I'm Singing Baby Beluga While Talking on My Bananaphone...

A 140 character tweet was not enough to express my excitement about finding Raffi on Twitter (@Raffi_RC)! When I taught kindergarten and pre-kindergarten, Raffi, Ella Jenkins, and Hap Palmer were my lifesavers!! It seemed that not a day went by without one of these musical geniuses playing in my classroom. As an adult, I didn't even know what a beluga whale was before Raffi told me. My kindergarten class wanted to know more about belugas, so we did an entire unit on the "little white whale on the go" just because of Raffi. We learned vowels by eating Apples and Bananas. When the kids got antsy, we would  "shake our sillies out". Raffi was the second teacher in my classroom, and he didn't even know it!

What warms my heart even more, is finding out that Raffi is more than a educator and musician. He's an advocate for children, an advocate for childhood, and an advocate for humanity. As a teacher, I appreciated Raffi for what he was able to teach me and my students. Now, as a manager of an early childhood program, I am able to connect with Raffi on another level. I am tearing up as I'm writing this...I'm happy to know that the children of the world have advocates like Raffi.

Dear Raffi,
Thank you.
One light, one sun...


Raffi Facts from Raffi News:

• "Because of his belief that children should not be exposed to too much television viewing and that they should not be directly marketed to, during his thirty-year career as a superstar of kid’s music Raffi refused all offers for commercial television shows and commercial endorsements."
• "After years of networking and reflecting on what it might take to create a world fit for children, in 2010, Raffi founded the Centre for Child Honouring on Salt Spring Island."
• "An estimated 10 million kids who grew up with Baby Beluga now sing it to their own kids."  

Some of my favorite Raffi albums:

 


Reading Raffi:

Got Your Party Hat? It's a Picture Book Party!

One of my absolute favorite things about teaching pre-kindergarten and kindergarten was story time. I was always excited to read a good book to a group of eager little listeners. I miss teaching, but I have never lost my love for children's literature. That is, in part, how this blog was born. Not only do I love a good book, but I truly believe in the power of early literacy. I still remember some of the books that I read as a young girl so I'm honored to think that maybe, one of the books I read to a child will still be remembered 20, 30, or even 40 years later!

Last year, I participated in an awesome picture book party hosted by Cathy and Mandy. On August 10, bloggers listed 10 books that we couldn't live without. I had a hard time, narrowing down my Desert Island Book Collection, but I managed (just barely). This year, I thought it would be easier... you know... I've done this before so I have it under control, right? Well, not exactly. My list kept growing and growing... but after a week and a half of internal debate, I've narrowed down 10 books I'd recommend to my Blog and Twitter Family. I can't wait to read what books other folks suggest. I'm sure my pockets will be a little lighter as I find new goodies for my library collection.

What books would you add? Comment on the blog for a chance to win a children's picture book. One random winner will be selected. Deadline: August 23, 2011.

Here are ten books (out of hundreds!) that I enjoy reading:

 

Please, Baby, Please by Tonya Lewis Lee: Anyone who has had the grueling task pleasure of putting a toddler to bed will enjoy this little story. Preschoolers will like the humor and predictable text; it's the kid of book they will learn to "read" by looking at the amusing pictures and remembering the predictable, rhythmic text.

Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen: It's not always easy for ethnic girls to see themselves depicted as ballerinas, so I enjoy this story and the beautiful illustrations. (Also check out Whoopi Goldberg's Sugar Plum Ballerinas.)

The Jolly Postman and Other People's Letters by Janet and Allan Ahlberg: I loved this book almost as much as my kindergarten students. It's the kind of book that you will want to read in small groups since the book is so interactive. The children get to pull out letters and postcards (and even a birthday party invitation) to and from popular fairy tale characters.

A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein: I'm a Shel Silverstein fan and this one is a particular favorite. "If you had a giraffe and he stretched another half …you would have a giraffe and a half." The tale goes on, and as you can imagine, the illustrations (classic Sliverstein line drawings) are hilarious. Take lots of pauses while you are reading...you will need time for giggles!

