Teachers Give Great Gifts

Up until now, I've been too superstitious to mention my pregnancy on the blog. However, I’m three days away from delivering, and I wanted to thank my friends for the stacks of books we've received and share some of the ones that were new to me.  Generally, speaking the books can be divided into four categories – heartwarming, educational, silly and bedtime.  I’m going to skip bedtime for now, because I could write an entire blog about books for putting children to bed.  I sense this may become important to me in the next few months. 

 

So let’s start with the heartwarming books.  My favorite is called Calvin Can’t Fly by Jennifer Berne.  It’s about a starling that learns to read instead of fly, but the knowledge he learns from books saves the flock.  I also loved Otis by Loren Long, about a calf raised by a tractor.  The illustrations are delightful, and the message that everyone is important is beautiful.  Then there are the two that made me cry in my rather hormonal state.  I Love You So . . . by Marianne Richmond and I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rosetti-Shustak are both rhyming books about a mother’s love. 

In the educational category, I received two very clever books.  The first is called LMNO Peas by Keith Baker.  It is an ABC book illustrated with peas dressed for various professions.  For example, in I there’s an investigative pea, wearing a trench coat and holding a magnifying glass.  The illustrations are brilliant.  The second (and feel free to steal this gift idea) came with a tooth fairy pillow.  It’s a book called Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions From Around the World.  Incidentally, the title tradition comes from the Dominican Republic.  There’s also a Native American tradition of hanging the tooth on a tree, then dancing around it to make sure the new tooth grows in straight.  It seems strange, but it’s probably cheaper than braces.  On the subject of theme gifts, I also got a stack of airplane books and a fighter pilot Halloween costume.  Teachers give great presents. 

The last two books I want to share are just for fun.  I thought I’d read all of Sandra Boynton's books to my niece, but apparently she doesn't have Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs.  It’s a goofy, rhyming, opposite book about dinosaurs, and I’m sure my son will love it.  Finally, I received a book called Red Truck by Kersten Hamilton about a big red truck that saves the day by towing a school bus on a snowy day.  It rhymes; it has great rhythm and entertaining onomatopoeia. 

Thanks to my wonderful friends, my son has a well stocked bookshelf (I’ve already started reading to him), and I am overwhelmed by all the love and support.  Thank you. 

Some Great Books for Babies

Calvin Can’t Fly by Jennifer Berne

Otis by Loren Long

I Love You So . . . by Marianne Richmond

I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rosetti-Shustak

LMNO Peas by Keith Baker

Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions From Around the World by Selby Beeler

Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs by Sandra Boynton

Red Truck by Kersten Hamilton

  

How Do You Know They're Ready for Kindergarten?

Thursday was kindergarten registration at my school, and it's always an exciting day.  The registrar and the principal count kids and ponder how many teachers we'll need.  Nervous parents hold on to excited kids, and the kindergarten teachers wonder which of these babies will join their rooms in September. 

It's the time of year when parents ask whether their four year old will be ready for kindergarten in the fall.  Most school districts have a cut-off birth date somewhere between September 1 and December 31.  That leaves a lot of room to wonder.  As a September birthday,  I have strong feelings about this.  I didn't mind being the youngest in my class until high school.  Academically, I was fine, but socially being the baby of the group was frustrating.  I was the last of my friends to get my license, get into rated R movies and turn 21.  Fortunately, I had a boyfriend to drive me places, get my movie tickets and buy my drinks.  If I'd been a boy, I think it would have been much harder.  I distinctly remember the summer before I turned 21.  All of my friends were legal, and I had just returned from a semester in England, where the drinking age was 18.  I would routinely get messages like, "Hey, Kristin, we're all at Carpool, but it's over 21 tonight.  Maybe we'll see you tomorrow." 

As a reading teacher, I've noticed that most of the students I see have late birthdays.  Their peers born in January have eight to nine months more experience with language and books.  Even if the academic curriculum isn't a challenge, think about the social aspects.  Do you want your kid to be the biggest and the smartest?  The freshman who plays varsity?  Top of the class?  These accomplishments statistically fall to the older students. 

