What happens when you lose a tooth?

 

 

There is one thing that all students will have in common throughout their early childhood school years.  This one thing is losing teeth!  As teachers, we may also need to be dentist.  We will wiggle teeth, pull teeth or just clap and look at the snaggle toothed child smiling back at us.  Since this is a subject that all kids will experience, why not bring it into the library of our classroom?

 

This book is "Tooth Fairy" By: Audrey Wood.  It is fantasy fiction, but also a picture book.  Fairies are not realistic, but they capture the imagination of children.  The pictures in this book are beautiful! The book takes the myth of the Tooth Fairy to a higher level by taking the reader on a journey to the Tooth Fairy's palace, which happens to be made of teeth.

 

The book begins with a little boy, Matthew, losing a tooth.  He calls for his mother and shouts excitedly about losing his tooth.  He wakes his sister!  Unfortunately, the sister gets very jealous and wants to lose a tooth of her own. The mother jumps in bed with Matthew and begins to tell him the story of the Tooth Fairy.  After the story, she tucks them back in and returns to bed.  After everyone is asleep, the sister Jessica, sneaks out of bed into the kitchen and finds a kernel of corn.  She paints the corn white to make it look like a real tooth.  She returns to the bedroom and places it under her pillow to try to trick the Tooth Fairy.  During the night, the children wake up to find out they have shrunk and the Tooth Fairy is in their house.  She takes them away to her palace.  There are bridges and towers all made of teeth.  They finally come to the hall of perfect teeth. Matthew is able to place his tooth here but Jessica has to take her tooth to get some work done on it.  The dirty teeth have to go to the tooth dungeon.  Robots take the tooth to clean it and all of the alarms start going off!  The children run because they have tricked the robots and they are mad!  They slide down a big slide right back into their bedroom.  The next morning, Matthew wakes up to find the Tooth Fairy has left him an apple.  He offers Jessica a bite.  She bites the apple and it knocks her tooth loose!  She is so excited and tells her mother that her tooth will be placed in the hall of perfect teeth. 

 

A strategy I would use in my future classroom with this book is the email and chat rooms for book talk.  I would love to get involved with a classroom teacher from another country that also speaks English.  Students from my classroom could email students from that classroom to discuss books.  For this particular book, the students could discuss whether or not the Tooth Fairy visits their country when they lose a tooth.  Once again, even the children there will be loosing teeth!  It will be interesting to see if the traditions there are the same traditions that we have here in the United States.  We could keep in contact and have a book list that we follow and continue discussions about multiple books.  The opinion on books will be different because of the difference in our experiences.  I look forward to bringing this idea to my future classroom.  

Do you always tell the truth?

                                                       

Teaching morals to my future students is something that is very important to me. Learning to tell the truth is one of those morals that I especially want to cover.  Chippy says "I'm Sorry" by: Jane Carruth is a picture book and is a fantastic way to teach this subject! 

 

It is only natural for children to try to cover up something they have done wrong by bending the truth.  They think if they hide what they have done, it will keep them from getting into trouble. Chippy is a squirrel.  He is super excited to find out that his friends are coming over to spend the day and play with him.  Their plans of playing outside quickly changed as soon as it began to rain.  Mommy comes to the rescue and pulls out old dress up clothes for the children.  They have so much fun playing inside while waiting on the rain to pass.  Later, they return outside to enjoy a picnic.  In the meantime, mommy asks Chippy to run to the mailbox and mail a very important letter that must reach grandma by the following day.  Chippy gets so busy playing that he forgets to mail the letter!  Later that night as Chippy is getting ready for bed, mommy asks Chippy if he mailed the letter.  Chippy says yes, which is not the truth.  He begins to look everywhere for the letter but has no luck in finding it.  The next morning, Chippy finally confesses to mommy after worrying all night long.  Mommy scolded Chippy and insisted they find the letter.  After searching the entire yard, they were successful in finding the letter, all wet and worn.  The letter was to invite Grandma to a very special event.  Luckily, a neighbor invited grandma and she was able to attend!  The story ended happily and Chippy learned a lesson.   

 

The pictures in this book are beautiful and are very relevant to a child's life. This book is fiction because squirrels that talk do not exist.  Outrageous characters such as these may spark the interest in readers, especially younger ones.   

