Little Boo! Book Activity

BOO!  I am always excited to come across a new story that I know will be just perfect for the season and last weekend I stumbled upon the book Little Boo by Stephen Wunderli.  Have you read it?  Heard of it?

Click to see it on Amazon

If not, it is a definite "add to your October collection now" book!  Little Boo is about a pumpkin seed who wants more than anything to be scary but this little guy just can't seem to scare anyone!   The wind tells him to "be patient" and what do you know, over time Little Boo grows and grows.  Finally, he is a big pumpkin and if you haven't guessed,  he is carved into a SCARY jack-o'-lantern.  At last Little Boo is scary.

I kind of fell in love with this story because it hits so many themes.  It's perfect for Halloween, great for a discussion about patience and growing up, plus it is a picture book that includes the lifecycle of a pumpkin.  Seriously, so many things can be done with this easy read.

After reading the story one thing I'd follow up with is a simple text-to-self connection activity and ask students to think of a time when they wanted to do something but couldn't because they aren't big enough yet.  Some examples of things they might say...drive a car, eat ice-cream whenever I want, ride roller coasters, be a doctor etc.  I'd then chart their responses and then have them do some writing.  My writing prompt would be a play on words and say "When I am a jack-o'-lantern ...." and I'd have students fill in their response.  Then I'd add a jack-o'-lantern craft for fun.   It'd make for  an easy display.  Here's an example of what it might look like...
You an grab the writing sheet for FREE by clicking the image below.

Have you read the story?  What follow up activities would you do?

XOXOXO

Book Talk Tuesday: November Favorites

Hey There!  Happy Veterans Day and a big THANK YOU to all those who serve our country!

It's book talk Tuesday and today I thought I'd share some November Favs!  I'm so sorry that I don't have the actual books to show.  When I moved over seas I boxed up my class library and gave the boxes to my mom and sister to use in their classes.  I figured, why let fantastic books sit in storage while I'm away?! With that said, I sometimes find it hard to find the book I'd like to share with you all at the base library.  I go every week to see what I can find, but it's a small library so I can't always find exactly what I want.  I do keep my eyes open for newbies though!

Anyway, here's a blurb about a few of my November favorites Just click the pictures to check them out on Amazon!  Have a great day!

Dav Pilkey has created a super fun read that follows the traditional rhyme and rhythm of Twas the Night before Christmas.  In this story eight students go on a field trip to a local turkey farm where they question why the farmer has an Ax.  When they find out why they are filled with sadness and know they must do something to save the little turkeys.  Your students will enjoy the ending to this Thanksgiving book and are sure to ask you to read it again and again!

If you didn't read this story for Veterans Day this year, be sure to pin it for next!  The Wall, by Eve Bunting, is a moving story about a boy who travels with his father to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in hopes of finding his grandfather's name.  The story is written from a young boys perspective and teaches about the significance of this wall.  Be sure to have your tissues nearby for this one!

This next story is a simple counting book all about the First Thanksgiving.  Laura Krauss Melmed has filled this story with rich language and the pictures to match are just magical!  

If you're looking for a book that helps to teach about The First Thanksgiving this might be the one for you!  Although the pictures are minimal and the text more advanced, the story is broken into sections which help teach students about the history of this holiday.  For kinder I'd read it in small sections, draw a picture chart about the information just read, and recap with our own words.  I like how each section starts with a question. 

Looking for another book with information about Thanksgiving?  Try this alphabet themed read aloud.  The story is presented as a school play and is sure to teach your students some facts about Thanksgiving in an easy to understand way.

In November many teachers discuss what it means to give thanks and ask students what they are thankful for.  This story by Margaret Sutherland is perfect for getting the discussion started.  A simple text with a great message.

It's Fall!  This story uses rhyme to teach students all about the fall season.  It includes information on the many changes of fall, including those related to people, plants, and animals.

Woo Hoo!!!! So many wonderful stories to share and read with your students!  This is just a very small sampling of my favorites.  Be sure to link up with Mrs. Jump's Class to find more great reads and of course leave me a comment to tell me about your favorite November read alouds! 

Book Talk Tuesday: Math for All Seasons

Yes I made it!  It's Tuesday and I'm here to link up with Mrs.Jump's Class for Book Talk Tuesday.

Today I thought I'd share this gem...

