Let it Snow

Let it Snow

By: Maryann Cocca-Leffler

Ages: 3-6

Siblings see the first snow and then experience the joys of winter.  Students will learn all that they can do in the cold snowing weather before it turns to spring.  The pictures are interesting and the text is written in an interesting format instead of simply across the page.

Theme: Students start learning about the seasons when they hear these students experiences through winter. 

About the Author:
Maryann Cocca-Leffer grew up in Everett, Massachusetts with four other siblings.  She was very interested in art which ultimately got her into the Massachusetts College of Art.  Cocca-Leffer ended up using part of her parents basement as her first studio as she dreamed about illustrating children's books.  Her dream finally came drew in 1981 and she has been illustrating and writing ever since. 

Pre-Reading Activities:
Students should be introduced to the seasons and discuss what each season looks like.
The teacher can also read Let it Fall by Maryann Cocca-Leffer which discusses fall leading into winter.

Post Reading Activities:

Students will discuss the many activities that they like to do in winter.  After they do this, they can complete a writing piece about their favorite winter activity.

Diary of a Spider

Diary of a Spider

By: Doreen Cronin

Illustrated by: Harry Bliss

Ages:4-8

 Diary of a Spider introduces students to what a life of a spider may be like.  The book is written in a diary format with a young spider sharing his daily experiences.  Students will learn about the spiders fears, about how they shed, and the many struggles that they have to deal with.  

Theme: Without even knowing, students will learn about spiders when they read this particular spiders diary. 


About the Author:
Doreen Cronin grew up in New York and published her first book in 2000.  This book was called Clack Clack Moo: Cows That Type.  This book won many awards and Cronin continued to write children's books. 


Pre-Reading Activities:
Teachers should lead a discussion about what diaries are and what they look like so that students become familiar with the genre. Students can also discuss what they already know about spiders.


Post Reading Activities: 
Students should discussion what they learned about spiders.  Students can then go on to write their own journal entry about themselves or even an animal of their choice.   

Where Are You Going? To See My Friend.

Where Are You Going? To See My Friend.

Written and Illustrated by: Eric Carle and Kazuo Iwamura

 Grades: K-12

This book is about a dog who meets a friend.  The dog meets a cat and they go together to meet another friend.  Every time they meet a new friend, they all go together to meet the next friend.  In the end, they all sing and dance together.  This is all done half in English (Eric Carle) and the other half in Japanese (Kazuo Iwamura).  In the middle of the book, the two come together. 

About the Author: 
Eric Carle was born is Syracuse, New York in 1929 then when he was six, he moved to Germany with his parents.  In 1952 he came back to America and got a job in New York with the New York Times.  His career in children's literature started when a friend of his asked him to illustrate a book of his.  Carle has illustrated over seventy books.

Theme: Using a variety of animals, the authors teach students that their friends do not have to be just like them.  

Pre-Reading Activities:

Have the students find someone that is not one of their best friends or someone they have not talked to before.  The students should get to know the person; introduce themselves and talk about likes and dislikes.  Have the students pick three more people and do the same activity with them. 

Post Reading Activities:

Ask students: Did the animals do the right thing? Is it good to make new friends? Would you do what the animals in this book did?

Teach the students the “Make New Friends” song.

 

What Makes A Magnet?

What Makes a Magnet?

By: Franklyn M. Branley

Illustrated by: True Kelley

Grades: 3-5

This is a fun and educational science book which discusses how magnets work and how to make your own magnet.  A girl experiments with different objects to learn what magnets attract and what they do not.  Students can use this book to complete their own experiments with magnets. 

About the Author:
Dr. Franklyn M. Branley originated the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series in the 1960s.  He has also written over 150 children's science books. 

Theme: Students will learn about magnets and how they are used in our everyday lives.

Pre-Reading Activities:

Ask students: Do you use magnets?  What are some objects that you can think of that are attracted to magnets?

Give students a variety of objects then have them predict what will be attracted to a magnet and what will not.  Then, give them a magnet and have them see if they were right.

Post Reading Activities:

Ask students: What did you learn about magnets?  What happens when you put similar sides of a magnet together?  What about opposites?  How do you make a compass?

Give students a sheet that contains a chart.  One column will say magnetic, the other will say non-magnetic.  Students will have to go around their homes find objects that fit in each category to fill in their charts (be sure to warn students to stay away from computers and televisions).

