO, WE’RE SO COOL, WE ARE PIRATES AND WE LOVE SCHOOL!
By Pat Hutchins Mmmmmm… can you smell the cookies? This book is a wonderful way to practice counting for the younger children and for practicing math for the older children. It also has a wonderful theme of sharing throughout the book. Do the cookies smell good? 6 cookies on two plates: Doorbell sound( Spotify): The… More THE DOORBELL RANG…
It was ON TOP OF SPAGHETTI all covered with cheese…. Written and illustrated by Paul Brett Johnson. Sometimes you just have to be silly…. This book takes the old classic song and just makes it silly fun. The children love it, and it is a great way to teach them the song. I turned the… More ACHOO…ON NO! WE LOST OUR POOR MEATBALL!
Here is a short movie of our week: I believe in imagination. I believe in creative play. Good thing the children love it. We always have so much fun acting out a story after we read it. We are very lucky to have a room across from the library that we can use for stories… More GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS by James Marshall
We had such a fun Dr. Seuss week. How do you not love these t-shirts all of the children received? We kicked everything off with a Dr. Seuss parade! We had “wear stripes and/or your hat day”, Wacky Wednesday, green eggs and ham day (wear green) and crazy socks day (Fox in Socks): We had… More “WHY FIT IN WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!” -DR. SEUSS
By Brian Wildsmith Are they cousins? We think the tortoise is saying “I can do it!”: Beatrix sleeps after eating a lot too! (Sometimes with his eyes open) SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE! We decided that sometimes we need to be like a tortoise and go slow and steady, and sometimes we need to… More THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE