If You Give a Pig a Pancake

ISBN-13: 978-0-06-134955-3

ISBN-10: 0-06-134955-0

Numeroff, L. (1998). If you give a pig a pancake. City of publication unknown: HarperCollins.

“If You Give a Pig A Pancake” is one of many circular stories written by Laura Numeroff.  It follows the story of a pig with a very short attention span and a little girl trying to keep up with her many requests from pancakes to a bath to music to a tree house and ending back with a request for more pancakes.  This book is fantastic for young children of about preschool age (3-5).

I consider this book to be perfect for children aged three to five years old.  It is short enough to read easily in one sitting with most preschool aged children, the story has the right combination of fun and silliness, and the illustrations are not only bright and colourful but they are full of quirky details.  Felicia Bond illustrated this story and I find it almost confusing how her pictures can be so simple and so detailed all at the same time.  The last picture in the book shows this example perfectly.  It’s a very basic picture but it contains every element from the entire story in one drawing. The expressions on the pig’s face are adorable.  The ones that stand out are the pig diving into the bathtub, the pig missing home (heartbreaking!) and the pig being wheeled to the mailbox.  I’m not an artist but my best guess is that Bond uses basic supplies such as pencil crayons and makers in her hand drawn illustrations.

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PROVOCATION

My provocation for this story will be making pancakes!  The supplies I need are:

·      Pancake mix

·      Water

·      Mixing bowl(s)

·      Mixing spoon(s)

·      Measuring cup(s) – liquid and solid

·      Electric Grill

·      Butter/Margarine

·      Variety pancake toppings: syrup, honey, jam

Children would help measure ingredients, mix the batter, and then an adult would cook the pancakes.  The children will then get to pick a topping(s) for their pancakes.  After the pancakes are finished and the children are sitting together, we’ll have a discussion about the pancakes, who liked them, who didn’t, what topping they tried, etc...  I would then tell them that I have a friend who loves pancakes and would they like to meet her?  I will then pull out my pig puppet.  “Did you know that pigs like to eat pancakes? Would you like to hear a story about a pig that ate a pancake?”  Then I will read the book.

WONDERS FOR THIS STORY:

While reading the book or telling the story on any of the four ways below, I will stop on various pages to offer the children “wonders”.  Obviously I wouldn’t use the same wonders every time and I wouldn’t use all of these the first time I read the book. Some of these wonders are more specific to the pages shown in the book but some of them could be used in any of the following ways I would tell this story.  The pages of this book are not numbered but I have listed the wonders in order as they appear in the story.

·      I wonder where this little pig came from that’s looking through the window.

·      I wonder if the little girl made these pancakes herself or if she had help from a grownup.

·      I wonder if the pig has ever had a bubble bath before.

·      The pig looks so sad.  I wonder who she misses the most from home.

·      I wonder what song she plays that makes the pig dance on the table.

·      I wonder how she stacked the furniture so high.

·      I wonder if pigs can really climb trees.

·      I wonder why the pig isn’t tired after that very busy day.

WAY #1: FELT STORY

·      Felt Board

·      Felt Pieces (as shown)

·      One page summary of the story

I purchased this felt story from the website www.aprilsdaycare.com for a reasonable price, approximately $15.  I have typed up the story on one sheet of paper (see attached) which I will use when telling the story.  Words that have a felt item are in bold. I will tell the story by placing the items in a circle (as shown) to reinforce the concept of starting and ending with the pancake.  After telling it once, I will pass out the pieces to the children and, while I told the story again, they can place the items wherever they chose.  My daughters like to act out the story by putting the suitcase under the bed, the tap shoes on the pig, pouring the bubbles into the bath, etc.  A wonder that I thought of that was more specific to this felt story is: “I see two pieces of wood here.  I wonder how many pieces of wood you need to built a tree house.”  That wonder could be extended to the nails and the wallpaper too.

WAY #2: MAGNET BOARD

·      Magnetic board

·      Magnetic objects:

·      Pig, girl, pancake, syrup, bubbles, duck, suitcase, tap shoes, dress, camera, envelope, hammer, nails, bath, bed, piano, stamp wood, wallpaper, glue.

·      One page summary of the story

As the magnet board version of the story is very similar to the felt story, I will follow the similar ideas as listed above. 

WAY #3: STORY LINE

·    String

·    Clothes pins (the clothes pins I purchased are magnetic so if there was a large magnetic board in the center, the string wouldn’t be needed).

·    Laminated colour copies of pictures from the book.