Stephanie's Ponytail

Stephanie's Ponytail

By: Robert Munsch

Illustrated by: Michael Martchenko

Grades: K-3

Stephanie decided that she wants to be different then anyone else.  She noticed that no one had a ponytail so she had her mom put her hair in a ponytail.  When she went to school everyone made fun of her but the next day they all wore a ponytail.  Because of this, Stephanie changed her hairstyle again.  This process repeated until Stephanie got so fed up she told the other students that she was going to shave her head the next day.  Everyone came in with shaved heads and Stephanie came in with a ponytail. 

About the Author:

Robert Munsch has been a goof his entire life.  He almost did not pass most grades in elementary school but did write poetry just for fun.  In high school he did not get along with most people and decided to become a priest.  He studied seven years to be a Jesuit priest before he figured out it was not for him.  Munsch ended up deciding he wanted to teach and attended Elliot Pearson School of Child Studies at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.  Through this experience, he was placed to student teach at Wellsley College Child Studies Preschool where he wrote his first story.  While teaching, Munsch came up with a variety of stories but never wrote them down until his wife pushed him to write them down and send them into a publisher.  Munsch then quit his job so that he could keep writing and travel all around to tell his stories.

Theme: Children will learn to be themselves when they see that copying someone else could put them in a sticky situation.

Pre-Reading Activities:

Ask students: Has someone you known done anything that you liked and wanted to do? Have you done what they did? Has someone done something that you have done? How did this make you feel?

Have a group discussion and have students contribute saying what they believe is something special about them. 

Post Reading Activities:
Ask Students: Did you like the book? How do you think Stephanie felt when everyone copied her hair style? How do you think everyone else felt when they shaved their head and everyone else did not?
Have a conversation with the students so that they can learn about what it feels like to be copied and that you should do something because you want to not because someone else is doing it. 

Chicken Soup With Rice: A Book of Months

Chicken Soup With Rice: A Book of Months

By: Maurice Sendak

Grades: K-5

This is a book that consists of a poem for every month of the year. It is a book that can be read throughout the year while discussing each month or in a short period of time while discussing poetry. 

About the Author:

Maurice Sendak became interested in books and fantasy when he was a child because he was sick a lot of the time and stuck inside so he turned to books.  In the 1950s he published about fifty children's books.  Sendak wanted the illustrations of his books to create more mystery rather than simply describe the pictures.

Theme: Students learn about months and poetry at the same time.

Pre-Reading Activities:

Work with the class to come up with a class definition of poetry.  What does poetry mean to you?

Post Reading Activities:

At the end of reading each poem, ask the students why they believe that the author chose to write about the specific thing that they did for that month.  Have them come up with other ideas that could have been used for that month.

Have the students write their very own poems.  For the younger students have the class work together to make their very own Chicken Soup With Rice poems.  For the older students have them work on their own to write their very own Chicken Soup With Rice poems for each month and put them together so they have their own book with a poem for each month. 

Divide and Ride

Divide and Ride

By: Stuart J. Murphy

Illustrated by: George Ulrich

Grades: 2-4

A group of students go to a carnival where there are many rides to go on.  Different rides held a different amount of students per chair.  The students have to figure out how many more students they needed to find to fit all their friends and fill the chairs. While students are reading this book, they can work with the students in the book to find the answers.  Students learn math without knowing it!

About the Author:

Stuart J. Murphy started to really enjoy writing when his forth grade teacher told him that he should start to write his stories down.  He ended up attending the Rhode Island School of Design for art.  He became interested in educational text which led him to being on text book committees and working on curriculum.  While working with older students, Murphy found that pictures helped reluctant learners which lead him to think that pictures would help young students with math.  Ultimately, Murphy started to write a collection of math books for children. 

Theme: Students learn about math through real life situations which makes learning math enjoyable.

Pre-Reading Activities:

Ask students: Have you ever been to a carnival?  What kinds of rides have you been on?  Have you had to split up when you go to the carnival with a big group of friends?  How did it turn out?

Turn to a partner and discuss going on rides and how many seats each ride has.  Discuss what you would do if all of your friends did not fit in the seats and there was one friend left without a seat.

Post Reading Activities:

Ask students: Did any of the students get left out on a ride?  What did the students do if one of the seats were not filled?  What did they do when all of the student could fit on the ride but there were still empty seats? 

Have the class all stand up.  Tell them that they are going to be given different numbers and they have to split up into groups of that number. By doing this they will be able to see how many other people they have to find to make sure that each group has the correct amount.