BOOK OF THE MONTH: It's Back to School We Go

It's Back To School We Go! By: Ellen Jackson

"In easy-to-read text, describes what the first day of school might be like for a child in Kenya, Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Peru, Germany, India, Russia, and the United States."

Related Activities:

• Use a large class map (there is a map in the book) to mark the countries mentioned in the story.
• Invite parents, teachers, and other staff members to bring in pictures of their first day of school. Chidlren will be delighted to see the adults in their life as little children!
• Talk about the similarities and differences in children's experiences.

More Back To School Books, Activities, and Links:

• Back To School Book of the Day: Will I Have A Friend? by Miriam Cohen
• Back To School Book of the Day: Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
• Back To School Book of the Day: Maisy Goes to Preschool by Lucy Cousins
• Back To School Book of the Day: My Teacher Sleeps in School by Leatie Weiss
• Back To School Book of the Day: A School Like Mine by DK Publishing
• Back to School Book of the Day: If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Joffee Numeroff
• Back to School Book of the Day: This is the Way We Go To School by Edith Baer
• Back To School Book of the Day: The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

• Book of the Day Activities: Your Best Behavior
• Book of the Day Activities: The First Day of School

To Play or Not to To Play: That is STILL the Question

I came across an article in the Washington Post today that brings to the forefront the debate on the value of play. The article suggests that this debate has been ongoing among early childhood educators...but I wonder if this is really true. Somehow I believe that most early childhood educators know, value, understand, and respect the important role that play has in the preschool classroom. I think the debate about the value of play is one that some parents and legislators have. Legislators want children to pass tests, parents want children to be successful in school (i.e. to pass tests), so early childhood educators find themselves in a position of having to defend why play is such an integral part of our curriculum. The debate really isn't one among early childhood educators, it really is a debate that we have with the rest of the world!

The Post article recognizes that the debate about play really becomes an issue when schools are placed in a position of having to achieve certain benchmarks of federal legislation. With three and four year olds increasingly being integrated into public school programs, they are at the mercy of testing methods that are inadequate or inappropriate for their developmental ability.

The article quotes Education Secretary Arne Duncan who spoke at the NAEYC conference: "If we are to prevent the achievement gap and develop a cradle-to-career educational pipeline, early learning programs are going to have to be better integrated with the K-12 system." I couldn't agree more! But it seems now, that young children are expected to assimilate into an already existing K-12 system instead of having that system reworked to accommodate the unique needs and learning styles of young children. We all learned in preschool that you can't fit a round peg in a square hole... well, maybe you only learned this if you went to a school that valued play and exploration.

The Post article points to research that suggests what early childhood educators already know: young children who have a chance to play and explore have better social skills and reasoning ability, both of which are predictors of future school success. Surely, we have some significant improvement to make in the world of early childhood education: higher training requirements, more communication with the K-12 system, and more training for teachers of high-risk or ESL preschoolers. But the answer is does not lie in creating a society of children who can pass tests but cannot think creatively. We have to start the discussion and kudos to the Washington Post and Education Secretary Arne Duncan for starting the conversation (again)!

Music Makes the World Go 'Round

Music Mondays

Every Monday I will list some of my favorite songs or CDs for Early Childhood. Feel free to add your own favorites!

• Song of the Week for October 19, 2009: In the spirt of the upcoming Halloween Holiday, how about a song to the tune of the Adams Family?

Days of the Week

Days of the week, (snap snap)

Days of the week, (snap snap)

Days of the week, Days of the week, Days of the week. (snap snap)

There's Sunday and there's Monday,

There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday,

There's Thursday and there's Friday,

And then there's Saturday.

