1. Beegu
by Deacon, Alexis.   New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003.   1st American ed.

2. Earth to Stella!
by Puttock, Simon.   New York : Clarion Books, 2006.   1st American ed.

3. Happy birthday, moon
by Asch, Frank.   New York : S&S Books for Young Readers, [1988], c1982.

4. Joey and Jet in space
by Yang, James, 1960-   New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2006.   1st ed.
Easy Picture Book

5. Moo Cow kaboom!
by Hurd, Thacher.   [New York] : HarperCollinsPublishers, c2003.   1st ed.
Easy Picture Book

6. Moon plane
by McCarty, Peter.   New York : Henry Holt, 2006.   1st ed.
Easy Picture Book

7. Papa, please get the moon for me
by Carle, Eric.   [U.S.A.] : Picture Book Studio USA ; Natick, Mass. : Distributed by Alphabet Press, c1986.
Easy Picture Book

8. Roaring rockets
by Mitton, Tony.   New York : Kingfisher, 1997.   1st ed.
Easy Nonfiction Book

9. Round like a ball!
by Ernst, Lisa Campbell.   Maplewood, N.J. : Blue Apple Books, 2008.   1st ed.
Easy Picture Book

10. The boy who climbed into the moon
by Almond, David, 1951-   Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2010.   1st U.S. ed.
Children’s Fiction Book

Bottles of colored water for practicing writing and small muscle skills.

Oobleck (this was going to be spray chalk, but we added too much cornstarch and we ended up with oobleck).

Plastic letters

Books (ones that we could send outside without worries)

Sentence strip charades/action word cards

I also came up withe following list of ideas:

Write it

Alphabetic knowledge.

(Adapted from Literacy Round the Clock)

Divide your class into pairs and invite each pair to find a nearby patch of ground to use as a workspace.  Call out a letter; then encourage each pair to quickly gather a handful of natural materials such as twigs or fallen leaves to form the letter.  To vary this idea, specify uppercase or lowercase letters.

Hopscotch

Initial sounds/ alphabetic knowledge

(Adapted from Literacy Round the Clock)

Use sidewalk chalk to draw a hopscotch grid.  Write a different letter on each square.  To play, a student tosses a beanbag or rock into a square, and then hops to it.  When he or she lands on a square, the student says the name of the letter (or the initial sound.)

Inside-Outside Circle

Rhyming

(Adapted from Literacy Round the Clock)

Divide students into two groups, and have them form two circles (one inside the other) so they are facing each other.  Make sure each child is standing face to face with a partner.  Standing in the center of the inner circle, call out a word.  Students in each pair say a word that rhymes with yours.  Each child then steps to the left to form new pairs.  Continue until children are back with their original partners.

Have a Ball

Alphabetic Knowledge

(Adapted from Literacy Round the Clock)

Gather children in a circle.  Gently toss a labeled beach ball (included) to a child.  Encourage the child who catches the ball to look under his or her thumb and name the closest letter.

The Ship is Loaded with…

Rhyming

Gather children in a circle.  To begin the game, say, “the ship is loaded with (cheese, logs, mats, dice, etc.)  Toss the ball to somebody in the circle.  This person must produce a rhyme and throw the ball back to you.  Repeat original rhyme and toss to another child.  Continue, or let children throw to each other.  You can vary the game according to the monthly theme (i.e. “the mailman is carrying ___” or “What are you bringing to the picnic?  I am bringing ___.”

Running Game

Alphabetic knowledge/ rhyming/beginning sounds

Gather the children on a line.  Tell them they can run when they hear something that rhymes with /starts with the same sound or letter as their name.

Do You Remember?

Listening

Instruct child who is “it” is to complete a series of actions.  The rest of the children and are to watch and listen carefully. Giving thumbs up or thumbs down depending on whether the child followed the instructions correctly.

Photo Treasure Hunt

Visual Discrimination

Place photos in different locations and have the children follow the visual clues For example, they might first find the bike photo, and on the bike photo they would find a photo of another location on or around the play ground.  Behind the last clue, hide a sheet of stickers.

Bingo

Environmental Print/visual discrimination

Hang the bingo card from the fence.  Review the letters with children.  Tell them to look for letters around the playground as they play (on equipment, clothing, etc.)  When they find one, they can find a teacher.  Cover up each letter with a marker when a kid finds it.

Ball Hop

Letters/beginning sounds

Set the balls in a line with about four feet between each ball.  Have your preschooler hop over each ball without touching it. If your preschooler accidentally bumps it, s/he’ll have to start over.  Before your preschooler can hop over the next ball, s/he has to name a letter as well as a word that starts with that letter. For example, after the first hop, your preschooler would say something like, “A is for Apple.” After the next successful hop, your preschooler would say, “B is for Bumble Bee.”

Shape Race

Visual discrimination

Spread the felt shapes out on the ground with plenty of room between them. You should have fewer shapes than preschoolers. For example, if you have 3 preschool racers, then only lay out 2 of each shape.
Give the paper shapes to the designated shape holder.  The preschoolers have to run to whichever shape the shape holder is holding up. Whichever preschooler is left without the specified shape is out.  After each round, remove one of each felt shape.  Repeat steps 5 and 6 until only 1 preschooler remains. The remaining preschooler is the winner of the race.

Sentence Strip Charades

Reading

Choose sentences that fit childrens’ comprehension.  Hold each sentence strip in front of them and read it aloud.  Place sentence strips in a row facing down.  Take turns, and allow a child to choose a sentence strip.  Quietly read the sentence to the child, and instruct them to act it out.  Whoever guesses right gets to act out the next sentence.