The Little Red Hen Maks a Pizza by Philemon Sturges: If you like The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, you will enjoy this story as well. It's a fun twist on an old favorite. Who doesn't like a hen who makes bread pizza?

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood and Don Wood: So if you were a little mouse, and a big hungry bear wanted your strawberry, what would you do? I love reading this story - especially to a group of little ones who have never heard the story before. They are always anxious to see how it turns out! Check out the story on You Tube.

Hey, Little Ant by Phillip M. Hoose: Young children are just learning to empathize with others and for this reason, I like books that encourage children to think from someone else's point of view... event if that other point of view is a little, tiny ant that was about to be squashed!

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch: Robert Munsch was a popular author in my classroom (for me, it all started with Purple, Green and Yellow). This story tells the tale of a princess.. but not the pink dress wearing, tiara-donning, pixie-dust carrying, wand-wielding princess.This princess by no means needs to be rescued by her prince. When the dragon burns her clothes and steals her prince, she slaps on a paper bag and well... the rest is, as they say, hysterical! Girl Power!

I'm Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood: I'd read almost anything by Audrey Wood just because of the illustrations! They tell a story all on their own. This book has a wonderfully rhythmic text that boasts the message, "just be yourself." That's a lesson we all need every now and then.

 

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert: I have a special and personal love of butterflies, so I'm drawn to books about them. This one has classic Ehlert collage-style illustrations and catchy text. The book also has a great deal of information about various kinds of butterflies. If you want to plant a butterfly garden, this book also tells you the name of several butterfly-attracting flowers!

Now I must go... Picture Book Party 2012 is just around the corner and I've got to get ready!

See Also: 10 Books I Love to Read Aloud

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

Learning at Home: Popsicle Sticks as Learning Partners by Lyssa Turner

Oooh! Crafty mommies get excited when they read those words! Teacher mommies do, too! This classic and inexpensive manipulative can magically become math and language tools. Remember, learning bursts should be short and sweet. A general rule is to match the number of minutes to the age of your child plus one minute. Now here is how to use them!

• Introduce the tool and call it just that! When pulling out any new tool, remember to allow time for exploration in the beginning. 2-3 minutes of free play is a must! The transition into learning play will be much easier!
• Tell your learner ahead of time, “We are going to explore with these _____ for 3 minutes. When I ring the doorbell (or whatever you choose) we are going to try something new.” Then do just that! Here are some things to try:

1. Make letters with the sticks. Start with a letter they know or choose one from a book and go from there! Once the letter is made, trace it with your fingers and say the sound. (Have older siblings put the letters in alphabetical order or make whole words!) You are learning and reinforcing letters and their sounds!  Next time, glue the letters down. Use the popsicle stick letter as the beginning of a word, or even better, the beginning of your child’s name!
2. Make shapes with the sticks! (Have older siblings make the shape you describe, “It has three sides.” “It looks like a stop sign.” “What would I have if I put a triangle on top of a square? Make it!” ) You are teaching shapes and working on fine motor kills while you are at it! Next time, glue the shape down and turn it into a picture by adding details with crayons or markers!
3. Grab and toss! Give your child a predetermined number of popsicle sticks (3 for beginners.) Have them toss them in the air away from their body. Have your child describe where they landed. “One is by the chair.” “These are by the door.” (Have older siblings practice addition and subtraction with the sticks. Toss and describe using math terms. “2 by the door and 6 by the chair makes 8 sticks in all.” You are building language skills and locking in them with the movement! Next time, use the popsicle sticks to measure from one place to another by lining them up from end to end. “Wow! It takes 6 popsicles to get from the door to the chair.”
4. Sort colored popsicle sticks by color, identifying the color as you go. (Have older siblings rename the popsicle stick colors using adjectives. Then write the new names on the sticks. For example,instead of "red," try "raspberry red"!). Next time, mix all kinds of popsicle sticks (fat, colored, short, etc) into a pile and have your child sort them however they want! This open sort allows your child to use their inductive thinking skills. When done, sort them again, another way!

