A classic fairy tale, originally written by Hans Christian Andersen. I love the illustrations in this book. It is also simple and easy for the children to follow. After the story we looked at a real pea. How did the princess feel this under twenty mattresses? Each child then got to see if they were … More THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA retold by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Emily Bolam
Earth Day was on Monday, but we know everyday should really be Earth Day, right? We celebrated our Earth all week long. How perfect that our chicks hatched this week too! This is our 7th year hatching chickens. It is truly such a wonder, and never gets old. The children have been so engaged -but … More OUR EARTH by Anne Rockwell
Miss Library’s Sister, Mother Goose is always happy to see all of the children! Each child jumped over a candlestick to get into the library (and took home this card so they could jump at home!): Mother Goose reminded the children how she gets around (on her goose of course) and where she lives(in this … More Mother Goose reading LITTLE LUMPTY by Miko Imai
It was FARM WEEK at our school! This was a wonderful opportunity to make sure the children know their farm animals, and the sounds of each one. Who does not like to make farm animal noises? Our vocabulary word from this story was SNOUT. I am not sure why, but I love this word. Lots … More A DAY AT GREENHILL FARM by Sue Nicholson
This is a funny little Easter book that has some subtle character lessons in it for the children. Cat is JEALOUS (our vocabulary word) of the Easter Bunny. He chooses a motorcycle to get around, which of course the children love. He also puts together a snazzy outfit. But Cat soon learns how hard he … More HERE COMES THE EASTER CAT by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Claudia Rueda … More HERE COMES THE EASTER CAT by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Claudia Rueda
It is Spring! Have you heard the birds? Have you seen any nests? It is a short week for us (conferences), so I thought this Mo Willems book would be perfect for the first week of spring. My favorite thing to do for this book is to have the children tell me the title of … More THERE IS A BIRD ON YOUR HEAD by Mo Williams
We went on safari this week in the library! This is a fun and silly story and perfect for identifying and talking about animals. The illustrator is one of my favorites – Peter H. Reynolds. The pictures are colorful and expressive. I like to stop at this point. It would seem that this story is … More WHAT TO DO IF AN ELEPHANT STANDS ON YOUR FOOT by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
GREEN EGGS AND HAM by Dr. Seuss. We started our Dr. Seuss week with a wonderful parade. The Kindergarten class made a large birthday cake and Trufulla trees, and the TK class made a Dr. Seuss Hat (all made in maker space): Every year, I swear I am going to choose another book for the … More I DO SO LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM. THANK YOU! THANK YOU, SAM-I -AM
This book was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1986. A bathtub be can such a wonderful place of play and imagination for children, and this book reminds us of that. I love the illustrations. Before we even start the story, we can see the outside of the castle and the King bathing. I love how … More KING BIDGOOD’S IN THE BATHTUB by Audrey Wood, Illustrated by Don Wood
During the week of Valentine’s, what a nice reminder to CHOOSE LOVE! And this week was all about LOVE. This is always a good page to share and talk about (of course our kids would never throw sand…): The projector had “I love you” playing. The children loved it because so many of them knew … More HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY I LOVE YOU? By Jane Yolen & Mark Teague
Happy Lunar New Year! The year of the DRAGON! The dragon represents power, strength, good luck and wisdom. I love learning and teaching about other cultures. The Lunar New Year is a fun one. The Lunar New Year is celebrated in many Asian cultures but this story takes us to China. They “sweep, mop and … More DRAGON DANCE by Joan Holub, illustrated by Benrei Huana
Another classic tale, this story is repetitive and easy for the children to remember. Wonderful for language, pre-literacy skills, brain development, creativity AND just fun! After the story we used this cute little set to retell the story (and they will stay in the library for the next few weeks for the children to continue … More THE THREE LITTLE PIGS by James Marshall
After we read the story, we had a lot of fun pretending to be Goldilocks and The Three Bears, acting out the story. Experts say that play based learning is the fastest way our little ones learn. This is a perfect example. The children are having so much fun, and have no idea how much … More THE THREE BEARS by Paul Galdone
This book was a Caldecott Medal winner in 1964. There is a reason children still love this book. I love this book. It captures emotions and imagination so well. “Let the wild rumpus start”…best line ever. Personally, I think we all need a little more rumpus in our lives. 🙂 …and it was still hot! … More WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak
It is early January, so there is still hope for some snow here. It has not snowed here in years, so many of the children have never even seen snow. It is a good thing we have books and our imaginations! We put on our coats, boots, hats, gloves and scarves and took our magic … More THE SNOWY DAY by Anna Milbourne, illustrated by Elena Temporin