·    One page summary of the story

I will set up the string and clothes pins and have the laminated pages together in the correct order.  As I tell the story, I will put the pages up for the children to look at.  Because this will be the fourth time the children have heard the story, I might challenge the children in a new way: “I wonder what picture is coming next?”

I thought an extension that is specific to this version, as they have heard the story a few times, will be to have the laminated pages out and the children can try to put them in order, like a puzzle, and then tell the story themselves according to the pictures.

WAY #4: LARGE PROP STORY

·      One page summary of the story OR the book itself

·      Up to 18 children standing in a large circle; children can take more than one turn if there is a smaller group.

·      The following props: Pig hat, box pancake mix, empty syrup bottle, baby bathtub, empty bottle of bubble bath, rubber ducky, suitcase, dance shoes, kids size dress, piano/music (haven’t figured this one out yet), camera, envelope, stamp, piece of wood, hammer, jar of nails, piece of wall paper, bottle of glue.

This is the final way I have to tell the story and, as it’s the fifth time the children will hear the story, I thought it would be fun to turn it into more of a game.  The children will stand in a circle with props in the middle and, together, try to figure out the order in which they should hold the props.  If this is too advanced, I will simply read the story again and the children can go into the center of the circle and pick up the correlating item.

EXTENSIONS

·      TAKING PICTURES: In the story, the pig gets all dressed up and wants the little girl to take pictures of her.  The children will take turns with the dress up items in the center, creating a character, and then having their picture taken.

·      MAILBOX: In the story, the pig takes the many photos that have been taken of her and mails them to her family members.  Children can help stamp and address an envelope containing their photo along with a drawing or letter to his/her family.  We would then walk to the nearest mailbox and each child will take turn mailing his/her letter.

·      HANDS ON: The felt board, magnet board, and story line from the ways above could be placed out for the children to play with and explore on their own.                       

·      SONGS AND FINGER PLAYS:

The Tail of a Pig (sung to “The Wheels on the Bus”)

The tail of a pig curls round and round,
Round and round, round and round.
The tail of a pig curls round and round
All through the mud.

The mouth of a pig goes oink oink oink...

The snout of a pig goes root root root...

The hooves of a pig go run run run...

The ears of a pig go twitch twitch twitch...

P-I-G-G-Y (Sung to “Bingo”)

            There was a hungry little hog;
            And Piggy was his name-o.
            P-I-G-G-Y, P-I-G-G-Y, P-I-G-G-Y,
            And Piggy was his name-o

Eight Baby Pigs (finger play)

            Two mother pigs lived in a pen (thumbs)
            Each had four babies and that made ten (fingers of both hands)
            These four babies were brown and white (fingers of one hand)
            These four babies were black as night (fingers of the other hand)
            All eight babies loved to play (wiggle fingers)
            As they rolled and rolled in the mud all day! (roll hands)

·      MORE CIRCULAR STORIES: There are many other stories from Laura Numeroff that could be read that follow the same pattern as this story.  Some examples are:

            If You Give a Moose a Muffin

            If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

            If You Take a Mouse to School

            If You Give a Pig a Party

One Page Version of “If You Give a Pig a Pancake”

If you give a pig a pancake, she’ll want some syrup to go with it.

You’ll give her some of your favourite maple syrup.

She’ll probably get all sticky, so she’ll want to take a bath.

She’ll ask you for some bubbles.

When you give her the bubbles, she’ll probably ask you for a toy.

You’ll have to find your rubber duck.

The duck will remind her of the farm where she was born. She might feel homesick and want to visit her family.

She’ll want you to come too.  She’ll look through your closet for a suitcase.

Then she’ll look under your bed.  When she’s under the bed, she’ll find your old tap shoes.

She’ll try them on.  She’ll probably need something special to wear with them.

When she’s all dressed, she’ll ask for some music.

You’ll play your very best piano piece, and she’ll start dancing.

Then she’ll want you to take her picture.  So you’ll have to get your camera.

When she sees the picture, she’ll ask you to take more.  Then she’ll want to send one of each of her friends.

You’ll have to give her some envelopes and stamps and take her to the mailbox.

On the way, she’ll see the tree in your backyard.  She’ll want to build a tree house.

So you’ll have to get her some wood, a hammer, and some nails.

When the tree house is finished, she’ll want to decorate it.  She’ll ask for wallpaper and glue.

When she hangs the wallpaper, she’ll get all sticky.

Feeling sticky will remind her of our favourite maple syrup.  She’ll probably ask you for some more. And chances are, if she asks you for some syrup, she’ll want a pancake to go with it.