Whatever you decide, the best way to prepare your child for kindergarten is read to her everyday.  The kindergarten curriculum includes learning the alphabet and learning to count, writing your name, and emergent reading skills.  Anything your child already knows, puts her ahead of the game. 

Here are my favorite books for kindergarteners.  I've mentioned it many times before, but Chicka Chicka Boom Boom may be the perfect alphabet book around.  Letters and rhymes - what more could you want?  But then you can't go wrong with Bill Martin, Jr or Eric Carle.  I'd also recommend classics like Where the Wild Things Are, Corduroy, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  Then there's Kevin Henkes, who just seems to understand how hard it is to be a kid.  I love Chrysanthemum for kindergartners.  It's about a Chrysanthemum, who believes her name is perfect until a mean spirited classmate begins to tease her.  Two new favorites are Gossie by Olivier Dunrea, about a goose who loves her red boots, but shares them anyway, and Do Crocs Kiss? by Salina Yoon, a rhyming, animal sounds, lift-the-flap book.  Books teach our children about life and language, and in process prepare them for kindergarten.

 

In the end, I can't say I wish my mom had kept me back a year.  I had a wonderful school experience, and I made great friends (many who shared their IDs with me.)  And, now, as an adult, I like that all my friends will turn 35 months before I do. 

Great Books for Kindergarteners

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

Corduroy by Don Freeman

Gossie by Olivier Dunrea

Do Crocs Kiss? by Salina Yoon

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems

Happy Spring

It's been a few weeks since I've posted, but today I'm inspired by the lovely spring weather.  It's sunny and 70º, and the flowers are starting to bloom.  It's weather like this that makes teachers start thinking about summer vacation, but we have a few more months to go.  In the meantime, I thought I'd share some of my favorite books that celebrate nature, particularly warm weather nature. 

Some of my favorites are about spring. Lois Elhert's Planting a Rainbow, Eric Carle's  The Tiny Seed and Eve Bunting's Flower Garden are all easy picture books that celebrate flower gardens.  And while we're talking about Eve Bunting, I should mention Butterfly House, Sunflower House and Someday a Tree.  All three are beautiful stories about the natural world.  Two other excellent options are the rhyming book It's Spring by Samantha Berger and Mud by Mary Lyn Ray.  The latter is an ode to the rainy, melting season that turns the hard winter dirt into mud. 

If we want to extend our seasons a little, I'd recommend I'm in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor and  All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan.  The books describe life in the desert and on a farm as only poets, like Baylor and MacLachlan, can. 

In non-fiction, I love the One Small Square series.  Each book focuses on a square foot of one type of ecosystem.  They don't deal specifically with a season, but they are excellent texts geared toward mid to upper elementary kids.  There's also Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman.  As the title suggests, it's a celebration of spirals found in nature, and it's beautifully illustrated.   

We've had an unusually lovely spring here in Virginia, and I hope everyone has the kind of spring that makes you want to read a good book under a tree in the back yard.  

Books About Nature

Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

Flower Garden by Eve Bunting

Butterfly House by Eve Bunting

Sunflower House by Eve Bunting

Someday a Tree by Eve Bunting

It's Spring by Samantha Berger

Mud by Mary Lyn Ray

One Small Square by Donald Silver

Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Rhyme Time

As a reading specialist, one of my responsibilities is to set-up a couple of parent nights each year.  I’m fortunate to work with two other amazing reading teachers, so I don’t have to do this alone.  Last Thursday night we hosted a parent night for our kindergarten through second grade parents, and I was responsible for the session on rhyming.  We made finger puppets to go with some of our favorite nursery rhymes and performed them.  The big kids I usually work with aren't as into puppets anymore, so I had a great time.  Check out this website for the templates I used, http://www.dltk-kids.com/. 