Did you know that reading fiction to children develops empathy? You will find an article about this at the end of this blog. How do you not fall in love with this book? It is a 2011 Caldecott Medal winner. Beatrix has snuck into yet another book: Kindness! Our vocabulary word this week was “concern”: … More A SICK DAY FOR AMOS MCGEE, by Philip Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead
During this past week of Preschool Christmas performances and parties, I thought a quiet, sweet book about the stable and birth of Jesus would be a nice choice for the week. For the younger children, a book with animals is always popular. The older children love the Christmas Story in any form. After the story, … More WHO IS COMING TO OUR HOUSE? By Joseph Slate, illustrated by Ashley Wolff
This story starts out with lots of giggles, “underwear” will do it…. Our students have been practicing for our Christmas Program. All of the children will be singing Jingle Bells, so they were already familiar with the song. They were surprised and delighted by Santa Duck’s version: Our vocabulary word from this book was eggnog. … More SANTA DUCK by David Milgrim
I love any rendition of this classic story. There is so much here to use for preschool education. There is rhyme, repetitive text, prediction, farm animals, math, science (what would happen if a cookie goes into the water?) and movement if they play “gingerbread boy/man” tag. In this version, of course “boy” does not rhyme … More THE GINGERBREAD BOY by Paul Galdone
Since it seems like Halloween was a few days ago, I thought this book was perfect for a Thanksgiving read! Bean casserole with sticks of boogey butter and mashed potatoes with eyeballs? Yum! What a lovely Thanksgiving… I think almost every dog owner I know, has had a dog that has eaten something on Thanksgiving. … More FANGSGIVING by Ethan Long
Who doesn’t love fall leaves?! This story is so imaginative and certainly piques the imagination of the children. We made some leaf men of our own: A leaf man is so easy, and I think the kids would be happy to make them all day. Try it in your own back yard! A beautiful fall … More LEAF MAN by Lois Ehlert
A monster book with movement! What could be more perfect for the week of Halloween? I make a beautiful monster don’t I? This book is actually lyrics to a very catchy song, with very cute illustration. So much fun dancing around the library! The children loved it. Our monster claws: Monsters dancing to “Monster Mash” … More MONSTER BOOGIE by Laurie Berkner, illustrated by Ben Clanton
We are still talking about community helpers this month. This book is a great one to use, to talk about firefighters in general and to remind our children about fire safety. On this page, we talked about fire hoses, masks and the helmets the firefighters wear. We were lucky enough to be able to see … More FIRE STATIONS IN ACTION by Mari Schuh
I really love an interactive book where the students can get involved. (And from a teacher perspective- this book helps them with their listening skills and verbal skills). This is a cute, fun, colorful book. Perfect for October and Halloween. Magic fingers! The Witch left behind some green slime! A lovely bubbling cauldron on the … More THERE’S A WITCH IN YOUR BOOK by Tom Fletcher, illustrated Greg Abbott
It is community helper month at our school! Uniform! Badge! Radio! Police officers getting ready to go! “When people need help, we rock and roll!” These police officers helped direct traffic, found a lost child, and went after bank robbers. Practicing 911. I cannot find my source for this phone, sorry – you can try … More POLICE OFFICERS ON PATROL by Kersten Hamilton, illustrated by R.W.Alley
This classic fable is meant to show children the importance of work and helping others. Find these cute printable puppets for the story here: Before the story, each child received a character puppet to hold. They had to listen and hold up their character when they heard it in the story (a great exercise to … More THE LITTLE RED HEN by Paul Galdone
This week we went on a safari to Africa. On the projector: How do you not love this book? Beautifully illustrated with lots of emotion and fun. We tried some dancing too: we tried waltzing, rock and rolling, the tango, the cha cha cha, “a splendid Scottish reel”, and of course just some fun dancing. … More GIRAFFES CAN’T DANCE by Giles Andreae, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees
We celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at our preschool! It is really fun. This book weaves all of these Spanish words into the story seamlessly. The children can follow along easily: Instead off butting the troll of the bridge, in this story the biggest billy goat helps the troll. A sweet, nice twist on the story. … More THE THREE BILLY GOATS BUENOS by Susan Middleton Elya, Illustrated by Miguel Ordonez
On the projector with sound (I love frogs!): Before our story, we turn ourselves into frogs. We practiced catching flies for our snack! Who doesn’t love Froggy, just trying the best he can…. OOPS… What a relief! It was just a dream… Yummy! A bowl of flies for breakfast? Well, yes! We are frogs after … More FROGGY GOES TO SCHOOL by Jonathan London, illustrated by Frank Remiewicz
I suppose as long as I have “Jack” trying to escape the “Giant” in the library, I will have to find another version of this story! But, it never fails to enthrall! So here we are again, just another version! 🙂 This version is retold by Mara Alperin, and illustrated by Mark Chambers. Look at … More JACK AND THE BEANSTALK…AGAIN!