 

A strategy that would be appropriate for this text is the sketch-to-stretch strategy.  This allows students to draw what the story means to them.  This is independent thinking and encourages students to think about situations that have occurred in their life, for instance not telling the truth.  After the students draw their picture, they are allowed to verbally tell about their situation.  This can be an informal assessment to see how well students comprehended the meaning of the story.  Also, we all know students love to talk about themselves!  I will use this strategy with this book in my future classroom!

A Magical Place!

Believing in something magical is part of childhood!  Christmas time in a classroom can be filled with magic and imagination.  The new idea of the Elf on the Shelf is a great classroom management technique during this time.  The book is a fabulous addition to this set.  It includes the complete story of the North Pole, Santa and how the elf is assigned to you. 

The Elf on the Shelf is written by Carol V. Aebersold and Chanda A. Bell.  It is a fantasy fiction book.  It is also considered a picture book.  It is full of magic and gives beautiful pictures of the North Pole. It is written as an elf being the narrator.  He starts around Thanksgiving and gives you all of the events that take place up until Christmas morning.  He tells you how to name your elf.  He also tells you what he is looking for and how he reports it back to Santa.  He then elaborates on being good and how he especially tells Santa that.  The elf gives examples of where he can hide but he cannot talk to you at all!  He ends up his story saying that he will have to go when Santa calls him home but he will return next year so be on the look out!

If a teacher purchases this entire set she could do many activities around it.  She would get the children excited to come to school and see where the elf has moved.  She will get the children to be on their best behavior.  The students can write letters to Santa and leave for the elf to take to him.  They can also predict where he will be the following day and graph this for math. 

A strategy that would be incredibly fun for the students is to make a newspaper about a magical place revealed!  They could come up with a catchy title about magic.  The lead story could include proof that a magical place exists because a living creature has appeared to earth from there!  They could include births in their newspaper and each child who has an elf at home could include their elf's name and birthday.  They could advertise the elves making toys in the workshop.  They could even have an advice column on how to behave! 

This could get the students very involved.  If students are older and do not believe in Santa, they would still enjoy the idea of Christmas magic and be very excited about writing a newspaper.  A copy could be printed and sent home with each student. This would be a Christmas to remember for years to come!

The biggest fish in the sea...

 

Sea World is a very fond childhood memory of mine.  Watching "Free Willy" was my favorite movie growing up.  Dreaming of whale watching in the middle of the ocean was a fantasy that I always dreamt of.  These experiences all revolve around one of the greatest animals to ever live.  This animal is the whale. 

 

I wanted to learn more about this intriguing animal so I began to look for an informational text to gain a better understanding of its characteristics.  I came up on the book "Whales" by Ann Herriges.  It is a non-fiction narrative with tons of information.  It is written on a second grade level so the terminology is very easy to understand.  It has several access pages to give additional information such as a table of contents, glossary and a page with further research material. It is very well written with good organization of the information and has very attractive graphics.  This book is a great tool to gain more knowledge of this sea creature.

 

The information includes attributes of the whale such as size, how they swim, what their fins are called, how they breathe and their teeth. One of the most incredible facts about a whale is that they are mammals.  When I think of mammals I think of hair.  You clearly cannot see hair on this animal but they do have live births, feed their young and are warm-blooded. 

 

This book is a great way to cover ocean life in a science unit.  It can also be used for independent reading for children to gain knowledge of a particular animal.  It would be very useful for many different grade levels.  It can introduce this animal in younger grades or be used for research material that is written in a child friendly way for fifth graders.  It is a very useful piece of literature. 

 

The blue whale is the largest animal to ever live!  Can you imagine riding on his back through the big ocean?  It is a neat idea to ponder.  If this animal makes you smile then dive into this book and swim away with an ocean full of knowledge!

Dare to dream and live happily ever after!!!!

Once upon a time I was a little girl!  I was truly a little princess who loved to dream of meeting my prince charming! I had a few bumps along the way!  My family split ways and I found myself living with a stepmother!!!  She made me cook and clean and learn to sew!  At the time I related it all to a traditional childhood favorite Cinderella!

Cinderella is a book with many different versions.  This particular version is the Walt Disney version that I knew as a child.  It is considered a fairy or wonder tale.  It is a prose narrative and has many cultural variants.  It is a traditional story that has been passed down from generation to generation.