Days of the week, (snap snap)

Days of the week, (snap snap)

Days of the week,Days of the week,Days of the week. (snap snap)

• October 12: Autumn Leaves are Falling Down Music and Lyrics at KIDiddles.com
• October 5, 2009: The Mozart Effect- Music for Children, Volume 2, Relax Daydream and Draw (CD)
• September 29, 2009 Greg and Steve: The Number Rock (on the We All Live Together CD)
• September 21: Baby Beluga by Raffi: Book and CD

• September 21: Baby Beluga by Raffi: Book and CD
• September 14: Check out Music for Little People's 49 cent Downloads
• September 7: Smilin' Island of Song: CD
• August 31: Bibbidi Bobbidi Bach: CD
• August 24: Where Is Thumbkin? Book and CD
• August 17: I Like Me by Dr. Thomas Moore MP3
• August 10: The World is a Rainbow by Greg and Steve MP3 and Lyrics
• August 3: Big Beautiful Planet by Raffi MP3 and Lyrics

ECE Science: More Than Dead Leaves and a Magnifying Glass!

Why Science?
Young children are curious learners and therefore, natural scientists. They don’t walk into our classrooms with closed-minds and preconceived set-in-stone ideas. As teachers of young children, we should take the opportunity of these “wonder years” and provide our students with the chance to make discoveries, develop theories, and test their hypotheses. We must give them a safe environment with adequate materials to help them extend their understanding of the world around us. But let’s not be confused: Science isn’t just a set of experiments or a table in a corner that we fill with magnifying glasses and leaves. Science should be happening every day in most areas of the early childhood classroom. In the block area, children are learning about cause and effect, weight, balance, classification, and many other science concepts. The water and sand areas should be filled with items that support discovery: eye droppers, funnels, food coloring, ice cubes, spray bottles, soap bubbles, sink/float objects. In the art center, have students actually help you make play dough and clay and talk about the chemical reactions between wet/dry ingredients. Every cooking activity that you do can be a science activity! Get a class pet or at least a fish aqaruium to learn about animal life cycles. And let’s not forget those teachable moments; you know, those moments that are not planned, but present themselves as a chance to teach something: Outside on the playground, do you help the children notice the wind, a bug, rain droplets, or shadows? Have your students discovered that sometimes static electricity makes your hair stand up when going down the sliding board? Look around your classroom and see what types of science discoveries can be found; I am sure there are plenty!

The Connection Between Science and Literacy
Not surprisingly, science has a direct connection to literacy development. Science helps students with logical thinking, communication skills, making predictions, drawing conclusions, and interpreting information; all of these skills enhance literacy development for students of any age! Science also provides a spring board for reading and writing activities. So this week, I am taking a different turn for the Book of the Day. This week the books are not for children, but for teachers! I’ve listed my some of my favorite Science books for early childhood educators.

Please comment below: What are your favorite Science Resource Books? What are your favorite science/discovery activities in your classroom? Do you have any obstacles that prevent you from doing science in your classroom? If so, how do you overcome them? What are some science activities parents can do at home?

Science Resource Books for Teachers

Mudpies to Magnets Robert Williams, Robert Rockwell, & Elizabeth Sherwood

More Mudpies to Magnets by R. Williams, R. Rockwell, & E. Sherwood

Worms, Shadows, and Whirlpools: Science in the Early Childhood Classroom by Karen Worth and Sharon Grollman



Science Arts: Discovering Science Through Art Experiences by MaryAnn Kohl


Science is Simple by Peggy Ashbrook

The Giant Encyclopedia of Science Activities by Kathy Charner

More Than Magnets: Exploring the Wonders of Science in Preschool and Kindergarten by Sally Moomaw and Brenda Hieronymus

The Kids' Nature Book: 365 Indoor/Outdoor Activities and Experiences by Susan Milord

Book of the Day Activities: Your Best Behavior!

So you're prepared for the first day of school and your Back to School Night is all planned…now it’s time to get down to the business of teaching. When I taught Kindergarten and Prekindergarten, I dedicated the whole month of September to “Getting to Know Us.” I didn’t worry about teaching letters, numbers, or shapes because my primary goal was to have my classroom be a happy and functional place. Imagine how tedious our job would be if we had to solve every problem and clean up the classroom on our own! We have to help our students become independent members of our classroom societies. In order to do this, we have to learn the rules and how to treat each other. Here are a few books and activities that are good reads in those first couple of weeks of school!

