I spy

Gibbs, E. (2011). I spy with my little Eye. Massachusetts: Templar Books.
ISBN 978-0-7636-5284-5

This book is about the frog that spies with his little eye on different animals. This frog doesn't introduce himself till the end of the book, but he says the colour that he sees each time. Each animal gives a clue about themselves, and then each of them introduces themselves by saying what kind of animals they are. The animals that are introduced in this book are: the whale, the elephant, the polar bear, the lion, the orangutan, the fox, and the frog.

The reason that I use this book for children 3-5 years is that this book brings wonder in children, and the way that it presents it makes them follow through the book and finds out what will happen at the end. The main things that make this book interesting for children is that it makes them think and guess about the images of this book, and also, the circle cut that each page has it makes this book interesting for children. This book introduces the name of different kinds of animals and their colours to children. Children are also taught to see the details that are surround them. As well, they learn to improve their sense of vision through these images. This book is a very simple book but it is the best way for us as teachers to create an interesting way for children to teach them different kinds of things and make them familiar with their colours of those things and their characteristics.

This book brings the mood of wonder and interest in children. The children enjoy it because it makes them guess. The bold format and the holes on each page makes children interested to look at this book and read it.
On the day that I would like to tell this story before the children come to the class in morning, I will put either the frog that has lenses on his hand on a spot in the classroom that children see a lot, or I will put one of the laminated pictures that covers it with a piece of the paper that has a small hole on it to just show the part of this image on the board of the class room or on the ceiling of the classroom. I will also put an eye image at the corner of the front page that has a hole on it. This way I will introduce the book that I would like to read to children later on that day. Children might notice the picture or the frog, or they may not even notice the clues. But they will notice why I put the frog or the image in the classroom after I read the book for them. Before I started to read the book, if I found that none of the children noticed it, I would ask them, “Does anyone wonder why this image and this frog is here? This way I will create wonder for them.
The animals characters of this book that I will use for each part of these methods are: the whale, the elephant, the polar bear, the lion, the orangutan, the fox, and the frog.
• I will use the magnet cookie sheet and paint one side of it blue and the other side green. The blue will represent the water and ocean. The green side will represent the jungle. I will divide the animals of this book in these two groups and create the animals that are mentioned in this book with magnets and put them on this cookie sheet. Also, I will design another square piece for each of these animals, and this piece has a small hole at the middle, so this hole just shows the part of these animals. When children guess the animal, I will take this square piece from that animal and I will continue to do to it the same as the book mentions.
• I will use the felt board and design the felt animals that are in this book. Then I will use the small square felt piece that contains the small hole in the middle part of it so I can cover each animal with it and continue to tell the story as the book tells it.
• I will use the cube shape jar or box. On each side of this cube box I will create one thin space from inside, like an album, to put the picture of the animals in it on each of these four sides. I will then create a sheet that has a hole in it to cover the image and show just a small part of this animal. I will start to tell the story by going around this cube shape box or jar.
• I will laminate the animal pictures of this book and I will use the rope to attach this picture on it. Also, I will use a piece of the paper that has a small hole on it to cover the pictures. Then I will design the frog puppet that has the lenses on his hand and look at these images and tell the story of this book.


The three possible extensions would be:
• I will design the cards that look like these cards from two pages that are attached together at the centre. On the front page, I will cut a small circle in the middle, and it will just show the part of that fruit or vegetable picture that I have drawn on the back page. Children will need to guess what it is. When they guess the picture, then they or I can take the first page off, so they find out about the answer. By this way, they can learn about different kinds of vegetables and fruits. I will leave a clue on the front page for each card. I know that children can't read by the age of 3-5, therefore, I will start the game for the first time and I will read the clue sentences for them. So they will be familiar with the clues. Even though the children can't read, they might create their own clues when they are playing this game with other children.
• Another possible extension is that I would like to take the children outside and say to them, “What can you spy with your little eye?" I will then carry my camera with me and each child will take a picture of that spot or thing that they found. On the next day, I will print the pictures for them and they can draw the spot or the thing that they spy with their little eye. After that, I will create the cards for them exactly the same as my first extensions idea. Then children at the end can go around and ask others to guess what is the image that they spy with their own eye. At the end, I will make a copy of their cards and create a book for them with all their cards. In that book I will write for example, "Ann spies, with her little eye, something that is green” the same as the book sentence. I will just add the child's name and the colour of that image. Also, for the clue sentences I will ask that the child tells me what we can put as a clue sentence.
• For the last extensions, I will create the lens that looks like a cylinder. This cylinder contains two horizontal cuts so that I can put the two pieces of paper through these horizontal cuts inside of this cylinder. The front cut is the place that I will put the paper that has a hole in the middle part. The second horizontal (the back horizontal cut) is for the paper that has the picture of those things. I can introduce different groups of things each time, for example, I can introduce the other animals that this book didn't mention. Then I will ask them to choose one animal that they saw through these lenses and liked, and then I will give them clay so they can create the image of that animal that they saw through the lenses and liked. On the next day, when we have the circle time, each child will introduce their clay to others. He or she will say the name of that animal, and I will talk about a little bit about that animal's characteristics. I will use these extensions and introduce the fruits, flowers, vegetables, etc.

I spy with my little eye on PhotoPeach