The Mitten

Citation:

Brett, J.  (1989).  The mitten.  New York:  G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

ISBN: 0-399-21920-X

A young boy named Nicki wants his grandmother to knit him a pair of white mittens. When Nicki drops his white mitten in the snow he carries on without realizing it is missing. Soon enough, one by one the animals find the mitten and crawl inside it. First comes in the mole, then the rabbit and many more wonderful animals become quite cozy inside the mitten.

This book is great for children between the ages of three and five years of age because the language is simple and the story is easy to follow along. However, there are a few words used periodically that the children may not understand which in fact is a good opportunity to take this reading one step further to find out the meanings of these words.

The illustrations in the book are wonderful and intricate. The animals are presented with such great detail and the mini pictures on the column of each page reveal what is about to happen on the next page. Normally the children do not pick up on this the first time this story is read to them. However, after a few readings some of the children might notice these illustrations and whole new excitements are created for them. With her illustrations, Jan Brett does a wonderful job of creating the winter mood.  With the snow covered trees and the white blanket of snow on each page – the mood is elaborately created to snuggle in front of a fireplace with hot coco.

Provocations for this book would be to discuss different types of animals; their size, colour, what environment they live in, etc. I would also do a discussion about colour, for example, if we were to place a red object on top of a red cloth would it be easy to identify. I would also do an activity about space/area and how we would be able to fit our items into that space.

*In terms of space and area we could use anything such as mitten, pillow case, box, backpack etc.

The four different ways to tell this story:

Felt board story

Readymade felt board and felt characters purchased at 3H Craftworks   www.3hcraftworks.com

Pieces needed:

Felt board

Felt Characters:  Nicki, Baba (grandmother), mitten, animal characters from book.

*Felt story purchased from 3H Craftworks includes animals from story plus additional animals.

The story can be told by memory with the exception in mind that the felt pieces from 3H Craftworks include animals that are not in the story and the mitten is not white.  It is important to make sure that all the pieces used for this felt story are previously prepared and set aside in the order you will be using them so that while you are telling the story to the children, you will not have to look for your characters. 

Reading the Story

Needed:

Story book

White sheet

Group of eight children (eight animal characters)

Use a big white sheet as the mitten and while reading the story assign each child or have them volunteer to be the part of an animal character. Once you come to the part in the story where that animals go inside the mitten; the child will then go under the big white sheet.  By the end of the story, all the children will be under the sheet.

Character Masks (laminated)

The masks can be downloaded from Jan Bretts’s website -http://www.janbrett.com/mitten_masks_main.htm

Needed:

8 Masks

8 Popsicle sticks

The children can use these masks to play with in various ways:

The children can re-enact the story

Make up a new story

Learn in more detail about the specific animals. For example, what they like to eat, what colour they are and whether they fly or not.

Mittens Made Out Of Construction Paper

Needed:

Mitten cut outs (laminated)

Animal Crackers

Cut the mitten on the fold and glue the edges closed leaving the wrist part open. Using animal crackers have the children discuss the sequence the animals go into the mitten and place them into their mitten in correct order.

After we have read the book, three possible extensions would be:

Have a discussion about how the animals might have felt when inside the mitten.  When children start conversing many times they will begin to relate stories to their own experiences. Communication is always a good way to get children to share their ideas and thoughts and when it is suggested to ‘turn to your neighbor and share ….’ there is never a quiet moment.

Another extension to this book would be to take several mittens and sporadically place them in the playground prior to the children arriving. Inside each mitten would be a picture of an animal – they do not only have to be the animals that were used in the book but could be animals from all over the world.  The children would come across these mittens and again, this opens up another path for dialogue, this time more geared towards the animals they found in their mitten.

Songs are always a great way to follow up with story books. Songs can be made up by you or downloaded from the internet.  Here is a nice song I found online that most children will already know the tune to.

Mitten Song
Sung to: The Farmer in the Dell
The mitten in the snow
The mitten in the snow
Help us please so we won't freeze!
The mitten in the snow.
The mole squeezes in
The mole squeezes in
Help us please so we won't freeze
The mole squeezes in!
(Continue verses with each animal in the order they entered The Mitten in the story)
The bear sneezed us out
The bear sneezed us out
Oh no, now we might freeze
The bear sneezed us out!

