The Hungry Thing

The Hungry Thing

By Jan Slepian

Scholastic, 2001

Grades: PreK, K

 

Synopsis: One day a strange creature comes to town, and the townspeople can tell it is hungry but cannot figure out what it wants to eat! As the creature asks for crazy, unheard of things someone realizes that the thing is rhyming! Finally able to understand, the town helps the hungry thing to feed its appetite.

Jump: This book, full of silly rhymes for words students will recognize, is a great way to introduce or practice rhyming skills. As the creature continues to ask for food, students may solve the problem before the town does. Students should be encouraged to guess the item aske for by the Hungry Thing. After reading, students could play as the Hungry Thing and provide rhymes for their favorite food as the others guess. Silly rhymes could also be given for student names - this is a favorite in my class!

Gingerbread Man: Loose in the School

The Gingerbread Man: Loose in the School

By Laura Murray

Penguin Group, 2011

Grades: 2, 3

Synopsis: When a newly baked gingerbread man is left in the classroom when the students go to recess, he embarks on an adventure through the school to find them. He visits the gym, the nurse's office, the art room and the principal's office. When he finally makes it back to the classroom, he realizes the students have been looking for him, too!

Jump: Throughout the story, as the Gingerbread Man searches there is a map of the school as a part of the illustration. After reading, students can create their own school map using the illustrations as a guideline. This can also be extended to have students write their own Gingerbread Man story, set in their school, and focusing on their favorite rooms in the building.

Zero, Zilch, Nada: Counting to None

Zero, Zilch, Nada: Counting to None

By Wendy Ulmer

Sleeping Bear Press, 2010

Grades: K, 1

Synopsis: Harry has the best job in the world - he is working at a balloon factory. On his first day, he has the job of blowing up 100 balloons. As he slides the strings into the holders though, he is not sure if he has 100 so he finds many different ways to count them. As he counts each balloon, he pops it to make sure he doesn't count it again. When Harry finally gets done counting, he realizes he has no balloons left and has counted back to zero!

Jump: Students will love how silly Harry is as he counts out the balloons, and they will realize much sooner than he does the problem he is creating. Because Harry tries to count his balloons in so many ways, this book could be used as an introduction to skip counting by tens, fives, and twos as well as counting backwards. Students can play a game following Harry's rules and stand in a circle. One student starts the game by saying "one" and then the next student says "two", etc. Each time the number ten is said, that student sits down until there is only one "balloon" left standing. The game can also be played counting by tens and the student who says "one hundred" must sit down or with many other counting variations!

When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really Angry...

When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really Angry...

By Molly Bang

The Blue Sky Press, 1999

Grades: K, 1

Synopsis: Sophie is playing with her stuffed animal when her sister comes and takes it away. Sophie tries to get it back, but her sister will not listen and her mom insists it is sister's turn. So, Sophie gets angry -- really, really angry. She stomps and shouts, and then runs out of the house. The illustrations, especially the outline colors of Sophie, complement Sophie's mood perfectly.

Jump: While reading the story, students will recognize that Sophie's behavior is not always what she should be doing to help herself calm down. After reading and recognizing that Sophie calmed herself down by leaving the situation, students can then add more ideas to the list of good ways to deal with anger.

In addition to learning how to deal with anger, the illustrations can be used to focus on the range of emotions Sophie feels throughout the book. Because she is outlined in yellow at the beginning and then changes to orange to red to very thick red, students can talk about how the illustrations help show what the words say. A discussion could be had to talk about why the author chose red as an angry color and what the students think Sophie was feeling when she was yellow. Students can then choose a color that they think of as happy/sad/angry to illustrate and then write to tell a story about a time when they felt that strong emotion.

The Family Book

The Family Book

By Todd Parr

Little, Brown and Company, 2003

Grades: PreK, K

Synopsis: Todd Parr is a master at making diversity understandable for younger children and The Family Book is no exception. The reader is introduced to animal and human families of every shape, size, and character. Throughout the book the idea that every family is alike but different persists: all families like hugs and like to celebrate, though some have step-parents or siblings or two moms or two dads, and some like to be noisy while some like to be quiet.

Jump: Not only could this book be used to discuss diversity on a PreK-friendly level, but it can also be a way to introduce the idea that numbers can be broken down in different ways. Students can create a picture of their house showing all the people who live there. On the door, they write how many people live in the house. On the side, they count and write how many girls and how many boys are in the house. When all students have the numbers for their house written down, then these numbers can be shared. Starting with one "door" number at a time, drawings and number sentences can be made to show each house (4 people = 2 boys + 2 girls and 4 people = 3 boys + 1 girl). Students will be able to make the connection between families being made of different people and numbers being made in different ways as well!

Picture a Tree

Picture a Tree

By Barbara Reid

Albert Whitman & Company, 2011

Grades: PreK, K, 1, 2, 3

Synopsis: Through beautifully detailed clay-like illustrations the author challenges readers to see trees in many different ways. Not only can a tree look like a skeleton in the winter, but a forest can look like a green ocean, and if you look closely a single tree could be a "high-rise" for many different critters. The book cycles through all the seasons starting in winter and going through until the following spring.

Jump: For younger students, this book can be used as a great introduction to trees, their life cycles, and the seasons. Using the illustrations, students can be asked to sort the pictures where the trees look similar. The pictures could then be put in order as a sequence of the seasons. Other photos or illustrations of trees could also be used and then categorized along with those in the book.

For older students, this book could be used as an introduction to metaphor. The author has trees wearing snowsuits and behaving as umbrellas or tunnels. The illustrations show the comparison between the tree and the "picture" presented. If you look closely at the illustration of the "high-rise" there is also a clear parallel between the animals in the tree and the people in the apartment building behind.

The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman

The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman

By Darcy Pattinson

Harcourt, Inc., 2003

Grades: 2, 3, 4

Synopsis: When Uncle Ray can't go visit his niece, Tameka, he sends his wooden friend Oliver instead. As Oliver travels across the country both Tameka and Ray recieve letters from the people he rides with. He travels from South Carolina to California throughout the summer stopping in Tennessee, Arkansas, Utah, and Nevada along the way.

Jump: This book, similar to Flat Stanley, is a great introduction to letter writing. Some of the correspondants write postcards, some write letters with the proper heading and greeting, a few even add a post script. After discussing each part and its purpose, students can be encouraged to write a letter to someone they know, or to pretend to be someone else and write a letter the way the author did in this book. Each character Oliver encounters has a very different voice and students could be encouraged to try using a new "voice" for their writing, too!