Rhyming isn't just for fun; it’s a really important skill for emergent readers.  It teaches kids phonological awareness, or the relationships between letters and sounds.  When we read, we use a complex system of cues to help our brains understand what our eyes are seeing.  We think about the meaning of the story, the syntax of the sentence, and the letter sounds in the words.  I worked in a hearing impaired program for a short time. My students there struggled with reading, because they couldn’t use phonics to help them.  Nursery rhymes, songs, poems, and rhyming books are the best tools we have for teaching letter sounds to our early readers.  The best part is that kids enjoy rhymes and rhyming books.

I found an excellent rhyming, lift the flap book the other day called Do Crocs Kiss? by Salina Yoon.  She also has a similar book called Do Cows Meow?  As an added bonus they both also teach animal sounds.  Some other good ones include the Llama, Llama books and the Sheep in a Jeep series, as well as, Giraffes Can’t Dance and Ain’t Gonna Paint No More.  I should point out that my niece recently lost the right to read the last book, because she was painting herself with markers.  It’s still a great rhyming book.  On Monday, one of my students was reading Each, Peach, Pear, Plum by Janet and Allen Ahlberg.  It’s a classic, but I’d forgotten how good it is.  It’s a rhyming, I spy book with a nursery rhyme theme.  Forget “Hooked on Phonics,” just sing and read Dr. Suess and Mother Goose.

 

Great Rhyming Books

Do Crocs Kiss by Salina Yoon

Do Cows Meow by Salina Yoon

Llama, Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney

Llama, Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw

Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae

Ain’t Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont

Each, Peach, Pear, Plum by Janet and Allen Ahlberg

Hop on Pop by Dr. Suess

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Suess

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

Any Anthology of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes

Sometimes You Just Need a Good Cry

Somewhere around fourth grade, authors and publishers decide that kids no longer need to read happy books.  At about 10 they are ready to deal with death and more emotionally complex characters.  To some extent I agree with them.  Ten-year-olds know what’s going on around them; they are aware of the outside world, but they’re still kids.  I had a student whose step-father was in one of the Twin Towers on 9-11.  I remember scouring the book room for something on his reading level where no one died.  It was a struggle. 

That said, everyone likes a good tear-jerker now and then, but lately it seems that every kids’ novel I read makes me cry.  Take this year’s Newberry Award winner, supposedly the best children’s book published in 2012.  It’s called The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, and it’s about a gorilla and an elephant that are kept in abusive conditions at a roadside mall/circus.  It does have a hopeful ending, and the narration is engaging, because it’s told from the point of view of the gorilla.  I’ve also recently read Home of the Brave, by the same author, about Kek who has recently arrived in Minnesota after surviving a refugee camp in Africa.  He’s waiting and hoping his mother is still alive, while trying to learn a new language, and fit in at his American school.  Both are great books, but they are sad.

If you’re looking for tough to read, but beautiful, we can’t ignore Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine and Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  The first is told from the point of view of a girl with Asperger’s Syndrome.  She’s lost her brother in a school shooting, and she and her father must come to terms with life without him.  As for the latter, most of my librarian friends think Wonder should have won the Newberry this year.  Written in the alternating voices, it’s the story of August who was born with a number of facial birth defects.  In fifth grade, his parents decide he’s well enough to go to real school for the first time.  The story makes it very clear just how mean kids can be.

 

There is a place for sad books in children’s literature.  I still remember reading Little Women in 5^th grade and sobbing when Beth died.  It was the first book I ever cried reading.  Then there are other classics, like Bridge to Terabithia and Tuck Everlasting, and everybody cries at the end of Where the Red Fern Grows.  I have fond memories of all these books, because sometimes you just need a good cry.

Great Tear-Jerkers

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Wonder by R.J. Palacios

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt      

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith

Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

And the Winners Are . . .

The Newberry and Caldecott Awards were announced two weeks ago, and I’ve been trying to get a hold of them ever since.  I’m number 217 on the library waiting list for The One and Only Ivan, this year’s Newberry, but I’ve managed to read most of the 2013 Caldecotts.  I thought I’d review the winners, and some books I think should have won.