Hands Are Not For Hitting by Martine Agassi

• AMA Alliance has a wonderful reading guide for this book.


• Class Hand Collage: On a large sheet of bulletin board paper or tag board, have children create hand prints in a circle. To do this you have two options: You can trace the children’s hands, cut them out and paste them in circle formation on the paper/tag board. OR you can have the children make hand prints using stamp pads or finger paint. In the middle of the circle of hand prints, have the children draw (or cut from magazines) things you CAN use your hands for. Some examples are: playing ball, baking a cake, giving hugs, learning sign language, etc… Hang it in your classroom with the title, "Hands Are For..."
  

Words are Not for Hurting by Elizabeth Verdick

• Kind Words Chart: Cut out a large heart and have children think of words that are nice/kind. Write them on the chart paper and hang it in the classroom.


• Kindness in Action: When you catch children showing kindness, snap a photo, print it out, and post it on a bulletin board titled, “Kindness in Action.” Under the photograph, write a small description of what is happening such as “Carrie is sharing her blocks with Melanie.” Make sure to catch all of the children doing something nice! Remember that praise and positive reinforcement go a long way!

It’s Mine! by Leo Lionni

• It’s My Turn: Sharing is a skill that preschoolers are just beginning to master, so it will take some time and a great deal of teacher intervention/assistance. One thing that I’ve found helpful is to use a sand timer or kitchen timer (3-5 minutes) so that when children have to take turns, they will have a visual reminder of when their turn is over (or when their turn will begin). After a few days of guidance and modeling by the teacher, students will eventually get the hang of using the timer on their own!


• Make a Paper Plate Frog. These frogs can be used for a bulletin board display entitled "It's OURS!" (Attach frogs to the bulletin board so that they depict sharing and kindness. Example: arrange 2 of the frogs so that they are sharing a book). The frogs can also be used so that the children can act out scenarios that depict positive behaviors.


• Visit the Scholastic Lesson Plan site for more ideas on how to use this book.
  

Manners by Aliki

• Two Magic Words: I sang this song/chant for so many years that I don't know who wrote it but it goes like this - "There are two magic words that open doors with ease. One of them is thank you and the other one is please."


• Visit The Manners Lady website.


• Cover Your Sneeze: This is another one of those projects that kindergarten and prekindergarten teachers have been doing for years. Give each child a paper plate and let them draw their face on it with crayons. Be sure to provide crayons that reflect the children's skin tones like Crayola's Multicultural Crayons. You may want to provide the children with yarn and glue to create "hair" on their plate. Next, trace each child's hand on multicultural construction paper that, again, reflects their skin tone. Have the child (with teacher help if needed) cut out their hand. Attach a tissue to the child's nose (on the plate) and then attach the hand on top of the tissue.


• Meal Time Manners (Teachable Moments): Meal times are a perfect time to practice manners and polite behavior. If possible, serve your meals (or at least part of your meal) "family style" so that children learn to say, "Please pass the fruit." In addition, a teacher should sit with the children and model polite behavior such as chewing with your mouth closed, saying please and thank-you, and cleaning up after yourself. In some schools, where children eat in a cafeteria or bring their own lunch this may not be possible. But, if you serve snack in your classroom you can apply the same principals to snack time.

How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends? by Jane Yolen

• Do a Puppet Show and have students act out some of the scenes in the story.


• Create a Voice Thread called How Do Kindergartners (or Preschoolers) Play with Their Friends? Here is a Voice Thread done by a First Grade Class. This sample will give you an idea of how you can create a similar version for your class. Take pictures of the students with their friends and create a Voice Thread about it!
  

Know and Follow the Rules by Cheri J. Meiners

• Play "direction-following" games like Simon Says and Mother May I?


