A to Z challenge 2012: H is for Hector

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This involves lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I have been learning a lot along the way, remembering lots of my favourite books and exploring new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas! 

H is for Hector. 

...and for Hermit. Hector the Hermit Crab by Katie Boyce is a cute picture book with an endearing message and charming illustrations. 

"Hector is a rather shy hermit crab. He keeps himself to himself and is very used to his own company. But one day something happens which changes the way Hector's neighbours on the seabed see him, and Hector has to decide how to deal with suddenly being very noticeable indeed." 

I bought my copy of this book at a clearance sale at my local library. Which is very good for me but a part of me is sad that it is no longer available in the library so more children (and adults) can enjoy it. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - April 8th, 2012

Shadows after the rain are my offerings this week for Shadow Shot Sunday. 

Meeting Selena - easily this week's highlight!

Meeting Selena - easily this week's highlight! 

What a week that was! The highs were higher and the lows were lower. There is no competition though for the highlight of the week. Easily, it was getting to meet my brand new niece, Selena. She was born on Tuesday and weighed 6lb 12. The girls and I got to meet her on Wednesday and we have just got back from another visit. She is so absolutely adorable. Here's a photo taken today - 4 days old. 

Congratulations to parents Kate and Roberto and to big sister Teya! 

A to Z challenge 2012: G is for Green

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This will include lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I'm sure I will learn a lot along the way and explore new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas!

 G is for Green. 

...and green is the colour of the sheep in Mem Fox's popular book Where is the Green Sheep? For the G post in the A to Z challenge I'm going to begin by reposting a post from Wednesday March 9th, 2011. Why do more work than I have to? 

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Green sheep fun!

Yesterday I tried out a green sheep activity with some toddlers. It was great fun! Here's a picture of my green sheep. 

I read 'Where is the green sheep?' by Mem Fox to the group. Attention was a little lacking (they were very young!) for the reading of the story but afterwards they all seemed to enjoy sticking the green wool onto their sheep. The template I used is available here. 


This is an activity I would definitely like to do again. Which is lucky as I have a good supply of green wool as well as wool I am yet to clean and dye. 

A big thank you to my friend, Casandra, for the supply of the wool. I asked her about dying cotton wool for this activity and she asked if I would like some real wool. Yes please! She had a really great supply. Some of it was quite dirty and full of prickles. I quite enjoyed cleaning it and working out how to dye it. I used dishwashing detergent in warm water to clean it. To dye it I used food colouring in hot water with a bit of vinegar (apple cider vinegar as that was the only vinegar I had in the house!) then zapped it in the microwave for a few seconds. 

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Since first posting this I have also done this activity with a class of five and six year olds and it was a huge hit. Before reading the book I put some of the wool in a bag and children took it in turns to feel what was in the bag and guess what it might be. A couple guessed it was wool but all were surprised when I pulled it out of the bag and it was green. After laughing about it coming from a green sheep, the children enjoyed listening to how I had dyed the wool and asked lots of great questions. I still have a lot of wool left - time to get motivated to dye some more and read this book again! With more time too, I imagine children would really enjoy dying the wool themselves. 


There is a multitude of ideas for extension activities for this book available on the internet. A set of ideas I particularly like, written by D. Russell-Bowie and J. Thistleton-Martin (2005) can be found here. They suggest singing the text to a known tune, for example Are you sleeping/ Frere Jacques. I have done this very successfully with two different classes. I can imagine developing this idea further with children making the different sheep characters and singing and acting the story out. 


I'm enjoying this A to Z challenge and as I hoped when beginning am getting inspired and collecting lots of great ideas! While researching this post I discovered lots of extension ideas for this book as well as other great books.  

A to Z challenge 2012: F is for Farmer

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This will include lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I'm sure I will learn a lot along the way and explore new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas!

 F is for Farmer. 