Too Much Noise

McGovern, A. & Taback, S. (1967). Too much noise. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

ISBN: 0-395-18110-0

This is a story about a man named Peter, who has is disturbed by the noises in his house, the wind and the leaves. He seeks help from the village wise man, who advises him to get a cow. Peter doesn’t understand why, but follows the wise man’s instructions, and is even more disturbed by the cow mooing. The wise man then advises him to get a donkey. Again, Peter does so, and is even more disturbed by the noise of the donkey. This goes on and on, with Peter eventually having 6 different animals in his house. At this point he is very angry. The wise man advises him to let all the animals go. Peter releases the animals, and is pleased to realize that the little noises that originally disturbed him are actually quite soothing. The story ends with Peter going to sleep and having a quiet dream.

I really like this tale, and the shift in perspective that the wise man helps Peter to discover. I like how the tale continues to build, with the addition of animals. This is a fun memory game, and a great opportunity to make animal noises! This is why I think it would be a lot of fun to use with 3-5 year olds. I think they would enjoy remembering the order of the animals, and chiming in on the animal sounds. I also think they would get a kick out of the idea of all these animals being in Peter’s house!

The illustrations in this story, by Sims Taback, are somewhat old fashioned, in hues of orange, brown and blue. I believe he used watercolour and ink. Sims Taback definitely has a unique style. Personally, I’m a bigger fan of the actual story than I am of the illustrations, but as I read the book more, I’m becoming more fond of the pictures.

To build background knowledge & provoke interest for the children, I’d like to go on a ‘sound walk’, where we listen to all the different noises in the environment, and talk about what we’ve heard afterwards. This can also happen within the classroom or centre. We can also play a guessing game where we make different noises with different objects while the children have their eyes closed, and the children can guess what the noises are. I think a trip to Maplewood Farm could work well as either a provocation, or an extension, where we have fun imitating the different animal noises, and drawing the animals.

I would present this book in 4 different ways as follows:

1. A felt story. This felt story is available from 3H Craftworks.
2. A puppet show, with finger puppets. These are available from 3H Craftworks, or IKEA.
3. A ‘clothesline’ story, with pictures of the characters from the book on laminated paper, with each character being added to the line as the story progresses. The children can take turns adding a character and making the noises.
4. An oral story without the picture book, or a story with the picture book. With the picture book, I would stop right after Peter makes his first complaint about too much noise, and ask, “I wonder what Peter is going to do?” After he asks the wise man, I would ask,” I wonder what the wise man is going to tell Peter?” After Peter lets all the animals go, I would ask,” I wonder if the house will still be too noisy for Peter? I wonder if it will be quiet now that the animals are gone?” I don’t think I would chunk the book, because I like how this story builds, and I wouldn’t want to interrupt this natural progression.

Three possible extensions for learning:

1. We can take a trip to Maplewood farm, where we can hear how loud the sounds of the animals are, and imagine how disturbing it would be for Peter to have the animals in his house. We can also record the sounds of the animals to listen back to later. I imagine us reading the story again afterwards, as well as drawing pictures of the animals and our adventure.

2. We can sing the folk song, “I Love My Rooster”. This is a fun song with many animal sounds, and it is cumulative, like Too Much Noise, so we practice memorizing the order of the animals. We can also sing “When Cows Get Up In the Morning” and “Old McDonald”. “Sleeping Bunnies” would also be a fun action song to do, where the children can imitate the movements of the animals, along with the noises they make.

3. We can go on another ‘sound walk’ in a different environment, with different sounds. This could be the beach, or the forest, or even a city street. We can draw the sounds that we hear, imagining what the sounds might look like if we could see them. We can talk about how we feel when we hear these different sounds, and distinguish between nature sounds and man-made sounds (eg. machinery, cars, etc). We can also listen to a variety of pre-recorded sounds, such as bird calls, chainsaw buzzing, siren wailing, waves crashing, frogs etc. We can guess what these sounds are, draw our interpretations, and discuss how we feel in response to the sounds.

Cumulative and Circular books

Jump, Frog, Jump!

Kalan, R. (1981) Jump, Frog, Jump!. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books

ISBN: 0-688-13954-X

Summary:
This is a book is a cumulative about a frog who tries to catch the fly with the dangers of getting caught himself. The children can wonder which animal is going to try to put the frog in danger and there is also a repetitive line, “Jump, frog, jump!” which invites the children to follow with the reader. The illustrations are simple yet alive in colour and each page also shows who is going to show up next so the children can start to guess which character is going to come up. This is a great book for 3 to 5 year olds because it has a simple story line to follow and it makes the listener wonder what will happen next, which can help them focus.

Provocation:

• Around the classroom, pictures of the frog jumping can be displayed which can provoke the children into thinking where and why the frog is jumping.

