Where the wild things are

ISBN 978-0-06-443178-1

Story Description:

The story “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak (1963) is about a young boy named Max with a wild imagination. While dressed up in a wolf costume, Max was misbehaving at the dinner table and consequently his mother sent him to his room without him eating any of his supper. A little angry, Max drifted into his own imaginative world to the land of the wild things (Sendak, 1963).  Although the wild things appeared to have terrible claws, terrible teeth, and terrible eyes (Sendak, 1963), Max was not afraid of them. Max soon became the King of the wild things and demanded they have a wild rumpus (Sendak, 1963). The rumpus soon came to a halt when Max sent “all the wild things off to bed without their supper” (1963, pg. 29). Max began to feel lonely and hungry which resulted in his decision to leave the land of the Wild Things (Sendak, 1963), and he made his journey back to his bedroom, “where he found his supper waiting for him.” (pg. 35)

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Why is this book suitable for 3-5 year olds?

This book is particularly appealing to children ages 3-5, not only through the eye catching illustrations and simplicity of the words, but through the stage in Max’s life he has been going through. Max and his mother have a conflict of interest, which repels Max to sail away into a land where he himself can be in charge.  This story shows how parents and children may get angry with one another, and they have their own ways of dealing with it. Max’s mother sent him to his bedroom, and Max created his own world to escape from his angry state. In the end, Max realizes that his mother does love him, and snaps out of his imaginative world back to reality.

Illustrations:

The illustrations in this story are creative and fun to look at. I enjoy how the colors are not bright and florescent, but they still have an interesting approach to catch the eye. This could be because we have not seen many children’s books drawn in this way. I especially like how the illustrations not only appeal to children, but to adults as well. The illustrations have very little changed from when the book was first published in 1963, which creates a sense of comfort to all readers, no matter what age they are.  Children would enjoy the illustrations because there are goofy looking monsters that are not threatening to look at. They enhance imagination and magic that the children can relate to and explore with. Lastly, the illustrations along with the story line subtly insinuate that you can be friends with things and people that are different then what you are.

Provocation:

A provocation I would use for this story is I would scan and blow up the pictures form pages six, eight, and ten, print and post them on a wall of the centre in which I am working. I would not post them all on the same day, I would first post the illustration from page 6 and leave it up all day Monday. I would choose the beginning of the week to begin the provocation process so that we can continue to wonder these illustrations without being interrupted with a weekend. During circle time, I would bring the photo up for discussion, prompting the children ask questions about the picture. I would ask them what they wonder? How do they think the boy in the photo is feeling? Where is the boy in the photo? Why do you think he feels that way? The following day, I would post the illustration from page 8 next to the illustration from page 6.  Again, during circle time I would bring the photos up for discussion. I would ask the children what do they wonder? What is happening that is different from yesterday’s picture? How does the boy in the photo look now? What do you think he is feeling? By Wednesday I would have done the same thing with the illustration on page 10, leaving a captivating story sequence. By now, the children have had a chance to wonder about the sequence of illustrations and will have many questions to ask. I chose this specific sequence of photos because it shows the escape from anger Max is having in the story. The picture on page 6 is immediately after Max was sent to his room without any supper. The picture from page 8 is the beginning of the forest growing in his room; Max’s face looks sneaky and pleased. The last photo Max’s room has completely transformed into a forest, and Max begins his journey to visit the Wild Things (Sendak, 1963). The children are at an age where behaviour can become a challenge. This story portrays an excellent example of how a child can deal with their anger.

One Story Four Ways:

1.     Once I have finished my provocations, it would now be time to present the story to the children. One way I will present this story to the children is using a felt story. I can purchase a felt story from 3H crafts in Vancouver for $21.95. The felt story includes Max in three different expressive body positions, all the monsters illustrated in the book, a bed, an ocean, a boat, some trees, and a table with dinner on it. 3H crafts also provide detailed instructions on when to place the pieces on the felt board, along with the story line to read. Using a felt story for this book is a very appealing way to present this story; it creates elements of wonder when she children are waiting for the next piece to be placed on the board.