• Make a Classroom Rule Chart. Also, ask students to discuss some rules that they may have at home. Talk about why we have rules and how rules keep us safe.


• Center Time: In the beginning of the school year, I did not open all of my learning centers. Each week of September I would introduce two new centers at a time. This way, we could focus on how to use the equipment/toys and how to clean up. We learned about each center in a slow and purposeful way. Throughout the year, if I added new equipment, I would introduce it at Circle Time before allowing the children to play with it.

Remember, the beginning of the year sets the tone for your classroom for the entire year. Do you really want to spend the next nine months with students who don't share, hit each other, don't know how to clean up, and sneeze all over the toys? Set the tone NOW so that you can have a productive year!

Book of the Day Activities: The First Day of School

Going to school for the first time can be a stressful time for children, their families, and the teachers! Here are a few books, and some related activities, that can help ease the pains of the first day of school:

Will I Have A Friend? by Miriam Cohen

• It would be great if teachers contact families before school starts and ask parents to email you a photo of their child. Create a little newsletter that includes the names and photos of the children and mail them to each family so that the children can see names and faces of their friends before the first day of school!
• On the first day of school, send home a note asking parents to send in one piece (or can) of fruit with their child the next day. Make a Friendship Fruit Salad: Have the children wash hands, wash the fruit, and make a fruit salad! (Note: Check for food allergies before doing this activity!). Of course, the teacher may have to cut some of the fruit, but most fruit can be cut with plastic knives. Pampered Chef used to make a knife that was safer for young children.
• Have each child draw a picture of something that they did on the first day of school. Laminate and bind the pictures together in a book for the classroom library. Save a copy of the book and make a similar book at the end of the school year. Allow students to reminisce and compare the beginning and end of the school year!
• Re-read this book if you have new students join the class in the middle of the school year!
  
  

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten by Joseph Slate

• Allow the students to introduce themselves by name and tell how they got ready for school (as the characters do in the book). You can also introduce the letters of the alphabet and/or rhyming words with this book!
• Ahead of time, make a chart that has the letter/animal picture that corresponds to the the first letters of the students in the class... Example: "Emily the Elephant," "Lenny the Lion," etc. Give each student a sentence strip with their name on it and allow them to place their pictures under the correct first letter. In other words, a student named "Lisa" would put her name card under Lenny the Lion's picture. You can use magnets, Velcro, or tape to attach the name cards. This activity can be expanded into a graphing/math activity!
• Visit the illustrator's website to find out about the characters in the book: http://www.ashleywolff.com/whois.html
• Don't forget to read other books in the Miss Bindergarten series: Miss Bindergarten Takes a Field Trip, Miss Bindergarten Stays Home from Kindergarten, Miss Bindergarten Has a Wild Day in Kindergarten, Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten, and Miss Bindergarten Plans a Circus With Kindergarten.
  
  

My Teacher Sleeps in School by Leatie Weiss

• Often students don't ever think of the teacher as a person with a home and a family! Think about it, you are there when the children leave each evening, and when they come to school the next day, you are "still" there! Bring in family photographs to show the children. Show them pictures of your pets, your children, your wedding photos, vacation photos, etc.
• Show the students some photographs of you when you were a child. And don't forget to tell your students your first name! Seems like a no-brainer, but many students have no idea that your first name isn't Miss!!
• Have children illustrate what would happen if a teacher really slept in school: Where would she cook? How would she brush her teeth? Where would she sleep?

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

• Record yourself reading the story and put it on CDs. Give each family the CD as a "first day of school" present.
• If you have a Back to School Night or Parent Orientation, this is a good story to read to the Moms and Dads!
• Have students make sugar cookies (the prepared dough is fine) using heart shaped and hand shaped cookie cutters.
• Variation: If Back to School Night is held on or shortly after the first day of school, have children make the cookies described above. Save some for snack time so the children can eat them, but make enough for each set of parents too. Have children decorate a heart shaped piece of paper that illustrates something that they did in school that day. At the Back to School Night read the story and then give each family the cookies and illustrations that their child made along with the CD of you reading the story. Those parents will love you for the rest of the school year!
  