Presenting the book:

• Around the third time the frog has jumped, you can wonder with the children who will appear next to put the frog in danger. And by asking the question “How did the frog get away?”, which is a line that always comes before the line “Jump, frog, jump!”, the children can yell it out even without the page being turned.
• One child can be the frog and the other children can be the other characters in the story and present an audience participant story. To do this, there needs to be an open space for the frog to jump and possibly a basket or a blanket to catch the frog (which happens near the end of the story).
• Present the story as a felt board story; you need to prepare a frog, a fly, a fish, a snake, a turtle, a net and few children. Invite the children to yell “jump, frog, jump!” with you when you are presenting the story.

Extensions:

• Explore the concept of predator and prey. The class can research together which animals are the predators and which animals are the prey.
• Visit the aquarium or the zoo to see an actual frog and to explore how animals move.
• Have frogs as a class pet and examine with the children. If it is possible, it is great to start off with a tadpole and examine as the tadpole transform into a frog.

What Goes Around Comes Around

McGuire, R. (1995) What goes around comes around. New York, New York: Penguin Books

ISBN: 0-670-86396-4

Summary:
When a doll flies out the window, it bounces off to the road, to the sea, to China, and other places around the world. This is a circular story suitable for 3 to 5 year olds because it is a silly story which can bring up giggles. The illustrations are funny and it shows the face expressions of the characters when they see the doll bounce by them. The story does not happen just in one place, but all over the world so there are pictures of the famous architecture or culture of other countries.

Provocation:

• First, you need a doll. Then for over a few days or with every transition, the doll can be placed in a different place and come back to the place it originally started off. If the children do no notice, you can say out loud “Hmm…I wonder what happened to this doll?” which then can spark the children’s imaginations.

Presenthing the book:

•  Even before reading the book, you could wonder with the children what the phrase “what goes around comes around” means and if they have heard it before. And then when you are reading the book, you could wonder with the children what places the doll would bounce to.
• Glue a picture of a doll to one of the hands of a broken clock and glue pictures of where the doll has been on the numbers and spin around the doll around the clock until it comes back home. If you do not have a broken clock, it is also possible to make it out of a big cardboard and but it into a circle or however you want it to look like.
• Another way is to present it as a stage story that Susan Munzer-Briner suggested in the video that we watched in class. For the places the doll goes to, you can use old calendars and you can tie a picture of a doll or an actual little doll in a string and bounce it across the stage as you change the scenes in the back.

Extensions:

• The children can make a doll or a robot for boys. For this, it could just be a simple paper doll or a felt doll. Then the children can roam around the room with the doll.
• The clock for presenting the book can be place in the classroom as an activity for the children to enjoy by themselves.
• The class can discuss about their favourite place or a place they would like to visit. And once you get a few ideas, set up a dramatic play centre for the children to explore the places’ culture.

The Napping House

Wood, A. (1984) The napping house. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Books

ISBN: 978-0-15-256708-8

Summary:
This book is a cumulative story about what happens in the napping house. The napping house is where everyone sleeps, however everyone wakes up due to a small bite from a flea. The illustrations are warm and pleasing. The illustrations tell who will go on top of the bed next, which the listener can try to figure out who will be next. This book is great for 3 to 5 year olds because it has detailed illustrations and rich adjectives to describe the characters.

Provocation:

•  Present a felt board story with the pieces of the story where all the characters are awake. Without telling anything about the book, listen to what the children have to say and wonder with them.

Presenthing the book:

• A felt board story is great for this book. The pieces that you need are the bed, granny, a child, a dog, a cat, a mouse and a flea. And as you read the story, you can stack them on top of each other and in the end you could throw all the pieces off to represent how they woke up.
• Prepare a granny, a child, a dog, a cat, a mouse, and a flea props. This could be stuffed animals, puppets or you could even glue the pictures of the characters on wooden blocks. And present the story as a prop story. As you present the story, stack the blocks on top of each other.
• For an audience participation story, you could gather all the characters from the book, but also you could tell the children to bring in one of their favourite stuffed animals to class. Then on the day when you are presenting the story, a child, possibly the one that did not bring in a stuffed animal can be the granny (or grandpa) and as you tell the story, you can go around saying the children’s name and their animals to be stacked on top of the granny. And when it is time to wake everyone up, you could pass back the animals to the children.

