Book of the Month: Journey of the Sea Glass Illustrated by Nicole Fazio

 I've been holding on to this gem for about a year now and with summer in full swing, the time seems right to share it with you! Last summer while on a weekend getaway to beautiful St. Michaels, Maryland, I wandered into a little shop called Ophiuroidea. I was only momentarily distracted by the many interesting baubles, trinkets, and sea-themed items; I soon found myself tucked away in the back of the store mesmerized by this book that didn't have words. I've posted about my love of wordless books before but this one took my breath away; Nicole Fazio's illustrations are simply captivating. The story begins as a bottle falls into the ocean. Page after page follows the journey of the bottle and the images get more colorful and vivid as the story progresses. Nature, the ocean, and sea creatures all do their part to create a beautiful, polished, and shiny piece of sea glass. I left the store that day with the book, two pieces of sea glass, and the excitement of knowing that I'd share this book with you all one day soon. Today is that day! I hope you fall in love with this book the way I did.

BOOK OF THE MONTH: Spring Goes Squish

BOOK OF THE MONTH: Spring Goes Squish

My absolute favorite time of the year is spring!! I love seeing flowers bloom. I love the spring weather - not too hot, not too cold. Open windows...walks in the parks...what's not to love about the season? Well, according to Marty Kelly there's lots not to like: disappearing kites, runny noses, chirping birds, splashing buses...this humorous and rhyming tale will get more than a few chuckles from your preschoolers!

Related Activities:

• Introduce the word "onomatopoeia." Children just love BIG and funny sounding words. And it's a big word for something that they already know! What other words are also sounds? Squish, tick-tock, chirp, splash... the list will get longer and longer. Keep a long piece of paper hanging in the classroom and add words to the list as children think of them.
• Introduce some letter blends. SPLASH begins with the /sq/ sound. Let the children list other words that begin with this sound: spring, spend, space, speckle, spaghetti, sparkle, etc. SQUISH begins with the /sq/ sound: squash, squid, squat, square, squeal, etc.
• To simulate mud, use brown fingerpaint.
• In the sensory table, add soil, fake flowers, and gardening tools.
• Go on a spring walk and allow the children to take photographs (this may work best in small groups if you have a large class). Make a class book with the photos! You can also post them online for parents to see at home.
• Make spring flowers. Preschool Express has lots of craft ideas for flower-making!

Bonus Book of the Month

This book is one in a series that brings concepts to life for young learners. In this book, children lean about insects and multiplication at the same time. "Nine brilliant fireflies twinkle in the dark - glowing lights flash on and off, How many in the park? 9 x 1 = ?" Children have large, beautifully illustrated pictures where they can count the fireflies. If I were introducing multiplication, I don't know an easier, more vibrant book to use! Ok..here's another one: "Four hungry honey bees dance a buggy beat - tappin' with six furry legs. How many dancing feet? 4 x 6 = ?" This book will be hard for me to give away - my four year old niece loves it! I thought it would be a bit above her head but she really gets it and loves counting each page. For adults and older students (just like Animology and Hey Diddle Diddle), there are six activity pages in the back and more activities online.

The first person to comment on this post will win this awesome book!

More Spring Posts:

• March Comes in Like a Lion...
• ...And Goes Out Like a Lamb
• Teachable Moments
• Bring on the Birds

Two Book Give Away: Animalogy and Hey Diddle Diddle

Early elementary-aged children will enjoy this rhyming and catchy tale about the food chain. A beetle is eaten by a snake. The snake is eaten by a hawk: He snatched that snake right off the ground. Gobbled him up without a sound and sang, "Hey diddle diddle - I don't ask why I've got feathers to help me fly." The book has a "For Creative Minds" section in the back that includes 4 pages of additional activities such as "Herbivore or Carnivore," "Predator or Prey" and many more. Even more related activities and links are found at the Sylvan Dell Publishing Website.

Animalogy is a book of, what else? Animal analogies of course! Beaver is to build as spider is to spin. Reptile is to snake, as insect is to bee.  The detail in the illustrations is captivating. This is a great book to teach analogies as well as animal behavior. The book may also be helpful for young ESL students trying to learn the concept of analogies. The book concludes with a 6 page activity guide that extends the learning presented in the story. Sylvan Dell Publishing also has a free 48 page Teaching Guide available.

Here is how you enter to win these two books:

Go to this blog post, Literacy Challenges of At-Risk Boys, and answer one or both of the following questions by November 5, 2011.

1. What are your communities doing to address the specific needs of at-risk learners? 
2. What reading programs or other resources do you know of that cater to the interest of boys?

One winner will be randomly selected to win BOTH books using www.random.org.

BOOK OF THE MONTH: A is for Autumn

Autumn Activities:

• Try some of these great corn activities from Preschool Express.
• Fingerpaint with yellow and red paint to make orange.
• In the sensory table, add hay/straw and toy tractors, pumpkins, and other fall items.
• Make fall colored play dough (orange, red, brown).
• Make leaf prints by painting the vein side of a leaf and pressing it onto paper.
• In the art area, fill the collage jars with fall colored scraps of paper, tissue paper, yarn, ribbon.
• Visit Preschool Express for lots of pumpkin activities.
• Try this easy pumpkin muffin recipe.
• Make a "Fall Bingo" game (see sample) by making a blank Bingo Grids in a word processing program. Find pictures/images on the internet and insert fall pictures (such as acorns, leaves, pumpkins, etc). Depending on the size of the class, you will want to make 5-8 different cards. Print on cardstock and laminate.