  

How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? by Jane Yolen

• Let children choose other animals to write stories about, like How Do Giraffes Go to School?
• In Block Area, provide school related props (small desks, chairs, tables, can be found in the dollhouse section of your local craft store), and toy dinosaurs. The children will enjoy reenacting this story!
• Read the other "How Do Dinosaurs...?" books.
• This is a good time to make your classroom rules. I always had 3 simple rules: Listen to the teacher. Be kind to your classmates. Take care of our toys and classroom. Almost everything else falls under one of these three rules. But having your students come up with the classroom rules, especially after reading this story, will be fun!
  

If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Joffe Numeroff

• Create flannel pictures of each key element in the story (the mouse, lunchbox, backpack, etc) and make a flannel board story. The class will enjoy retelling it. This will also make a good sequencing activity.
• Cut stacks of paper into a mouse shaped pattern. Here is one example pattern, but many are available on the web. Staple pages into a book. Place these blank books in your writing area to encourage children to create their own mouse stories!
• Invest in a mouse puppet. I like the puppets at Folkmanis but there are many others available. The mouse puppet can be used to act out all of the Mouse stories (If You Give a Mouse A Cookie, If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, The Best Mouse Cookie, etc). I suggest creating prop boxes for each of the stories that include the puppet and various other objects/props from the stories.
• Visit the author's "Teacher Links" for many more ideas and story starters.
  
  

I Am Absolutely Too Small To Go to School by Lauren Child

• Have the children make a list of other things they think they are too small to do.
• On chart paper have the class list things that they can already do and make a list of things that they want to learn how to do. Keep this list in the classroom throughout the year and check off things as they are learned!
• Visit Charlie and Lola on the Web!
• 
  
  Check out the other books in the Charlie and Lola series. This brother and sister duo are adorable and funny.
  
  

Some Twitter Favs:

@katejewave likes The Kissing Hand, Miss Bindgergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, and If You Take a Mouse to School

@PaBast recommends Franklin Goes to School by Paulette Bourgeois and Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes

Book of the Day Activities: Multicultural Tales

Books of the Day for July 26 - August 1

Because this week's books are traditional fairy tales, you are likely to find various versions of them. I have included images of the versions with which I am most familiar, however, I encourage you to seek out other versions and read them to your class/children. They may take delight in comparing the various stories! Please respond below if you have other tales or activities that will go with any of the featured books for this week. Please add your own books and/or activities in the comment section!

Here are some activities that will go with all of the books on this week's list:

• Mark on a map or globe the areas where these stories originated.


• Make passports for the children and let them stamp them every time you read a book from a different country.
  
• Connect with a different classroom (pen pals, e-pals, or another classroom in the school) and compare/contrast different versions of the stories.


• Even young Preschool and kindergarten students can begin to learn the difference between real and pretend. Talk about what "fairy tales" and "folk tales" are and look for ways to tell if a story is real or pretend (ex: talking animals, magic, etc)


• Make flags of the corresponding countries. Learn a little about what the colors and symbols represent.


• Use the Internet to go on a "photographic" tour of the countries featured in these books.


• Several of the books on this list are Caldecott Winners (Lon Po Po, Anansi the Spider, Strega Nona). Learn about the Caldecott honor and bring children's attention to the illustrations in these award winning stories!

Tikki Tikki Tembo retold by Arlene Mosel

• Practice saying the main character's name: Tiki tiki tembo-no sa rembo chari bari ruchi pip peri pembo! The children will have fun just trying to learn the name.
• Allow the children to clap out and count syllables in the name. Then count the syllables in their own names and classmates' names.
• Research the meanings of each child's name. Older students can also research the meanings of their parents' names.
• Tie this story into a theme on opposites. One brother had a long name and one brother had a short name. Make a list of other opposites with the children!
• Note: Make sure that children know that this is a "pretend" story since most people of Chinese decent do not really give their children long names like Tikki Tikki Tembo...

