We started our annual Dr. Seuss Week off with our parade — and the children always love it. It’s such a festive way to kick off the week. Dr. Seuss spirit fills the air! Every day has a different theme, which makes the week so much fun! The excitement really engages the children — and … More GREEN EGGS AND HAM…YUM! DR. SEUSS WEEK
The Three Little Pigs is one of my favorite stories to read to the children. This well-known tale helps them grow as early readers. The repeating text gives children confidence. They begin to anticipate the words, join in with the phrases, and quickly memorize key parts of the story. Before long, they aren’t just listening — … More THE THREE LITTLE PIGS by Mara Alperin, illustrated Ag Jatkowska
Jerry Pinkney is a Caldecott Award–winning author and illustrator, and his illustrations are stunning. His version of The Tortoise and the Hare is set in the desert, which allowed us to explore deserts and cacti. We also talked about the difference between a turtle and a tortoise, and a rabbit and a hare. I personally think we all … More THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE by Jerry Pinkney
Happy Lunar New Year! It is the year of the HORSE! We started our celebration at our preschool by taking a “flight to China”. We visited some famous sites and learned more about China. We also had a big parade to celebrate. The kindergarten class made this beautiful dragon, and the TK class made the … More THE TRUTH ABOUT DRAGONS by Julie Leung, Illustrated by Hanna Cha
Years ago, I installed this into the library. It is certainly looking a little worn, but the children still love it and want to know all about it. So of course, I had to find yet another version of Jack and the Beanstalk. This is my 6th version of the story! I love this story … More JACK AND THE BEANSTALK by Katie Daynes, illustrated by Paddy Mounter
I like to start this book asking about this picture. What season is it? How do you know? Do you see footprints in the snow? Who could they belong to? Is that a cave? Could a bear be sleeping in it? And then we can talk a little about hibernation. Our vocabulary word: It would … More BEAR SNORES ON by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
This week we read another classic Aesop fable. The older children were able to begin understanding the moral behind the story, while for the younger children I simply focused on introducing the story itself. It is a wonderful story for opening up conversations about honesty, lying, and the consequences our choices can have. Our vocabulary … More THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF by Mairi Mackinnon, illustrated by Mike and Carl Gordon
Welcome to Italian week! We started our week with a flight to Italy. Each student had their own passport and a boarding pass. Each child had a seat on the “plane”, our flight attendant and captain shared a safety video and facts about Italy. When the children arrived to Italy, they were all given cameras … More PASTA PLEASE! By Melvin Berger
I love reading The Nutcracker with preschoolers, because it is about imagination, music, movement, emotions, culture, and the warmth of tradition. So many wonderful things included for our young learners. This page really got the attention of the children. Always the most favorite scene! The battle. Brave Marie. Land of the Sweets! I have an old toe … More THE NUTCRACKER by Susan Jeffers
Did you know Aesop was an ancient Greek storyteller who was originally a slave? His stories have been around for thousands of years. They all teach a moral lesson, and it seems these morals are truly timeless. I read a book that referenced this fable, and it made me wonder whether this story is still … More THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGS by Mairi Mackinnon, illustrated by Daniel Howarth
We are a play-based school. Sometimes I have to remind myself how important play is. This book is a lovely reminder. “Play-based learning is crucial in early childhood because it fosters cognitive, social, and emotional development through natural exploration and creativity. It enhances problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity, while also helping children develop essential social … More NOT-A-BOX-CITY by Antoinette Portis
It was a busy and fun week, wrapping up with our Halloween celebrations! This is a simple, not-too-scary book that I thought would be just perfect for this week. Jan Brett is one of my favorite illustrators. Our vocabulary word was growl. We practiced our growls and howls, so that the children could understand the … More SCARY, SCARY HALLOWEEN by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Jan Brett
We continued to celebrate our community helpers this month by reading this book and learning about fire safety. Fireman Small saved the cat! We all put up our hands and shouted “hooray” too! This book has wonderful rhymes and repeats, so the children can say it with me. (They don’t need to know rhyming and … More FIREMAN SMALL by Wong Herbert Yee
October is Community Helper Month! We are so lucky to have officers on duty at our school! This past week, they brought their police vehicles for us to explore and showed us their uniforms. We want to take a moment to thank our police officers for keeping us safe and for taking the time to … More THE POLICE STATION by Aaron Carr
We celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month at our school! It was so fun. This book is a simple, brightly colored, fun, bilingual book. The kids loved it. Hopefully they learned a few new words in Spanish. If nothing else, I think it is important to expose children to other languages. We reviewed most of the words … More I’M HUNGRY! TENGO HAMBRE! By Angela Dominguez