To learn more about the benefits of sorting with toddlers and more ideas, visit Bright Hub.

BOOK OF THE MONTH: Who's in the Forest?

Who's in the Forest? by Phillis Gershator is a great book for toddlers. It's rhyming text and peek-a-boo holes make it a great interactive book for young ones. "Who's in the forest, dark and deep? Foxes on the prowl - creep, creep, creep." The collage/patchwork style illustrations are also eye catching and very engaging.

Forest Activities for Toddlers:

• Collect some forest puppets and allow the children to explore with them. Toddlers will be able to experiment with sounds, words, and practice interacting with others. Some of my favorites are from Folkmanis because they are so lifelike and durable.
• Taking a field trip with toddlers is not always an easy task, so check with your local Department of Natural Resources or your local Zoo to see if they have an outreach program that will bring forest animals to your classroom. Here in Maryland we have Scales and Tales and the Zoo Mobile.
• Add forest animals to block area, sand table, and other areas of the classroom.
• Act out the story with toddlers: 1) Make headbands by pasting a forest animal on a sentence strip; have one for each child. 2) While reading the story, have the children stand up when their animal is called. For example, when you read, "Who's in the forest dark and deep? Birds in the treetops - cheep, cheep, cheep" then the children with bird headbands will stand up and say "cheep, cheep, cheep."
• Cut out animal tracks and contact them to the floor so that the children can follow them. Older toddlers can match the animal tracks with the animals.
• Listen to a CD with sounds of the forest such as Forest Ambiance.
• Make bird feeders! This is one of my favorite bird feeders because it's not too messy, it doesn't involve peanuts or peanut butter, and children get the benefit of fine-motor practice by stringing cheerios onto a pipe cleaner! 

Teaching Kids News by Joyce Grant

Last year, I partnered with my son’s grade-three teacher to talk to the kids in his class about “the news.” Because I’m a journalist, it’s something I know a bit about and I thought the kids might be interested in finding out more about their world.

It turns out we vastly underestimated their interest!

Each week I brought in a stack of newspaper clippings and talked about them with the class. We followed a couple of major breaking stories (the G20 summit, the oil spill) and we also talked about interesting or funny stories that would crop up during the week. It might be anything from the discovery of a new species to a space shuttle launch.

The kids actively participated in the weekly sessions, wanting to share their own knowledge about the news stories and also wanting to know more. Pretty soon, kids’ parents were coming up to us saying, “My son just explained to me what’s happening at the G20!”

That weekly media lesson sparked an idea for a website. What if we brought kids the news in kid-friendly and –appropriate language? It would encourage kids to read, because they desperately want to know what’s going on in the world. It would also encourage parents to read with their children.

My son’s teacher, Jonathan Ophek, added the final, brilliant piece of the puzzle: what if we added “curriculum connections” to each article, so teachers could use each day’s article right in the classroom? Teachers would be covering the curriculum using current news events pulled from today’s headlines.

So Teaching Kids News was born.

The site began in September 2010 and was relaunched in its current form in January 2011. We haven’t done much marketing of the site yet, but already more than 1,000 teachers and parents use the site every day. Some days, particularly when big news is breaking, we get more than twice or three times that number. (Our biggest day has been over 6,000 individual users.)

Our goal is to get kids reading, and we think that by bringing them news that is not only easy for them to read but put into “context” for them, we’re able to do that. At the same time, Teaching Kids News provides instant lesson plans for teachers and parents who are home-schooling their kids.

And as one CBC reporter said, TKN’s politics section is a great place to brush up on what’s happening in the world—for anyone, kid or adult!

Joyce Grant is a journalist and owner of Teaching Kids News, http://www.teachkidsnews.com/. She also blogs at Getting Kids Reading, http://www.gkreading.com/.