Activity Cards 

Sight words

Hold up one of the activity cards and ask the children to act out the word.  If they do not recognize the action words, remind them what the first letter is and help them to sound out the word.

Liquid Chalk

8 Tablespoons of Corn Starch
1 Cup of water
6-10 Drops of food coloring

Mix all of the above ingredients together. Mix until all the lumps are gone.

I would love to hear other suggestions.  I think this could be applicable to lots of situations- libraries with outdoor spaces, homeschooling, etc.

Nightmares, anyone?

“Hehehehe.”

Drinking juice is good for your teeth, kids!

S: But nobody TOLD me to go potty!

Me: S, go potty.

S: No!

In any case, we’re spending the month of April learning about dinosaurs, and this is the book list I’ve come up with.

1. Dino-baseball
by Wheeler, Lisa, 1963-   Minneapolis : Carolrhoda Books, 2010.

2. Dinosaur roar!
by Stickland, Paul.   New York : Dutton Children’s Books, 1994.   1st American ed.

 3. Dinosaur vs. bedtime
by Shea, Bob.   New York : Hyperion Books for Children, c2008.   1st ed.

4. Dinosaurs, dinosaurs
by Barton, Byron.   New York : Crowell, c1989.

5. Edwina, the dinosaur who didn’t know she was extinct ords and pictures
by Willems, Mo.   New York : Hyperion, 2006.   1st ed.

 6. How do dinosaurs say I love you?
by Yolen, Jane.   New York : Blue Sky Press, c2009.

7. If the dinosaurs came back
by Most, Bernard.   New York : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, c1978.

8. Patrick’s dinosaurs
by Carrick, Carol.   New York : Clarion Books, c1983.

9. Skippyjon Jones and the big bones
by Schachner, Judith Byron.   New York : Dutton Children’s Books, c2007.   1st ed.
 10. T. Rex
by French, Vivian.   Cambridge, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2004.   1st U.S. ed.

11. The field mouse and the dinosaur named Sue
by Wahl, Jan.   New York : Scholastic, 2000.
12. The littlest dinosaur
by Foreman, Michael, 1938-   New York, NY : Walker, 2008.

Sometimes, kids get mad at me.  Usually they’re mad because they’re not ready to leave my small group area and go back to class.  Groups only last for 15 or twenty minutes, and I’m not always the best at working in transitions.  The other day, I made W. angry for some reason that I immediately forgot.  Nine hours later, when I had long since gone home, my supervisor asked why he was grumpy, and he said “Hannah made me go back to class.”

Mami Zami:  a city in Florida

Gorganic milk: self-explanatory

Brukka Brukka:  term invented by an ASD (autism spectrum disorder) kid, referring to small oddly shaped balls of dried clay.

Puppet school: where one of our little buddies went when he left our class.

Papa Johnny: no idea what this means, only that they say it loudly and repeatedly at random times.

In my library school courses in children’s literature, we read our way through the books that have won the American Library Association’s most prestigious honors (namely the Caldecott and Newbery).  My classmates and I energetically discussed these books, wrote about them, admired their illustrations and deconstructed their texts.  And they’re beautiful books.  Most of us have wonderful memories of sitting on someone’s lap and reading Make Way For Ducklings or Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.

The problem is that those awards are chosen by grown-up librarians and academics who study children’s literature.  Often, I excitedly choose an award-winning book for its stunning illustrations, and find that kids just are not having any of it.  There are too many words, or not enough, or the book is too long, or it seems to have been written for adults rather than young children.  I’ve put together my list here of books that my students have loved, and the ones that only occupied them for a minute or two.  I’ll keep adding to this list, and would love to hear any suggestions.

Yes

Marina, Ludwing Bemelmans

Monkey with a Toolbelt,Chris Monroe

The Owl and The Pussycat, Edward Lear

Hop on Pop, Dr. Seuss

Snow Music, Lynn Rae Perkins

Big Pumpkin, Erica Silverman (both the kids and I have memorized this one).

Abiyoyo, Pete Seeger

When Sophie Gets Angry, Molly Bang

Peter’s Chair, Ezra Jack Keats

No

All the World, Liz Garton Scanlon: I LOVE this book, and I’m still hoping I can win them over with it.

The Hello Goodbye Window, Norton Juster (too many words!)

A Chair for My Mother (ditto)

Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans

I’m the Best Artist in the Ocean, Kevin Sherry

Theme Box Inventory:

Resource folder containing coloring pages, activities, songs and finger-plays

Felt board fire truck and song lyrics for “Wheels on the Truck”

Fire hat matching game

12 theme-related vocabulary words for writing center

Upper/lowercase matching cards

Word wall words for A Chair for My Mother and The Firefighters’ Thanksgiving

Fireman Safety Review Rhyme

House outline and red marker for writing center

“Ladybug, ladybug” nursery rhyme

Felt board story set for “Master of All Masters”

Additional Literacy Props

Books:

Horowitz, Jordan.  Working Hard with the Busy Firetruck.

Other Ideas:

Have children map a fire escape route at home with their parents

Visit a fire station

Practice calling 911 on a play phone

Draw flames onto the house outline, and then “put out” the fire.

Related Books Available at the Hennepin County Library:

Boelts.  The Firefighters’ Thanksgiving.

Hassett.  Cat Up A Tree.

Raatma.  Crawl Low Under Smoke.

Spinelli, Eileen.  Hero Cat.

Williams, Vera.  A Chair For My Mother.

Hannah: Oh, why is that?

Giles: Because I have THREE NEW SWEATERS!