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November 03, 2009
What I Did in My Fun for 4s and 5s Storytime Today and How It Worked Out
“Way Up High in the Apple Tree”
“Two Little Blackbirds”
Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
I’ve been doing more rhyming books than usual with this group because there are a couple kids who particularly enjoy rhymes. (We’ve been occasionally pausing throughout the series to spend time thinking up words that rhyme with other words, even making words up to keep our rhymes going. That’s been fun, and I know it’s a great activity for them, so bonus.) Silly Sally is one of those books I love to read—the text is exactly just right, and the pictures are so lively. I have the big book version, too, which makes it that much better. (Whenever I get the big books out, I always tell the kids, “Big book is the technical term for these, you know.” They remain unimpressed.)
“If You Should Meet a Crocodile”
I asked the kids today if anyone knew what the Nile was, and they were all like, “Um, no.”
Who Took the Farmer’s Hat? by Joan L. Nodset, illustrated by Fritz Siebel
The kids never seem to enjoy this book as much as I do, but you know what? I’m the one who can read. Don’t even start in with that being-a-kid-is-better-than-being-an-adult nonsense. Not only can I read, but I HAVE A CAR. Take that, kids!
“I Wiggle My Fingers”
“Three Billy Goats Gruff” in Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales by Lucy Cousins
When we got to the end, one of the kids asked if we were going to read more of the stories, which I take as a sign of success. Trip, trap.
“Wise Old Owl”
Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems
Saying “Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie” never grows less funny.
“Sticky, Sticky Bubblegum”
One of the kids had real gum this week, which kind of stressed me out. I had to keep saying, “Not the real gum, Martin. Not the real gum.”
When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry… by Molly Bang
I love this book, but I hadn’t read it to a group in a while and had forgotten how strongly kids respond to it. I think it freaks some adults out because Sophie really and truly gets ANGRY (One kid commented, “She is getting really loud there.”), but I think it’s valuable to talk with kids about anger, what makes you angry, and how you can cope with it. This book sparks that discussion with very little prompting.
“Fall Winds Begin to Blow”
We each had TWO leaves this week. I was thinking that when it’s winter I’m going to have to do a similar kind of rhyme with snowflake cutouts.
Posted by adrienne at November 3, 2009 11:25 AM
Comments
Adrienne, speaking of freaking adults out, I got a copy today of a British import, Mini Grey's newest title, not released yet here. I was baffled for a while as to how I got it, straight from London, when I remembered I had talked to her via email recently about her tendency to have all her protagonists get eaten. Hee. She had said something like, wait till you see the new one, and I guess she had it sent. HOLY WOW. It is The Mother of All Straight Talk About the Food Chain books. The girls wanted to hear it over and over today, and they asked my mother-in-law to read it, while she was visiting, and she said, "I don't LIKE that book." We're talkin' lion eats boy. Disembodied head. Bones sittin' around. The whole nine yards.
It's a veeerrrry tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top cautionary tale. It makes me laugh. That Mini.
Still enjoying the Lucy Cousins' book. So wonderful.
I still want to see one of your story times one day.
Posted by: jules at November 3, 2009 08:09 PM
I love that Mini Grey. I cannot believe that they are still not simultaneously releasing her titles in the US. I mean WHAT THE HECK???
Also, Jules, today we had our once-a-month homeschooling program, which is this year focusing on this Picturing America program put out for the National Endowment for the Humanities. This month, we focused on female painters, and I wound up reading Through Georgia's Eyes by Rachel Rodriguez and illustrated by Julie Paschkis out loud to the kids. DUDE, that's a great read-aloud, and those illustrations are killer (although I was dying that Paschkis's rendition of one of those skull pics Georgia was always doing got a little lost in the gutter--I kind of wanted to tear the book apart so we could see what we were missing in there). I love the way Georgia ages through the book, too, and the things she wears.
Posted by: adrienne at November 3, 2009 09:50 PM
I know! What a beautiful book. Glad to hear it was a great read-aloud. I wish the whole world looked like Julie-Paschkis art.
I must learn more about this Picturing America program.
Posted by: Jules at November 4, 2009 08:57 AM
I keep meaning to write about it, but I haven't had the concentrated time. Writing the online course and life in general has been keeping me HOPPING lately.
Posted by: adrienne at November 4, 2009 04:55 PM