Find many, many more Fall activities in these Autumn Posts:

• Apples and Pumpkins
• Autumn Trails
• Monster Mash

S is for S'mores

S Is for S'Mores: A Camping Alphabet by Helen Foster James

I loved K is for Kick and P is for Putt so, it's natural that I'd like S Is for S'Mores: A Camping Alphabet! As with the other books in the series, there is catchy text associated with each letter of the alphabet in addition to several facts about camping. Here are some more fun activities to try:

• Trail Mix S'mores: Mix mini marshmallows, teddy grahams, and mini chocolate chip cookies in a bag and you have all of the fixings (without the mess) for the perfect s'more!
• Animal Collage: Make a collage of animals that you might see while camping.
• Map It: Mark the National Parks on a map of the United States.
• Pop Up Tent: Add a small pop up tent to housekeeping or block area. Add a few props such as blankets, flashlights, sleeping bags etc
• Starry Night: Buy glow in the dark stars to put around your classroom (particularly on the ceiling) and turn off the lights to pretend you are camping under the stars.
• Coloring Pages and Patterns: Use these coloring pages to enhance the theme. Children can color them or teachers can use them to create bulletin boards or concept activities.
• S is for S'more and C is for Camping: Print and color 2 tent patterns. On one tent, write the letter S and on the other, write the letter C. Have a variety of pictures or objects that begin with the letters C and S. Children sort the objects by placing them on top of the correct tent.
• North, South, East, and West: Teach children to use a compass.
• Camp Fire: Make logs by wrapping paper towel tubes in brown construction paper. Use red, yellow and orange tissue paper "flames" to add to the logs. Add a small mini-flashlight under the "fire" to make it glow! Large white cotton balls attached to the end of the stick make great "marshmallows!"
• Nature Sounds: Play a CD of nature sounds such as Echoes of Nature: American Wilds.
• Camp Fire Stories: Have children bring sleeping bags. Sit around the pretend campfire, turn out the lights (remember to have your Starry Sky ready), eat your s'more trailmix and tell camping stories.

More Camping Books

BOOK OF THE DAY: Bring on the Birds by Susan Stockdale

Bring on the Birds by Susan Stockdale.

There are many preschool books about birds, but here is a newly release book that I absolutely LOVE! I cannot stop flipping through this book! The pictures are so vibrant, engaging, and realistic that I imagine kids will want to read again and again. The text is simple, catchy, and informative: "Skimming birds, swimming birds, birds with tails held high. Racing birds, riding birds, birds that never fly." Each page features a different bird and the end of the book includes a child-friendly index with facts about each bird.

Related Activities:

• Read my interview with Susan Stockdale and learn about how the author began her career as an author.
• Visit Susan's website and use the interdisciplinary teacher guide for Bring on the Birds.
• Visit the First School website to find coloring pages, crafts, and bird patterns.
• Visit Enchanted Learning to find more bird facts and background information.
• Learn about birds that are native to your area. If you learn about birds that live in other parts of the world or other parts of the United States, find those places on a map.
•  Cut and laminate different bird pictures. Cut out and laminate several nest patterns. Allow children to sort the pictures in different groups. For example: put all the birds that fly in one nest and all the birds that don't fly in another nest.
• Find reasonably priced binoculars (like these from Discount School Supply) and go bird watching with a small group of children.
• Make a bagel bird feeder (warning: this recipe calls for the use of peanut butter; since many child care centers are peanut free zones, you can try this one from Family Fun).
• Visit National Geographic and National Geographic for Kids sites and find loads of information, videos, and pictures of birds.
• Make a collage using bird seed purchased from a local store.
• Make a memory game: print, cut out, and laminate 2 identical pictures of several types of birds. Allow children to turn the cards face down and try to find matches!
• Make a feather collage or paint with feathers. (visit our friends at Discount School Supply for all kids of feathers!)

Other Bird Books:

Other Books by Susan Stockdale:

Commotion in the Ocean: Books about Ocean Life

One of my favorite themes to do with Prekindergarten children is "Under the Sea." Below you will find some great books and a few classroom activities to try! During a unit like this, children may bring up what they've seen or heard about the Gulf Oil Spill. If so, here are some links to help you discuss this tragedy with them.

ART

• Make paper plate fish, origami whales, or a starfish necklace!
• Make an underwater painting. Give each child a piece of water color paper and have them paint the entire page with blue and green water color. Encourage children to use different shades on the paper. Allow the paper to dry. On day #2 children use tempera paint to paint sea creatures in their "ocean."
• After reading Mister Seahorse or A House for Hermit Crab, make an art project in the style of Eric Carle!

MATH

• Cut sea creatures in different lengths or heights and have children put them in order from shortest to tallest
• Make an Ocean Counting book using ocean facts such as: Dolphins have 1 baby at a time; an octopus has 8 tentacles, there are 5 oceans in the world, etc...

MUSIC (Source: A to Z Kids Stuff)
Fish Story

One, two three, four, five (hold up fingers while counting)
Once I caught a fish alive,
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten (hold up additional fingers)
Then I let it go again.
Why did I let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
The little finger on the right (hold up pinky on the right hand)


Five Oceans (Tune: Three Blind Mice)
Five oceans, four oceans,
On the earth, on the earth.
Five oceans cover the earth, you see,
Can you name them all with me?
Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern make five.
Five oceans.


SCIENCE

• Make an Ocean in a Bottle
• Learn about the differences between mammals and fish. Cut out pictures of various animals and encourage children to sort them according to two categories (fish or mammal).

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Read the book Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned To Swim Again. The children will learn about a dolphin who lost her tail in a crab trap. The story of rehabilitation and triumph is amazing. Visit Winter's Website or visit Scholastic for more information. 
• Use a large map and mark the five oceans on it. Also mark the oceans where certain sea animals live.
• Contact your local Aquarium and see if they have an outreach program. Invite someone in to talk about ocean life, sea animals, and how children can help the environment

Here is another site with many more activities and links!

   

   

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