cumulative and circular books 2

The Bag I’m Taking to Grandmas

Neitzel, S. (1998). The Bag I’m Taking to Grandmas. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books. 

ISBN: 0-688-12961-7 

Summary: 

This cumulative story book is about a little boy packing his bag to go to grandmas house, there are a lot of things he wants to take and it’s not all going to fit in the bag. First he starts off with a bag, then his ball mitt, then his cars, a shuttle, toy animals, a stuffed bunny, a pillow, a book and a flashlight. His mom then questions about everything he is bringing, “Is this flashlight something you really need?” “Grandma has plenty of books to read” while she starts unpacking, he ends up filling a new bag up with other things that he wants to bring to grandmas. 

This story is great for children who are 3-5 years old because at this age i find that they are very attached to the toys and books they have at home, and packing to go to grandmas or grandpas house is always an exciting experience. The pictures illustrated also seems like it’s coloured in with a pencil crayon, so that could really draw a child’s attention, this book also repeats the objects in the exact same sentence so it’s easy for children to follow along. 

Provocation: 

Have a stuffed shopping bag of toys and books in the classroom, this would make them curious. 

Ways to read this book: 

1. Using felt, you would want to have the little boy, his mom, and all of his objects that he is bringing to grandmas house such as a bag, mitt, toy cars, space shuttle, toy animals, stuffed bunny, pillow, a book, and a flashlight. This is simple enough to make, and can be bought at a store that sells already made felt stories.

2. Game, you can laminate all of the objects that are in the book, and add some that don’t belong so the children can guess to see if they remember the order, or the items that the little boy wanted to bring to grandmas. 

3. Reading, since this book repeats the objects consecutively on every page, before flipping to the next page you and ask “What do you think he will put into his bag next?” “Do you guys remember what the first item he wanted to bring was?” “What are some things you must pack when you’re going to grandmas or grandpas house?”

Exstensons : 

1. Playing a game, you can have all of the items in pairs, and children can play a memory game where they try to match up all of the objects.  

2. Getting children to participate, all of the objects are quite easy to find, so if you have them you can get each child to hold one of them and have a child who holds the bag. Then have them in the order of the book, put the objects inside the bag, and it’s better if the bag was smaller so it would make it seem like it’s full and can’t carry anymore items. 

3. Draw, children can all draw some of their favourite items at home, they could even bring it the next day to show the class, and you can provide all of them a shopping bag or a grocery bag for them to put it in.