The library was filled with love, hearts and kindness this week: Children understand kindness, even the 2 year olds understand that it is not kind to laugh at someone like this: How can we be kind? What if all of our acts of kindnesses spread across the world? After the story we talked about how… More BE KIND by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated Jen Hill
You can never go wrong with a classic. I like to read the story first, because the recording can be a little scary for young children. Usually once we have talked about it, and acted it out (especially the wolf), it seems to diffuse the scariness of it. The children love being the wolf, and… More PROKOFIEV’S PETER AND THE WOLF Retold by Ian Beck
If you know me, you know I love The Three Billy Goats Gruff. I love it because the children love it. No matter what version I read (see two links below of the others), they are always entranced, and eager to act the story out. It is a simple story, and easy for them to… More THE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF, retold by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen
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
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!