2.     A story vine is also an easy and inexpensive way to engage the children to the story. First, I will take the story to Staples and get every illustration in the story printed, laminated and slightly blown up so that the pictures are easily visible to the children and very durable. I will then use a long string or clothes line and attach each end to secure objects in the classroom (i.e. table, desk). Clothespins will be used to pin the pictures onto the clothes line while I read through the story. I will also create a detailed instruction sheet to prompt me when to place the pictures onto the clothes line, this instruction sheet will also have the story written on it in case I stumble or forget.

3.     Another way I will present this story is by creating a prop box. I will use a durable storage box and fill it with specific things from the story. As I tell the story I will pull out the pieces from the box. These pieces will include a small doll (to represent Max), a toy wolf (to represent Max in his wolf costume), a dolls bed and a small table with a dinner on it. As I present the prop box story to the children, I will have a detailed story sheet to prompt me when to take out the materials from the box. In the story, when Max’s room begins to turn into a forest, I will place collected plants from outside to transform the scene into a forest. I will also create little monster characters from arts and crafts materials to represent the Wild Things (Sendak, 1963) in the book. Using this prop box will create excitement and wonderment for the children.

4.     The fourth way I will present this story will be telling the story from a monsters point of view. I will make a hand puppet that resembles one of the monsters from the story, and I will re-create the story as if the Monster was telling it. This way, the children will be able to hear examples of different perspectives and will be privileged to hear the monster’s ending to the story. The puppet will be made from a simple design we were given in our curriculum class.

Three Extensions:

            One extension I will use from this story is to have every student draw and create a monster. This is a simple way to get the children creating and imagining their own characters. We would use all different types of art material, and the children will have complete freedom to express their ideas on paper.

            A second extension I will use from this story is a discussion on anger and how we all handle it. I would simply ask the children at circle time “how do you react when you are angry?” Hopefully, this will spark up conversation on ways to deal with their anger, and I can use Max’s escape to the Wild Things (Sendak, 1963) as an example.

            Thirdly, the children and I will hold our own wild rumpus (Sendak, 1963) in the centre. I would put on a music piece that resembles a wild setting when it is played. The children and I could play freeze dance, and act like monsters until the music periodically stops. This is a great movement activity for the children, and also allows them to use their imagination.

Five little monkeys treasury

Christelow, E. (2009). Five little monkeys storybook treasury. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

ISBN#: 978-0-547-23873-9

In this book I got, it includes 5 full-length picture books from the Five Little Monkeys Series. I will only be working on the “Five Little Monkeys jumping on the bed” story this time. When I have prepared all the necessary materials, those 5 little monkeys can actually be used on all 5 stories!

It’s really suitable for three to five-year old as it’s a colourful picture book with a line on each page. It’s easy to read and it’s very interesting. As the author said in the book, “Booklist described the book as ‘pure silliness-just the kind kids like.’ ” The drawing of the monkeys is cute. They all have different expressions all the time i.e. happy, sad and silly. and their arms and legs are drawn so lively that they seems to be moving in front of you, in front of the children.

Before reading the story to the children, there are several ways to provoke their interest on the story. We could ask them about what they know about monkeys. ‘How do monkeys look like? How do they act? Are they really naughty?’ Then we can put out the monkeys I made or bought and introduce the worldwide known Five Little Monkey rhymes to them before telling the story. When this rhyme is in their mind, they will have a sense of familiarity when the story is read to them afterwards. They might even be able to tell the story themselves.

The 4 ways I am going to use is a felt board story, finger puppet with singing, props story telling or singing and to act out with kids. For the felt board story, a felt board must be used. I will make all the characters (the 5 little monkeys, mama monkey and the doctor) and some other things like bed and phone using the felt; for the finger puppet, I’m planning to make 5 monkeys simply by gluing or sewing felt pieces together and sing the rhyme with them moving the monkeys on my finger. That will be really interesting as children loves to sing along moving finger puppets; for the props, I have already bought 5 monkey stuff toys. I then might decorate them and attach them with strings on a stick. When reading or singing the story, one after another can be removed like what I will be doing with the felt story as well. Other than monkeys, I might make a bed out of cardboard paper and try finding some other props like phone; Last but not least, the most intriguing way to interact with children after getting them familiarize with the story is to act out with them. I will make some monkey hats for them to wear. Ask them to come out and jump around; pretend to fall and have all the children around singing along. That would really be fun.