Extensions:

•  The class can have a pajama day and bring their favourite stuffed animals and replay “The napping house” with their own stuffed animals.
• Glue the character’s pictures on blocks first and the children can recite the book the way they want to to their friends or just simply stack the blocks to see how high it can go until it tumbles down.
• Present the felt board story or the prop story as a centre for the children to enjoy.

All for pie, Pie for All

Martin, D. (2006). All for Pie, Pie for All (Library Binding ed.). Cambridge: Candlewick

ISBN: 076362393-8

Summary:
This is a circular story about an apple pie that Grandma Cat bakes. When Grandma cat bakes an apple pie, not only her family enjoys the pie, but also the Mouse family and Ant family enjoy it. Each family, one family after another, eats the pie and takes naps. When everybody is awake, they all help baking a blueberry pie.

This book is great for three to five-years olds because
-the story is written in repetitive pattern with simple structures: "Little Brother Cat ate a piece. Big sister Cat ate a piece..." and "Little Brother Ant walked away with a crumb. Big sister Ant walked away with a crumb."
-this story also shows the concept of sharing and cooperating. Each family (Cat, Mouse, and Ant) shares the pie until the whole pie was gone and everyone helps baking a new blueberry pie.

This picture book's illustration is very appealing- cozy, warm and friendly atmosphere is created. Pen (ink-pen) is used and different species (types of animals) are illustrated in cute ways. They all look happy and friendly.

Provocation:

• In the book, there is a picture of all families gathered in a kitchen, making a pie. In the pic, it shows all different food ingredients. This picture pages can be enlarged and presented to the children before reading. Wonder with the children about what all animals are trying to do together: let's be curious about why they are all together in the kitchen and about what they are making. 

Presenting the book:

• Felt story  Pieces need for this felt story:
  
  
  
  
  -5 Cats: Little Brother Cat, Big Sister Cat, Momma Cat, Poppa Cat, Grandma Cat
  -5 Mouse: Little Brother Mouse, Big Sister Mouse, Momma Mouse, Poppa Mouse, Grandma Mouse
  -6 Ant: Little Brother Ant, Big Sister Ant, Momma Ant, Poppa Ant, Grandma Cat, Baby Ant (wearing a diaper)
  -One big blanket to cover 5 cats. One for 5 Mouses. One for 6 Ants.
  -One big Apple pie, One piece of pie, Six crumbs, One big Blueberry pie.
  -Any ingredients that can be used for blueberry pie: Big bowl, Box of flour, Sugar, Blueberry
  -When reading "they took naps," simply cover the animal pieces with blanket felt.
• Magnetic sheet
  
  
  
  
  Pieces needed for this story will be the same as Felt story.
  Blankets still needed to show children that animals are taking naps.
  Instead of painting the cooking sheet, use different Calendar paper or background paper (with magnetic attached) for Cat, Mouse and Ant.
  Then we can also show children that the scenes are changing as different each group's living style is different. (Background Suggestions: House pics for Cat, Tree holes for Mouse, View of the table for Ant)
• Reading the story
  
  
  
  
  Use different loudness for each animal- loud voices for Cats, less loud for Mouse, and very quiet voice for Ant. Since the sentences are repetitive, read sentences rhythmically. 

Extensions:

• Using Felt board, talk about how to make a blueberry pie (or an apple pie). On Felt board, start with putting big bowl piece and putting a pieces of flour, sugar, milk. 
• Talk about where each animal live, what they see from where they are, and talk about their sizes and talk about how one pie becomes pieces and crumbs. 
• On Kididdles, there is a song called the pumpkin pies that Grandma bakes. Simply change pumpkin to Apple! (http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/p055.html)

Too Much Noise

McGovern, A. (1967). Too Much Noise (1St Edition ed.). Cookery: Houghton Mifflin Books For Children.

ISBN: 0-395-18110-0

Summary:
This is a cumulative story about an old man, Peter, who complains about the noise he hears in the house. "The bed creaked./ The floor Squeaked." He thinks it's "Too noisy" and decides to to see the wise man of the village. Listening to the Wise man's advice, he begins to bring different kinds of animals one by one: starting with cow, there come a donkey, a sheep, a hen, a cat, a dog. The house got too noisy and Peter begins to let go each animal. Then "the bed creaked./The floor squeaked." But he said, "What a quiet noise."

This book is great for three to five-years olds because
-many different sounds are illustrated in the book: "creaked, squeaked, Swish, Hiss."
-different animals’ sounds are also explained.
-it is fun to repeat the sounds.

The story is about valuing what Peter has in the beginning. In the end of the book, the story comes to the beginning. In the beginning, the old man was not thankful for what he had, but when the story comes back to the start, he begins to appreciate it.