Click Picture to Check this book out on Amazon!

Have you ever come across this book?  This book is written by Greg Tang who is also the author of The Grapes of Math.  Unlike The Grapes of Math this story is geared for the little ones!  This book is filled with fun math puzzles to help build problem solving skills.   These fun riddles and lively pictures help kids to think about the many ways a problem can be solved.

Each riddle is displayed on a two page spread like this fall one.  Picture on one side and riddle on the other.

The riddles are season themed which makes this a great book to pull out at different times of the year.  

The large full page pictures make it easy for all to see when reading aloud and trying to solve.

After talking about each riddle and discussing the different ways to solve the problem you can check the back of the book to see if you solved the riddle correctly.  Tang includes explanations on how to solve each riddle.  Wouldn't this be a great book for students to explore with book buddies?  How fun!

What do you think of this book?  

Be sure to check out the linky and link up your favorite books too!

Book Talks by Little Learners?

Yesterday I was working hard to finish up this little sight word gem and completely forgot to post for book talk Tuesday with Mrs. Jump's Class.  So Sorry!  But, it's ok because it got me thinking about book talks and then an idea popped in my head.  It was one of those "Oooooo, I gotta try that with my class moments."  So here's the idea...

I love doing book talks.  Not only do I enjoy writing about my favorite books on this blog, but I also like to give book talks in class.  Yes, even with Kindergartners!  So why do I love book talks?  Well I think...

1. It encourages discussions about books.

2. Brings awareness to different types of books.

3. It models how to talk about a book without giving the ending away.

4. It helps the us to think about a book. 

5. It motivates readers.

6. And builds excitement for reading!

What's not to love!  Now in the past I have followed the reading workshop model and the idea of book talks fits in perfectly.  I have known upper elementary teachers to allow their students to join in on the fun and give book talks of their very own, however I have never seen it done with the little ones.  Then I started thinking.  Why not let kindergarteners give book talks of their own?!  It would be so much fun and I know my past students would have LOVED to do this.  

Early on in the year I encourage discussions about books.  For example, when talking about our class library we discuss the importance of book categories and then to go along with this we create a class chart kinda like this:

This chart of course would be much larger.  I just whipped up a mini example to give you an idea.  Basically we host a discussion about the types of books we like and students add their names to the categories. Every once and awhile we come back to the chart to move our names, add more categories, or just hold a discussion about what topic is most popular.  Thinking about this chart and book talks led me to this idea of Kindergarten Book Talks.  

How would I do this?

First of all I would plan to do student book talks once a month.  The first two months would be done whole group style with interactive writing and then students of course would do the sharing to practice.  After that the book talks would be hosted in small groups where each student would share out and talk about their book choice.  To help prepare students for book talk day and to gather their thoughts, I created a little printable book.  This book would be used as a guideline for the whole class practice as well.  

Here's how I'd set it up.  You can download the printable book for free by clicking the image below!

Day 1: Pick out your favorite book from your book basket and re-read.
Day 2:  Fill out the "This book is about..." page according to the class categories we've talked about.
Day 3: Draw/write about why you like the book.
Day 4: Tell us which page your favorite part is on.
Day 5: Book Talk Day!  Students are put in small groups and have time to share out their books. (you choose how to make groups - maybe according to categories and student likes)

Fonts and Graphics by:
www.kevinandamanda.com
Krista Wallden of Creative Clips: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Krista-Wallden 

I think this would be a great opportunity to not only get little ones excited about books, but it also encourages communication and presentation skills!  

Do you know any early primary teachers that do this?  If so,I'd love to hear how and if not what do you think of the idea?  Would you try it?

Book Talk... Wednesday?

I don't know about you but I love teaching math through literacy and that's why although I officially missed book talk Tuesday, I thought I'd share this book anyway...

Have you read it?  One is a Snail Ten is a Crab by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre is a wonderful book all about counting feet.  It starts with "1 is a snail"and continues on counting the even numbers by the feet of a person, dog, insect, spider, and crab!  Each of the odd numbers are created by adding 1 more (the snail) to each previous even number.  As I read the story I love to have students predict what animal/s they think will be next and share why they think this.  I suggest drawing out or printing large pictures with the animals that way if needed students can use 1:1 counting to double check responses.