Lots of things could be wondered while reading the story. On page 14, when the monkeys are putting on their pajamas, I could say “I wonder what your pajamas look like. Is it this colourful?” Then when we are on page 16, 17 of my book, I would say to the children, “I wonder what will happen next to the 5 little monkeys. Will they fall asleep quickly? Or...” Then when it’s on page 18, 19, I would say “I wonder what will happen when the monkeys are jumping on the bed like that.” After reading the last page of the story, I would ask the child, “I wonder what will happen if they get hurt seriously? What will mommy and the doctor feel?” and try to tell them that mommy will be worried if that really happens and the little monkey (the children) should be more considerate about themselves and mommy’s feelings.

There are lots to be extended by this story too. Apart from having 5 stories in one book, the thing I like about this treasury edition is that there’s a page teaching us how to draw those cute little monkeys. I could teach the kid how to draw them. Or photocopy the page for them to colour.  Also, there’s even a piano score of the five little monkey rhyme at the back. I could play the piano for them to sing along. We could even make up some rhymes together using different instruments.

Besides, we could explore facial expressions together by looking at the monkeys drawn in the book. Happy face, sad face, etc. Make paper or stick monkey puppets with them would be fun, with them drawing out their own characterized monkey. Last but not least, monkeys would be a nice topic for them to explore more deeply in, as in how they look like in real life and how they behave etc.

Overall, I really enjoy reading this book myself and I do believe the children will enjoy it with the provocation, the 4 ways I present and the extensions afterwards. I am looking forward to get all my materials done and present it to children I teach in the future.

If You're Happy and You Know it

Omerod, J. (2003).  If you’re happy and you know!  New York:  Oxford University Press

ISBN#  978-0-19-272913-2

Book Content:

The book starts off with a happy girl who sings when she is happy, but then each animal tells her that isn’t the way to express when you are happy.  Then one by one each animal, bird, or reptile shows her the correct to express happiness.  Basically by the end of the book, they come to the conclusion that everyone has their own way of expressing their happiness and there is no wrong way.

Vocabulary words that children might not understand:  insignificant, ridiculous, and pathetic.

Why I chose the book for 3-5 year olds:

I chose this book because it instantly grabbed my attention with the fun story line and the great, colorful illustrations. In addition to that, children would probably instantly recognize the theme of the song, because they have most likely been exposed to the original song “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands”.  In other words, they would immediately see and feel the connection with the book.

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Comment on the illustrations:

·      How are the illustrations made? – The pictures are drawn by either pencil or pencil crayon and then the colors were filled in with paint.

·      What medium was used? – The paper of the book was made from natural recycled materials in an environmentally sustainable way.

·      What mood would they evoke? – The illustrations would evoke a sense of happiness and fun.

·      Why would children enjoy them? – Children would enjoy the pictures because they are playful, colorful, eye catching, and easy to connect with.

·      Why I was drawn to them? – I was drawn to the pictures because they were beautifully done, even in their simplicity.  An additional important factor was that the pictures were easy to recreate for my presentation. 

How I would build background knowledge to provoke interest for the children in the book before I presented it?

I think this book is great in its own right and it wouldn’t really require any background knowledge to provoke interest.  If you look at the physical appearance of the book with its great illustrations, you’d be drawn to the book automatically, even if you weren’t able to read the words yet.  However, there are some provocations I could still use to just promote curiosity prior to the reading of the book.

What provocations would I use and how I would go about using them:

·      I would use the little girl’s picture from the cover of the book, put it on the felt board, and strategically place the felt board in the room somewhere that would grab their attention.

·      I would make a little mobile of all the characters and hang it from the ceiling in a prominent area in the room.  A good place would probably be right above the carpeted area where reading was usually done.

·      I would sing the original song prior to introducing the book.

·      If I had all the stuffed toys for these animals, birds, and reptiles, I could display them with the book on a carpeted area where the children could explore them.

4 ways I would present this book:

1.     Read the book – For the first reading of this book, I would probably just read it in the traditional way.  We’d all gather on the carpet and get up close to the book and read it.  Getting up close to the book would allow the children to get close enough to view all of the wonderful illustrations.  You wouldn’t need any props except for the book itself.  The book isn’t very long so I wouldn’t need to chunk the book.  There are many places I could stop and wonder with the children.  For example, after a couple of animals, I could stop and wonder what animal was coming on the next page.  Another example would be to flip the page, but not read the words and ask the children what they wondered the animal would do when it was happy. There are also a few bigger words that the children might not understand like insignificant, ridiculous, and pathetic.   I could stop on these pages and have the children wonder what these words meant.  I wouldn’t necessarily define the words at that moment, unless I could see that some of the children wanted an immediate answer.  Lack of understanding of these words wouldn’t influence the child’s overall understanding of the book; hence, these words could be revisited at a later date.