Tom Farmer is the main character in the gorgeous book, Cows in the Kitchen by June Crebbin and illustrated by Katharine McEwen. This is one of my all time favourite picture books. I bought my copy when I was a Family Day Care Careprovider and it was read many times then and since. It is a particularly good book for young children (aged 2-3) and when I facilitated a playgroup for a year I read it almost every week at the end of the session. Now, when I read it to a class of children I point out how well-loved it is (it has been taped back together) while at the same time emphasising how important it is to look after books! 

Children love singing along with the repetitive text "Cows in the Kitchen, Moo, Moo, Moo. Cows in the Kitchen, Moo, Moo, Moo. Cows in the Kitchen, Moo, Moo, Moo. That's what we do Tom Farmer." to the tune of "Skip to my Lou". What I also love about this book is the opportunity to use soft and loud voices. Children love it when you whisper when the animals are creeping back into the farmhouse and then yell to wake Tom Farmer up at the end. There is also lots to talk about with the illustrations and there is a mouse to find on every page. 

This book will continue to be one of my favourites for a long time I think! As well as the sing-along text, it provides a great opportunity to talk about alliteration. Ask children what they notice about the words and they will point out those that start with the same sound. I have found children enjoy making up their own animals and places starting with the same sound and illustrating their ideas. Giraffes in the gym, lions in the library, orangutans on the oval, cats in the classroom, bears on the basketball court are some of the great ideas that children have come up with. 

A to Z challenge 2012: E is for Egg

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This will include lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I'm sure I will learn a lot along the way and explore new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas!

 E is for Egg. 

What good timing with the E post being on the 5th April and Good Friday on the 6th April. If you are looking for a great book to read at Easter time how about Hunwick's Egg by Mem Fox?

"When a mysterious egg appears outside Hunwick's burrow, no one is certain what to think. And when it doesn't hatch right away, everyone is even more bewildered. Everyone, that is, but Hunwick. For Hunwick understands the egg. It is his friend. And he is the only one who knows its secret." 

Mem Fox chose the name 'Hunwick' for the bilby in this story after a man called John Hunwick whom she worked with at Flinders University. My own fondness for this book partly comes from the fact that John Hunwick was one of my supervisors at University when I was studying to be a teacher. You can read in an interview with Mem Fox about "Hunwick's Egg" at http://www.memfox.com/hunwicks-egg.html. There is also lots of information on that website about many of the other great books by Mem Fox. 

I love this story and the accompanying illustrations by Pamela Lofts and so have many children I have shared it with. Perhaps this book could be shared along with The Very Itchy Bear by Nick Bland which I wrote about for 'B'. Both would make a good basis for a discussion of unusual friendships (or just friendships!). 

A to Z challenge 2012: D is for Dr Suess

 

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This will include lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I'm sure I will learn a lot along the way and explore new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas!

 D is for Dr Suess. 

Very early on in my reading career, Dr Suess was one of my favourite authors and many, many books on he still is. I loved sharing his books with my children when they were younger. They are wonderful books to share in their own right but the joy was multiplied because I could share books with my own children that were such a source of joy in my own childhood. My favourite was Would you rather be a bullfrog?. I loved reading that book and thinking about the different choices. Would I rather be a dog or a cat? Would I rather be a hammer or a nail? And why? Reflecting back I feel sorry for my younger brother. I read that book to him so many times and insisted on in depth discussions about his and my choices. Actually, now that I think about it perhaps it wasn't my favourite. I also loved Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax, The Cat in the Hat, Fox in Socks, Ten Apples Up On Top, Go, Dog. Go and Mr.Brown can MOO! Can You? It's just too hard to choose a favourite really! How about Yertle the Turtle and The Sneetches? And then there's Are you my Mother? and the first book Dr Suess published, And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street. 

There are so many possibilities for sharing books by Dr Suess. Children love the strong rhyme and the delightful and amusing illustrations. They are perfect for reading aloud. I like to have a book or two available when there is a few minutes to spare in class. They can be used as a basis for a variety of discussions and activities - counting, food, exploring sounds. Some are particularly useful for exploring social and environmental issues with children (The Lorax, Yertle the Turtle, The Sneetches). 