The story is drawn basically using ink and pen. The colors are interesting: everything seems a bit bluish. Different animals are illustrated using main characteristics. Great image of a wise man in that he looks smart while Peter, the old man, looks a bit grumpy.

Provocation:

• Present a cut out piece of a grumpy old man with a background of his house. Talk to the children about why he looks so grumpy.

Presenting the book:

• Felt Story
  
  
  
  
  Pieces needed for the story:
  -Make the felt board look like a house: One window, Bed, Table.
  -One old man, One wise man, and different animals: a donkey, a sheep, a hen, a cat, a dog.
• Puppet Story
  
  
  
  
  Use a big box (stage) and make it look like a old man's house.
  One suggestion: Draw pictures and cut them, laminate them and glue them on a stick to make paper puppets. Need the same pieces as in Felt story.
  Focus on the sound you are making as this book is about different kinds of noise.
• Read the book. Ask the children what sounds will be made if the leaves fall on the roof. what kinds of sounds different animals make.

Extensions:

•  Discuss about the sound illustrated in the book. Ask questions like "where would you hear a sound like "swish, swish", "hiss, hiss".
• Use music prop box. Use a straw from Tim Hortons or Starbucks to make a small whistle to make "hiss" sound. Examine what kinds of sound a rainstick makes, a drum makes, when rubbing a paper sounds like.
• Discuss about the outcome of the story. Talk about children's experience when they have had a similar situation. If it's hard for them to think, talk about the sound that they hear at home when going to sleep. Ask them to describe and observe the sound that they have heard and will hear.

Bearsie Bear and the Surprise Sleepover Party

Waber, B. (1997). Bearsie Bear and the Surprise Sleepover Party. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

ISBN: 0-395-86450-X

Summary:
This is a cumulative story about a cold winter night when Bearsie Bear has surprise visits from all different kinds of animal friends and has an unexpected sleepover party. In Cold snowy winter night, when Bearsie Bear is in bed, falling asleep, there comes an unexpected knocking at the door. "Who is it?" "It's me, Moosie Moose," "May I sleep over?" Starting with Moosie Moose, the surprising, unexpected visits from animal friends begin: Moosie Moose, Cowsie Cow, Piggie Pig, Foxie Fox, Goosie Goose, Porkie Porcupine enters into the bed. As Porcupine peeks at other animals who were already in bed, they all went away. As a way to sleep together, they put porcupine under the bed, but finally they finds a way to sleep all together in one bed without hurting others.

This book is great for three to five-years olds because
-the story is very repetivie using simple sentences such as "It's me, Moosie Moose." "It's me, Cowsie Cow." At the door, when there is a knock, different animals show up, but they have the same repetitive conversation. Children can get used to what is expected to be talked about.
-Even if the book is a bit long, teachers can always shorten the story. It's easy to read.
-Interesting character names appear in the book. e.g. Foxie Fox, Porkie Porcupine.
-the story is about problem solving and about friendship too. Everyone is welcome in Bearsie Bear's house for sleepover, even the porcupine who has hurt other animals. He is not welcome in the beginning, but friends come up with a solution to have porcupine back to bed.

This picture book used watercolor. Animals are drawn in a simple way with soft colors.

Provocation:

• Show children a picture of a house standing in the snowy forest and one animal approaching to the house. (the first page of the book) Ask children questions like "Who do you think lives in that house?" "Who is the shadowy animal walking towards the house? What is the animal going to do?"

Presenting the book:

• Felt story Pieces needed for the story:
  
  
  
  
  Animals: Bear, Moose, Cow, Pig, Fox, Goose, Porcupine,
  one piece of Big Bed, One long blanket, A house covered with snow, A door.
• Audience Participation
  
  
  
  
  Draw a picture of each animal's face. Make two masks for porcupine (1 mask with picky fur, 1 mask with softer fur) Laminate the masks. Prepare one big blanket.
  Let children be the animals in the story. Call each other and make them go under the blanket. When porcupine (picky mask) comes, everyone runs away. When porcupine comes again with soft one, everyone is back under the blanket.
• Prop basket
  
  
  
  
  Bring a basket with different animal puppets. Tell the story using these puppets. Children can participate if they want to.

Extensions:

• Ask children about the ending of the story. Ask them whether they have any other suggestions if they want to sleep with a porkie porcupine. In play time, when children face some challenges or they are not cooperating, remind them of the story how animals came up with a solution to welcome their friend in bed.
• Draw animals. Try to let them draw a distinctive feature found in each animal. For example, porcupine with prickly fur.
• Have a Pajama Day at school! Ask all children to bring pajamas and build a tent for them and let them play in the tent house.