Creativity Courage Collaboration We celebrated International Dot Day! Dot day is a day that encourages creativity, courage, and collaboration by inspiring people of all ages to “make their mark,” beginning with just a small dot, and to share their creativity with the world. But really shouldn’t every day be Dot Day? We started the story by … More THE DOT by Peter H. Reynolds
I am sure it will come as no surprise that I absolutely love libraries. When my children were young, one of our favorite outings was to the library to gather stacks of books (mostly so I wouldn’t have to read the same ones over and over again—haha!). I hope you will consider making the library … More FROGGY GOES TO THE LIBRARY by Jonathan London, illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
If you don’t know Doreen Cronin and Click, Clack Moo – you need to go look that book up now. They are cute, clever and funny books. The kind that are just as fun for the adults to read as the children. This one does not disappoint. Our vocabulary word (no, it is not a … More GIGGLE, GIGGLE, QUACK by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin
Happy Earth Day/Week/Year! Because really Earth Day should be everyday right? I want to give a big shoutout to Eleanor who brought this book to my attention. The beautiful illustrations of our Earth, combined with the sweet emotions of compassion and love make this an ideal book for Earth Day. Especially during a time where … More BENEATH by Cori Doerrfeld
This week, we read another classic Hans Christian Andersen story. This book is a simplified version of the story. Older children can grasp some of the lessons from this book. These include not judging others by how they look. Also about self-acceptance and just treating others nicely, no matter what we look like or do. … More THE UGLY DUCKLING by Mara Alperin, illustrated by Sue Eastland
Bonjour! For French week, what better book than the classic Madeline? A Caldecott Honor Book from 1940! The rhymes are wonderful. The older children were thrilled to point them out to me. Notre Dame and The Luxembourg Gardens: I will give you once guess why the children rolled around laughing after I read this page. How our … More MADELINE by Ludwig Bemelmans
A growth mindset is the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication, effort, and learning, rather than being fixed traits, encouraging individuals to embrace challenges and learn from setbacks. Every once in a while, people give me books by friends or family. This is one of them, and look how cute it is. … More THE YET PET by Theresa Tan
Miss Library’s sister was in town again this past week to share her rhymes and stories. She loves to show the children her home. And also how she gets around. She also read this book by Paul Galdone, featuring one of her rhymes, Three Little Kittens. Vocabulary word: Mother Goose, as usual, read this rhyme. … More Mother Goose Reads Rhymes and Stories!
We started our week with a rousing parade. The children built our big Dr. Seuss cake in Maker Space. What they didn’t know…was that Ms. Liz was going to jump out of it at the end… it was pretty fun. Watch a little of the parade here: We played this song: The Kindergarten and TK … More DR. SEUSS WEEK!
Happy Lunar New Year. It is the year of the snake. We started our Lunar New Year off with a parade! The kindergarten class built this amazing dragon, and our transitional kindergarten class built these fantastic lion heads. Watch a little of the parade here: I like this story because Chloe lives in the US. … More CHLOE’S LUNAR NEW YEAR by Lily Lamotte, Illustrated by Michelle Lee
In a world of globalization, it is important that our children learn about other cultures. This week we celebrated Italy. The food, the historical sites, and the language. How fun! In the library, we read Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta. We looked at all the pastas from the book. Do you know them all? Do you … More PASTA PASTA LOTSA PASTA by Aimee Lucido, illustrations by Mavisu Demirag
This book is a 2018 Caldecot Medal winner. The illustrations are amazing. There are very few words in this book, and really none are needed. The children (even the 2 year olds) were all enthralled. (Notice the Little Red Riding Hood similarity). This reminds me of Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. Who is more … More WOLF IN THE SNOW by Matthew Cordell
This is a widely popular book with our students. It is brightly illustrated and funny. It seems to get their attention instantly. You know I love to make reading and learning fun – this book does that! Our vocabulary word. I also had a basket of leaves to show what rustling leaves sound like. (Sorry … More THE LEAF THIEF by Alice Hemming, illustrated by Nicola Slater
We wrapped up our community helper month with a fire truck visit and a book to go with it. Our vocabulary word was handline. If you watch the video above, toward the end, you will see the firefighter showing us their handline. We talked about fire safety. Do we touch a hot flame of any … More A FIRE TRUCK’S DAY, by Lily Schell, Illustrated by Mike Byrne
It is Hispanic Heritage Month! What is more fun than a well known bilingual fairytale? Our vocabulary word this week was lobo (wolf in Spanish): Flamenco dancers on the projector: During my afternoon classes, we looked at a few more Three Little Pigs books. We also acted out the story. We made wolf puppets: And … More LOS TRES CERDITOS/THE THREE LITTLE PIGS, adapted by Luz Oriheulo, illustrated by Maria Ruiz