After counting to 10 the story continues with skip counting from 10 to 100.  With each number two examples are given on how to create the number.  This provides students with examples of different ways to decompose numbers and the use of pictures makes the combination counting more concrete.

There are so many ways that this story can be used!  Here are a few ideas:

- As you read have students predict what animal comes next?  For example ask: What could 5 be?  Can you think of an animal that has 6 feet?  What two animals together can make 7 feet?

- Use the story to talk about the term 1 more.  After reading go back and break apart the odd numbers to show that they are a number and 1 more.

- Create a crab craft and number the feet from 1-10.  Have students cut off the feet and then put them back in order from 1- 10.

-  Paint crabs and practice skip counting to 100 by 10's by labeling each picture (10, 20, 30 etc.)

- Create large pictures of animals and have students arrange and combine animals to make a "total number of feet."  See if students can find different ways to make the same "total number of feet."  This would be great to do in groups :)

-  Have students think of other animals that have 1 foot, 2 feet, 4 feet etc.  Use this list to create your own class counting book of feet.

- Create a list of all the ways to make 10.  Include pictures so that students can count up the feet.

What stories do you use to help teach math concepts?

Kindergarten First Day Plans

Bulletin boards perfectly decorated, tables placed in just the right place, first day songs charted and ready to be sung, parent information forms copied and stapled, the smell of newly sharpened pencils  and just opened boxes of crayons.  Yes, it is the first day of school!  I was reminded of my favorite first day of school story when my mom posted this familiar picture on Facebook.

Those are "Kissing Hand" cookies to go along with the wonderful story The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.  My mother is a fantastic kindergarten teacher and she starts off each year by reading this story to her new class and finishes the day by sending them each home with this special treat.  You can bet that when I taught kindergarten I followed in my mother's footsteps and did the same thing.  This story is a great first day of school story.  It gives comfort to the kiddos worries and melts the hearts of all the parents as they too need a little comfort on that "first day."  

Here's a look at my first day of Kindergarten plans and how I incorporate this story into the mix.  Happy Saturday!

First Day of Kindergarten Plans

8:45-9:00 Parents and students enter the academy and begin browsing classroom.

9:00 Classroom Welcome & Family Activity (our parents get to accompany students in the classroom for the first 45 minutes)

1.     Ring Bell & Greet

2.     Sing Song: “Sit on a letter” to invite children to find a rug spot and invite parents to have a seat in the room.

3.     Introduce self & take Attendance

4.     Introduce the Special Reading Box (more to come on another post) and talk about the book The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.

5.     Discuss first day feelings by acting out feelings then pass Chester the raccoon around the circle so all students can share how they feel about the first day of school. “I feel _________”

6.     Invite parents to sit close to their child and read aloud The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.

7.     Introduce drawing activity where students will draw how they felt on the first day of school.  When students are dismissed to their seats they will begin work as parents say their goodbyes by placing a heart sticker in the middle of their child’s hand before leaving.

(While students are drawing I will call students over 1 by 1 to do their first day picture with Chester the raccoon)

10:00 Teach Clean Up Procedures

10:15 -10:30 Recess

10:30 Introduce Writing Workshop

1.     Writer’s Workshop Song

2.     Chart: What is an Author?

3.     Self Portrait ( I am an Author)

*Early finishing Actvities: Blocks, Cubes, Book Box

11:00 Clean Up & Movement Song (Wiggles)

11:10  Calendar & Math Activity

1.     Introduce Calendar Procedures & Songs

2.     Define Math Workshop

3.     Number Tracing Activity

4.     Math Centers Introduction & Play

12:00 Clean Up & Movement Song

12:05 Lunch Procedures

12:15 – 12:45 Lunch

12:45- 1:15 Music in the main Hall

1:15 – 1:45 Project Time

1.     Discuss what are rules and read aloud: No, David! By David Shannon

2.     Introduce Rule Number 1 and Motion (Rule Number 1: Follow Directions Quickly)

3.     Students Trace Rule 1 and Illustrate in “Rules” book

1:45 – 2:15 Classroom Tour & Choice Centers

            1. Classroom Tour

            2. Choice Centers: Basically on the first day this is more “play and explore” with the centers I put out.

2:15 – 2:30 Recess

2:30 – 3:00 Closing Circle and Pack Up

3:00 – 3:15 Kissing Hand Cookies & Dismissal at 3:15