Cinderella is a young girl who lives with her stepmother and two stepsisters.  They do not like her very much.  They made her work hard every day doing chores around the house.  One day a letter arrived that stated "The king is giving a ball tonight.  His son, the Prince, will choose a wife.  Every girl in the kingdom must be there."  Cinderella was brave and said she would attend also!  They stepsisters just laughed at her.  The stepmother agreed under the condition that Cinderella get all of her chores done.  She ran to her room to celebrate with her friends, several tiny mice!  She got out an old dress to mend and make beautiful for the ball.  The stepmother and stepsisters made it almost impossible for poor Cinderella to get all of her chores done.  In the mean time her little mice friends worked hard on her dress to surprise Cinderella.  At the end of all her chores she walked slowly and very tiredly up to her room knowing she would never make it.  She opened the door and was very surprised to fine her dressed all finished!  She quickly dressed and ran to catch her family before they left.  The girls could not believe their eyes and ripped Cinderellas dress.  They left and Cinderella was standing there all in shreds.  As she cried a fairy godmother appeared.  "I am here to give you your wish" she said.  She worked her magic and in minutes had Cinderella in a beautiful gown and in a buggy on her way to the ball.  The only catch was the spell would be broken at midnight.  As soon as she walked in the Prince spotted her and asked her to dance.  He only danced with her all night.  When the clock struck twelve, she ran.  In the process of trying to make it home she lost a glass slipper.  The Prince ordered that every girl in the kingdom try on the shoe.  They tried the shoe on Cinderella and it fit perfectly!  She went to the palace and married the prince and they live "happily ever after".

This is a story that will touch your heart.  The hard working girl who is kind and deserving was rewarded in the end.  Being mean and selfish will get you nowhere in your life.  It is a life lesson that children need to hear.  This could be used in multiple grade levels.  It speaks of true friendship (Cinderella and the mice) and having dreams to work towards.  It shows to always have hope because dreams really do come true and there is light at the end of the tunnel of a bad situation.

Although I lived with a stepmother I learned that it was not so bad!  Now that I am grown up and have my prince charming with two precious children I realize that stepmother taught me a lot about who I am today.  I am thankful that she taught me to sew and cook and clean.  I worked hard growing up and learned to be nice to people and I am rewarded with a beautiful family.  My wish came true and we are now living "happily ever after"!

THE END

Poetry- Animal Style!!!

Poetry is never a genre I would think about as Children's Literature.  As I approached books about poetry I was pleasently surprised to find how fun they can be!  One paticular book I am blogging about is called "The Animal Fair" By Jill Bennett. 
What kids don't like animals?  This book is a great way to introduce poetry by using a familiar topic in a fun way such as alliteration.  Poems include furry animals, farmyard animals, snails, caterpillars, ponies, dragonflies, wasps, honey bears, pets, cats, birds, kangaroos, crocodiles, leopards and lions!  It also has poems about going to the zoo and the animal fair!  This list sounds like so much fun to bring into an early childhood classroom!  The illustrations are amazing and open a world of imagination. 
The poems are not only fun, they are very informational to children who are learning characterisitcs of animals.  Here is one example of a wasps.
                                Wasps in brightly coloured vests,
                                Chewing wood to make their nests.
                                Wasps, like rockets, Zooming High,
                                 Then dropping down where peaches lie.

And then dragon-fly
                                 When the heat of the summer
                                 Made drowsy the land,
                                 A dragon-fly came
                                 And sat on my hand.
                                 With its blue jointed body,
                                 And wings like spun glass,
                                 It lit on my fingers
                                As though they were grass.

These two examples are more informational than some of the others.  Some of the poems are silly and for fun.  These two particular ones could be used in a unit on Insects.  They tell of the bugs in a fun way but also describe them to a certain degree. 
I would use this book in my classroom throughout the entire year.  As you do units on winter and hibernation you could use the bear poems.  As you talk about animals in other countries you could use the poems on Kangaroos. 
This book serves multipurposes but also can be used just for fun.  It is a great tool to bring poetry into a classroom. 

                               

Hello ;)

Hey!  I am beginning a blog for a college class.  It is my first ever blog so we will see how it goes!  I am excited to start blogging! ;) I am an early childhood education major and the class I am blogging for is about children's literature!  If you are interested in children's books please follow me and if you have any advice send it my way!