This year’s Caldecott Medal winner is This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen.  It’s a funny story about a small fish that steals a hat from a much larger fish and expects to get away with it.  It would be clever, except that last year Klassen wrote I Want My Hat back about bear looking for his stolen hat.  In this case, it’s an unfortunate rabbit who took the hat.  I do like that we have to infer what happens to the thieves at the end of both books, but I’m not sure it deserved to win.  It’s not nearly as good as last year’s winner, Chris Raschka’s wordless picture book, A Ball for Daisy. 

The Caldecott Honor Books include the rather strange Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds, about a field of carrots that haunt a rabbit until he stops eating them.  The illustrations are comicesque – drawn in black and white with carrot orange detail. (I should point out that the Caldecott is really an award for illustrations, not story, so I can’t complain too much.)  However, Sleep Like a Tiger and Extra Yarn are delightful stories, that I think did deserve the nod.  The first is a bed time tale of a not-so-sleepy little girl, and the second a fairy tale about a never ending box of colorful yarn that brightens up a gray world.  Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger is a beautiful book about the color green.  With minimal text and cleverly placed cut-outs, she describes the every shade of green, from the jungle green of a tiger’s eyes to the no green of a snowy day.  The last honor book is One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, and I haven’t been able to get my hands on it yet.  But since it’s about a boy who sneaks a penguin home from the aquarium in his backpack, I think I might love it. 

I thought I’d also include some other great picture books that didn’t medal, but could have.  There’s Stuck by Oliver Jeffers, about a boy who’s kite gets stuck in a tree, so he throws his shoe up, but it gets stuck, too, as does a boat, a gorilla and the kitchen sink. I also love Neville by Norton Juster.  In it, Neville discovers an unorthodox way of making friends when his family moves to a new town.  Other fun picture books are Perfect Square, Chopsticks, Zoozical, and The Annoying ABC.  Enjoy!

Caldecott Winners and Some Extras

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen – 2013 Medal Winner

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds – 2013 Honor Book

Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue – 2013 Honor Book

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen – 2013 Honor Book

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger – 2013 Honor Book

One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo – 2013 Honor Book

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka – 2012 Medal Winner

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

Neville by Norton Juster

Perfect Square by Michael Hall

Zoozical by Judy Sierra

The Annoying ABC by Barbara Bottner

Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Librarians Make Good Friends

Librarians and reading teachers are natural allies, and consequently some of my favorite people are librarians.  However, as educational as it can be to hang out with them, it can also be expensive.  After spending fifteen minutes with my school’s librarian, I went home and spent a whole lot more on Amazon.  The reason – Peter Reynolds. 

I’ve used Reynolds’ book Ish for many years to teach kids that it’s okay to try even if you’re not perfect.  In the book, Ramon is upset because he can’t quite get his drawings right, but his little sister points out that sometimes being close-ish is just fine.  Thinking ish-ly lets our imagination flow.  It turns out that Reynolds is a fairly prolific writer and illustrator and has a number of other wonderful stories, along with his newest book, Sky Color.  In Sky Color, we see Ramon’s little sister, Marisol, again, and now she’s an artist with the daunting task of painting the sky without blue paint.  Also about art and creativity, is The Dot.  In it Vashti doesn’t believe she can draw until her art teacher tells her to make a mark on the paper.  Vashti draws a dot, and her teacher tells her to sign it.  The next week the dot is framed and hanging in the art room.  All three books, remind us to be confident in our creativity and not let convention box us in.

 

The other books Angela shared with me are more for adults than kids, although they’re still picture books with simple text.  These three were written by Peter Reynolds and Alison McGhee, and they are guaranteed to make you cry.  I cried reading them in the library, and I think they would make excellent gifts.  The first is called Someday, and in it a mother speaks to her daughter about her love for her as she grows up.  Then there’s Little Boy, which, while a little more light hearted, is still a touching description of a mother’s love.  Finally, there’s Always about a child and her dog, who will always protect her.  With his simple illustrations and minimalist text, Reynolds is able to deal with complex emotions and tell beautiful stories. 

Books by Peter Reynolds

Ish

The Dot

Sky Color

I’m Here

The North Star

So Few of Me

Rose’s Garden

By Peter Reynolds and Others

Someday

Little Boy

Always

Plant a Kiss