2.     CD – I would have all the children sit on the carpeted area and play the CD and then flip the pages accordingly.  The CD comes with the book so it’s a great additional resource for this book.  I like this idea because it will grab the children’s attention through multiple senses at the same time.  They would use their hearing to listen to the sound effects and words from the CD.  They would use their vision to check out the pictures and they would probably be so excited that they would use their bodies to express the characters’ movements.  The only materials required for this method is the book and the CD.

3.     Felt Story – 3H Craftworks did not have this book as a felt story, but the characters in the book were easy enough to make.  All you would need in terms of supplies to make this felt story are felt paper in the assorted colors that the characters are and an assortment of sharpie markers to do the illustrations.  I started by drawing the outline of the characters and then cut them out.  Once they were cut out, I just drew the detail of the character’s bodies and faces with the sharpie markers.  It took me approximately 2.5-3 hours to make the felt story.  Of course, you’d also need a felt board to tell the story with.  I probably wouldn’t tell this story as a felt story until the second or third reading of this book, because I’d want the children to be familiar with the story and the characters first.

4.     Act out the story – I would have the children act out the story after a few readings, because by then they would be able to imitate what the characters do when they are happy.  I would provide the children with a mask of the character they are imitating.  There are 9 characters in the story.  The things that need to be kept in mind here are to limit the story telling to 9 children or make sure there are duplicate masks for larger groups so that no children are left out.  Otherwise, you could just do the reenactment in groups depending on the number of children present.  To reduce the number of masks that need to be made, I would probably go with the option of limiting the number of children for the reading of the book.  The materials you would need for the mask are foam paper in the appropriate colors, assorted sharpie pens, popsicle sticks, and a glue gun.  The process of making these masks is much like described above to make the felt story, but you would use foam and then glue the illustration onto a popsicle stick for the children to hold. 

Three possible extensions:

1.     I could have the children illustrate how they express when they are happy.  I would provide them with the types of materials that the book used to illustrate the characters, such as pens, pencil crayons, and paint.  This extension could lead them to share their happiness method with their friends and they could work together to create their illustrations.

2.     I could get the children to make their own version of this book with different characters.  This extension could lead to a mini library of this book in its multiple versions as created by the children.

3.     There are a couple of less familiar animals that we could further discuss such as the toucan bird and the hyena.  I could find real pictures of these two in their natural habitat to create further wonder and curiosity in the children.  This extension could lead to an interest in animals and their natural habitats.

I'm the Best

Cousins, L. (2010). I'm the Best. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press-     

  ISBN # 978-0-7636-4684-4

-       The Summary of the Book

In the story, there is a dog who believes he is the best at everything. A lady bug, mole, goose, and donkey are the dog’s wonderful friends; however, although he loves his friends, he still thinks he is the best. He competes with his friends and keeps saying that he wins. He says he is the best because he is better than everyone of his friend. And of course, his friends get so frustrated and wish they were as good as the dog. However, they find their own strengths, and the dog regrets with tears, and feels sorry for that he has been mean to his friends. His brilliant friends generously forgive him, say that he is the best at having beautiful fluffy ears, and give him a big hug. The story ends with a humor that the dog recovers his confidence saying that having beautiful fluffy ears is the most important, so he is the best.

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-       The Reason That I Chose this Book for Three to Five Year Olds

I chose this book for three to five year olds because of its message. Young children often get too competitive, and want to be the best at everything. I believe there is nothing wrong with being competitive as long as one does not look down on others. This book invites children the concept that everyone has his strength and weakness. At the end of the story, the dog says he is still the best, but he does not look down on his friends. He learns and respects that others have their own strengths, and finds his own strength. I would like to introduce to the children the balance that the dog learns becoming the best while respecting others.

Also its illustration is why I chose this book for three to five year olds. The book is roughly sketched with a black crayon, and colourfully painted in water colours. Also, its letters are sloppily written in a black crayon as if it was written by the children. The messily sketched and brightly coloured illustration resembles children’s drawings, and that encourages the children to engage in the book more easily. Throughout the whole story, the playful and energetic illustration stimulates curiosity and interest.

