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
Jack and the Beanstalk, retold by Carol Ottolenghi, illustrated by Guy Porfirio As long as I have “Jack” still hanging down from the library ceiling, I have to read this story. The children love it. We have so much fun, stomping and acting out being the giant in the book. Five magic beans! Fee, fi,… More Jack and the Beanstalk Returns to the Library!
How could I not bring a real chicken into the library with this story? I had to explain what a light bulb means to most of the children (see page below). Our vocabulary word for this book was flock. Looks like fun to me! We colored and glued feathers on a chicken during my after… More CHICKEN STORY TIME by Sandy Asher, illustrated by Mark Fearing
A few months ago, I asked my director if she would consider “flying” the children at our school to Paris, because I had this cute book about Paris that I wanted to read. (When she she taught, she would usually take a “trip” somewhere with her children). She said yes! In my mind I had… More EVERYBODY BONJOURS by Leslie Kimmelman, illustrated by Sarah McMenemy
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
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
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
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
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
This book was introduced to me by my “neighbor” at school, Miss Maker Space aka Miss Liz. It is so cute, colorful and funny – how could you not love it? The children certainly did! #makelearningfun! My personal favorite: After the story, we listened to this song. It is a wonderful song for the children… More THE VERY IMPATIENT CATERPILLAR by Ross Burach
We have a spring science table at our school. It is wonderful for hands on learning. The children can watch the caterpillars turn into butterflies, tadpoles turn into frogs, dig for worms, watch the ladybugs, and count the days until the baby chicks hatch. What a wonderful way to show the children the science and… More FIRST THE EGG by Laura Vacarro Seeger WAKE UP, IT’S SPRING! by Lisa Campbell Ernst
Spring is always an exciting time. Everywhere you look there is new growth, beautiful blooms, birds singing and frogs croaking. This book is funny and so well illustrated. The children love it. The perfect book to segue way into talking about spring, nests and eggs. We just put seven chicken eggs into our incubator too!… More THE BEST NEST by P.D. Eastman
Reading from her favorite book Mother Goose and Friends by Ruth Sanderson Yes, Mother Goose rode her goose to school! Her Elf fairy snuck in her pocket and now is missing! Did he sneak into someone’s backpack and go home with them? Mother Goose lives in a tree. Beautiful isn’t it? The children “played” London… More MOTHER GOOSE IS BACK AGAIN!
It was pirate week in the library. Children love to be pirates, and I love to see them using their imaginations . How fun is it to imagine being a pirate on a pirate ship, and then going on a treasure hunt? It is even better with a sweet book like this one. Did someone… More “I’M BRAVE! I’M QUICK! I’M INDEPENDENT! AND I’M FUN! By Isaac Fitzgerald, illustrated Brigette Barrager
GREEN EGGS AND HAM by Dr. Seuss We had another really fun Dr. Seuss week! We had a parade on Monday with a large cake for Dr. Seuss: Tuesday was stripes and favorite hat day, Wednesday was “Wacky Wednesday”, Thursday “Green Eggs and Ham” day, and Friday was crazy socks day (Fox in Sox): The… More I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM. I DO NOT LIKE THEM, SAM-I-AM
“Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!” I love this book because it is full of teaching treasures. There is a reason that this book is a classic, not to mention it is fun! Vocabulary: what is a peddler? I also had a child ask me what “refreshed” meant. Money: How much is fifty… More CAPS FOR SALE by Esphyr Slobodkina
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