The books provide plenty of entertainment on their own but if you are interested in more why not check out www.suessville.com. There you will find information about Dr Suess, his books, games and activities, ideas for teachers and parents. I particularly enjoyed the draft sketches. There is a wealth of information about Dr Suess. I found out quite a bit I didn't know! What a great source for older children to research more about an author! 

Type 'Dr Suess quotes' into Google and you'll find many! Just as it is hard to choose a favourite book, it is hard to choose a favourite Dr Suess quote. Here are three of my favourites: 

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." 

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."


and here are some interesting facts about Dr Suess: 


http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/03/02/happy-birthday-dr-seuss-9-facts-to-know-about-the-famed-author/

A to Z challenge 2012: C is for Caterpillar

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This will include lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I'm sure I will learn a lot along the way and explore new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas!
 C is for Caterpillar. 

Sometimes we wish for something but then find out that maybe it isn't what we really want. This happens to Hugo in the gorgeous picture book, The Caterpillar That Roared written by Michael Lawrence and illustrated by Alison Bartlett. 
The description on the back of the book reads - 
"Hugo is a caterpillar who longs to be a lion. He practises tossing his mane and roaring like a lion, but his friends just laugh at him. Then one day Hugo convinces Ferdinand the fish that he is a lion...with surprising results. Children  will laugh with Hugo as they learn that being themselves is what matters most." 
This book includes fun ideas for reading and sharing including animal make-believe, make a caterpillar puppet and the classic, paint one side and crease the paper, butterfly paintings. 
The gorgeous story is accompanied by stunning and very colourful illustrations. The pages are completely covered with colour. This one will be a favourite for a long time to come! 

A to Z challenge 2012: B is for Bear

My theme for this year is "sharing books with children". This will include lots of reflecting on my favourite children's books, how I have enjoyed sharing books in the past and how I will continue to share books in the future. I'm sure I will learn a lot along the way and explore new ideas for sharing books. I hope these posts will be interactive ones. Feel free to share your comments and ideas! 
B is for Bear. 
...and B is for Bland - the surname of the author of a gorgeous picture book, The Very Cranky Bear 

I was introduced to this book a couple of years ago by my niece who was then 3. It was her favourite book at the time after her teacher at preschool had read it to the children. I loved it the first time I saw it and since have enjoyed reading it to a number of classes of children from ages 5 to 8. Every time I have read it, it has been very well received. Many of the children had seen it before but it is definitely the type of book that can be enjoyed over and over again. 
I found some great teacher's notes for The Very Cranky Bear on the internet. Here's a short extract from there. 

"When we see someone else with a problem, we often assume that the best way for them to solve it is the way we would. When confronted with a very cranky bear, this is how Zebra, Lion and Moose respond to him. They assume Bear would want what makes them happy. Sheep, on the other hand, waits and watches, and listens to Bear. Then she offers a solution that really fits the problem, and everyone is happy." 

 http://www.scholastic.com.au/schools/education/teacherresources/assets/pdfs/Cranky_Bear_TN.pdf

This book is a particularly good one for children to act out. The children I have read this book to have really connected with the theme. One of my favourite follow up activities has been for children to draw a picture of how they help someone and then talk about it. It is very useful to think about what someone else may need and that what helps them may not be the same thing that helps us. 

I am a big fan of children being able to hold and interact with books but was happy to find this book was available as an iphone/ipad application. Children can interact with the animals in the story by touching the screen and a great feature of the application is the ability to record yourself (or a child) reading the story and then play it back. 

...and some more good news. Nick Bland has written another book starring the same bear. This time he is The Very Itchy Bear. This one has themes of companionship, unusual friendships and communication. I found some great teacher's notes for this one too -  

http://www.lamontbooks.com.au/info/files/August%202010%20-%20the%20very%20itchy%20bear.pdf

Shadow Shot Sunday - April 1st, 2012

It's April Fools Day. No fooling around here though - just some great shadows. Although  we did get fooled by an IKEA ad in the Sunday Mail today. The "Scratch and Sniff gravy" just smelt like paper! 

Sun through the leaves 

Weeds can make great shadows 

Seedling shadows