-       Provocation

As a provocation for this book, I would put some pictures of the animals on the wall. For example, I will hang the pictures of the dog with floppy ears, goose with paddling legs, mole digging the hole on the wall. Animals not only from the book, also many other animals and even men’s pictures can be used. For instance, the picture of an elephant grabbing food with his nose, or the picture of a girl balancing on a ball can be used. As looking at these pictures, the children may be curious about what they are doing, and they may wonder what the connection between the pictures is.

-       4 Different Ways

This book can be presented in many different ways, and I especially chose the felt board, finger puppets, shadow theatre, and children participating in the skit. While I am telling the story, I will stop and wonder with children, when the dog says he wins to the mole (“I wonder how does the mole feel like? If I were him, I must be sad”), and when the dog says to the ladybug that he wins (“I wonder, does ‘big’ always mean you win? If I am small, that means I lose? Is being small better sometimes?”), and when the mole says to the dog that he win (“I wonder, how does the dog feel like right now?”).

1.     The felt board story

The felt board can be made with a presentation board and felt. Those can be purchased at Michaels, but to lower the cost, instead of a presentation board, a cardboard can be used if it is big enough. The pictures of the characters should be laminated to avoid getting wet or crumpled. It becomes more approachable to the children to engage and participate to the story. You can get your paper laminated at Wal-Mart and Staples.

2.     The finger puppets

The puppets can be made with felts and wiggle eyes. The dollar shops sell them, but some dollar shops have limited variety of felt colours. On the other hand, Michaels has many colour selections although it cost higher than dollar shops. Every puppet should have its characteristic; for instance, the dog should have big floppy ears, the lady bug should have antennae and wings, the moles should have bright pointy nose and long claws. There are also ready-made puppets are sold, but it is hard find the characters from the book. However, if you do not mind changing the characters or manipulating the story, IKEA sells an animal finger puppets package including a snail, rabbit, moose, elephant, lion, frog, tortoise, and so on.

3.     The shadow theatre

The shadow theatre can be made with a thin white paper stick on a large frame. The frame can be any frame not in use at home, and the thin white paper can be purchased at any craft shop. And the puppets can be made with a thick black paper with a thin and long stick which is the handle to manipulate the puppet. Thick black papers and thin and long sticks can be purchased any dollar stores. The side view is the best to bring out the animals’ characteristics except the ladybug. Also, the light is needed for the shadow theatre, and it can be any desk lamps.

4.     The children participating skit

The children participating in the skit should be the very last way of the presenting the book because the children need to be familiar with the story. In this story, only five children are needed; however, we can manipulate the story, and add more animals, so that more children can participate. For the props, masks for those characters are needed, and there are many websites that provide the masks for children:

www.moleplace.com/images/the_mole_mask.jpg (provides the mask for mole)

Also, Google image search provides good examples for the masks. A foam board and elastic band for the ear string can be purchased at dollar shops and craft stores.

-       Extensions

1.     Exploring what I am the best at – As we go through this book, we notice that everyone has different strength. Every child finds what he or she is the best at and draws or takes a picture of it. After drawing, we will hang the pictures on the wall with their name. So we can look at it when we come to the centre.

2.     A relay of compliment on others strengths – From the first activity, the children find their strengths and have chance to look at other’s too. This activity is to practice what they have known about others. In a circle time, the teacher may start complimenting the child next to her, and then the child complement the child next to him, and the next child will continue to pass on the baton of complement.

3.     Making an album “We’re the best” – As we know each other’s strength, why cannot we make an album for ourselves? We can use the pictures from the first activity. Put the child’s name and what she or he is the best with the picture; for example, “I’m Ji Ye, and I’m the best at being my mom’s best daughter”.

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Valentine Surprise

                                            

Citation

Demas, D. (2008). Valentine surprise. United States of America: Walker.

As it says in the book:

ISBN-10: 0-8027-9664-8

ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-9664-6

Description

The book Valentine Surprise is a story about little girl-Lily- who wants to make a perfect valentine for her mother and starts to prepare it a week before Valentine’s Day. Although she tries hard to create a beautiful craft, she cannot make it and gets upset. On  Valentine’s Day, Lily gets an idea! What is she going to do in last day?