Babushka's Doll by Patricia Polacco

• Visit the author's website.
• Use this story as an opportunity to talk about patience; the main character in the story wants things "now." Have children discuss and/or illustrate times when they have to be patient (waiting for their turn on a bike, going to the store with mom, etc).
• Learn about Matryoshka dolls or Russian Nesting Dolls. The Russian Legacy Website has a lot of good background information for adults. Some websites have the dolls for sale between $30 and $40.
• Have the students rewrite and illustrate the story.

The Mitten by Jan Brett

• Make a mitten match activity: the teacher should cut mittens from tag board and decorate each pair various patterns and colors. Laminate the mittens and store them in a container of your choice. Encourage students to find matching pairs. Note: the mitten patterns can be used for all sorts of activities: matching upper/lower case letters, matching opposites, pairing pictures w/beginning letter sounds, addition activities, etc. Here is an example of mitten match game using colors.
• Use Jan Brett's site which has mitten and animal patterns to make a flannel board or file folder version of the story.
• Use the animal patterns from Jan Brett's site (see link above) to make an Beginning Sounds Game: have children match the animals with their beginning sounds. This game can be done on a magnetic board, flannel board, or made into a file folder game.
  

Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola *This story may not be a traditional "folktale" since it is an original story. But it has a lot of the elements of a traditional tale!

• Make a chart of the various Italian words used in the book (Grazia: Thank you
  Per Favore: Please, etc).
• If you (or a parent) has a pasta maker, make pasta from scratch!
• Have a gelati tasting or make cannolis.
• Compare/sort different types of pasta (elbow, bow tie, spaghetti, etc). Make a pasta collage.
• At the easel, encourage children to paint their own pictures of their Magic Pot. Antony's pot had pasta but encourage students to come up with their own ideas of what they would want in their pots.

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema

• Young children will love to say this big word "onomatopoeia" which is really a fancy word for words that imitate sounds. Have the class make a list and write it on chart paper. Examples: buzz, wham, woof, moo, bang, choo-choo, etc...
• Make sequencing cards and have students put the major story events in order.
• Do "nighttime" drawings using colored chalk and black construction paper.
• Learn about a few of the animals in the story (iguana, python, rabbit, crow, monkey, owl, lion, and of course, mosquito). Sites such as National Geographic for Kids often have video, pictures, and facts that are appropriate for young children.
  

Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott

• Use a child-friendly computer program like KidPix to have children create their own spiders.
• Visit the PBS Kids' Africa site.
• Learn about spiders and other arachnids
• Make a spider - search the web for "spider crafts" and you will find dozens of options!
• Make a spider snack: body = large marshmallow, legs = stick pretzels, eyes = mini chocolate chips (attach w/ a dot of peanut butter if there are no allergies)
• Make a Venn Diagram and compare a "real" spider with Anansi

Lon Po Po by Ed Young*Thanks to peekabooplay (on Twitter) for reminding me to add this one!

• Read this version and a more familiar version of Little Red Riding Hood and help the students compare/contrast the stories.
• Make a graph of what version the class likes the most. When making graphs with young children it is most important to be very visual.
• Do a "Fact" vs "Fiction" activity about wolves.
• Learn to write some letters or count to 10 in Chinese.

Other Favorite Folktales from Twitter:

Katjewave said, "The Bossy Gallito is a Cuban folktale retold by Lucia Gonzalez."

peekabooplay loves Brett's version of Goldilocks.

Katjewave likes Just a Minute! by Yuyi Morales. It's a counting book in a tale about how Abuela tricks Sr. Calavera.

meristemstudio said, "Some of my favorite multicultural fairy tales are retold by Gerald McDermott..."

Katjewave is a huge 'Cinderella' fan, and since she's EVERYWHERE in the world, suggests Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by Steptoe.