Inside a Zoo in the City

Capucilli, S. A. (2000) Inside a zoo in the city. New York, NY: SCHOLASTIC, CARTWHEEL BOOKS

ISBN: 0-590-99715-7

Summary:
This is a cumulative story that starts from a closed zoo and gathers animals from outside a zoo in the city. The rhyme begins ‘Parrot stretched and squawked outside a zoo in the city…. Here is the parrot that stretched and squawked that woke up the tiger that growled and stalked outside a zoo in the city.…’ It is repetitive and is added to each sentence one by one, the story is about the animals that are sleeping in their areas in the city. First, the parrot starts by waking up the tiger, the tiger wakes up the lion and so on, they begin to wake up one another and ride on the bus. Finally all the animals are inside a zoo in the city. The illustration shows that the entire story has taken place during night time. This book is good for 2-5 year-old children, there is appropriate vocabulary for the aged children and the sentences are repeated.

Provocation:

• The pictures of the animals that appeared in the story can be displayed around the classroom, and then children can find and attach them on the board.

Presenting the book:

• Felt Board
  Prepare the felt board and all the characters’ pictures that are laminated and storytelling with the board.
• Prop
  Storytelling with the animals’ props and children can play with them.
• Audience participation (Role play)
  Children wear the animals’ masks and play the story.

Extensions:

• Puzzle (Animals in the zoo) 
• ‘Whose foot is it?’ – Prepare the pictures of the animals’ foot and children can find out whose foot it is.
• My favorite animal in the zoo- Children can think and talk about what my favorite animal is. 

I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly

Westcott, N. B. (2004) I know an old lady who swallowed a fly: Little, Brown and Company

ISBN: 0-316-73409-8

Summary:
This book is a cumulative story about an old lady swallowed a fly, a spider, a bird, a cat, a dog, a goat, a cow, and a horse. The interesting thing is that repetition of the rhyme ‘She swallowed the cat to catch the spider….that wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her…I don’t know why she swallowed the fly, perhaps she’ll die.’ When she eats each one, children might wonder what is going to be happened to her if she will really die or not, also the illustration is realistic and funny. This book is great for 3-6 year-old children because the story line is simple and the characters are familiar.

Provocation:

• Lay out a huge cloth which can represent an old lady’s apron in the middle of classroom, and cover all the props inside the apron so children can have curiosity.

Presenting the book:

• Audience participation Prepare a huge cloth which can represent an old lady’s apron, children wear the each character’s headbands one child play as an old lady so need to hold the cloth and other children can go under the apron of the old lady as insects and animals.
• Singing Sing the song
  ‘I know an old lady who swallowed a fly’ which includes the same content as the book together with music instruments.
• Felt Board
  Prepare the felt board and all the characters’ pictures that are laminated and storytelling with the board.

Extensions:

• Origami – old lady
• Baking cookies and decorating them as the characters of the story book.
• Learning the words of insects and animals that appeared in the book.

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

Numeroff, L. (1988) If you give a pig a pancake. U.S.A.: Harper Collins Publishers

ISBN: 0-06-026686-4

Summary:
This book is a circular story about a little pig, starts with ‘If you give a pig a pancake, she will want some syrup to go with it.’ The story starts off with the pig that gets a pancake, she will want some syrup, she will get sticky…. She will ask for wallpaper and glue, she will get all sticky again which remind her of syrup which leads to the pig asking for another pancake like in the beginning of the story. This is great for children aged 3-5 because the actions of the little pig is appealing through the illustration and story plot is simple and interesting.

Provocation:

• Prepare 10 pieces of pancake pictures, 10 pieces of pig pictures. Hide them in the classroom, children can find them and match them together.

Presenting the book:

• Felt Board
  Prepare the felt board and all the characters’ pictures that are laminated and storytelling with the board.
• Overhead Projection story telling
  Draw or copy the pictures from the storybook on overhead papers, show children through a screen.
• Audience participation (Role play)
  One child can be the girl and another child can be the pig, they experience the story as each character.

Extensions:

• Cooking class- pancakes
• Making a story using circular pattern. For example, teacher asks “if you give a mokey a banana,” then students finish the sentence. “Mokey will ask to come into the house.”
• Activities that a pig did in the book: going outside play with bubbles, writing letter, making a house made out of tree branches or box using sticky glues, dancing, taking pictures.