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I have chosen this book for story time because of several reasons.

1) It is a seasonal book and great for story time or craft activity in February.

2) There are three main concepts: Valentine’s Day as special day, introducing new words we use as adjectives like skinny, fat or curvy and introducing days of the week.

3) Short sentences and nice and bright illustrations.

4) If Lily fails on her idea, it is just OK not to be perfect because her mother loves her forever for what Lily is from inside, her kindness and uniqueness.

I believe it is one of the best choices for 3-5 years old, as preschoolers start to understand the concept of 7 days as one week and each day has a specific name, the sequence of days as well as meaning of new words as adjectives like round or pointy. Moreover, they are more interested in hand-made craft as gift to beloved ones, as Lily does for valentine day.

Illustration

Coloring (Pencil, gouache and water color).One of the reasons I was drawn to this book was the picture of book’s cover. Lily is hiding behind wall as she has a peek and holds something in her hands. It makes me curious what is she going to do and what is happening in the book.

Illustrations are placed in white pages that draw my attention as I like this style of illustration with blank background.

These pictures provoke children to follow the book to the end as illustrations are not busy. The base is white and some illustration is placed in different parts of page that makes it interesting. Children can make a connection with Lily’s feeling such as happiness, excitement or concern. Even the font of words is creative enough to draw reader’s attention; for example, the font of word “heart” as skinny is really skinny or “fat heart” is really fat. Children enjoy watching beautiful drawings in the book as these pictures are simple but elegance and interesting. The whole page is white and some corners are colorful with watercolor and crayons that make the picture soft to look at. Beside Lily as main character, I have noticed there are some other characters (two kittens) in each page that have a connection to the story somehow. However, they are engaged with Lily in making home-made present differently. Personally, I enjoy reading story in story type because it requires more attention to find out what is going on in details.

Provocation

One of the ways to provoke children interest and curiosity is to look at the story by introducing the differences in the shapes of heart. One day before Valentine’s Day and story telling, we can print out and cut different heart shapes in a large amount and place them in the different corner of center like shelves, between toys, on chairs, cubbies, book corner or under table before children start the day. We can tell them that we lost some heart shape pieces and if some one finds it, put it on felt board. In fact, we should follow them by close observation in their conversation about how different each heart looks like. We should allow them to see and touch each heart piece in order to make a connection between what they see now (activity) and what they learn tomorrow (story). For example, if we give children an opportunity to see pointy heart shape by eyes and touch the point edge of heart by finger or compare it by curvy one, they understand the word of pointy quickly as we read the story tomorrow.

Four ways of presenting a book

1)    Story basket

2)    Felt board

3)    Children participation

4)    TV Screen

Story basket

Material: 2 dolls as mom and girl, 7 different shapes of heart (stuffed or laminated) and 7 laminated cards representing seven days of week.

I totally agree with what Susan Munzer-Briner mentions about benefits of covered basket to children in her book “you usually have the children’s full attention. Everyone is glued to what is happening.” (Learn to Play-Play to Learn, P 54) It would be easier to pick up items one by one from basket each time as we tell the story if we place the items in sequence of needs. I’d like to start and finish the story by saying “once upon a time” and “the end” so children have an image in their head about beginning and the end of story. We can use the cover of basket as stage of story. While we start telling story, we bring out items like the days of week and stuffed heart in right sequence according to the story. By the end of story, stage should be divided to seven section represent seven days of week.

More over, it would be interesting to put the basket in the shelf couple days later as children become excited to see the basket, play with material and make their own story.

While I present the story, I wonder and pause in some parts of story such as Lily’s new idea and how to solve the problem.

Felt Board

Materials: felt board, felt pieces (includes1 girl, 1mother, 1 bed and blanket, 1 scissor, 7 heart shapes, 1 calendar of weekdays, sun and moon)

I am a big fan of felt board as one of the most interesting way to represent the story, because children have a wonderful opportunity to see, touch and hold in their hands the characters of story. By making felt board and pieces available for everyone in free play, children have opportunity to expand their imagination and share it with friends; therefore, it assists their cognitive developments as well as social skills such as communication and cooperation.

Making a calendar by fabric and name each day of week on it was fun part of preparing felt pieces. I also add some extra pieces such as sun and moon with star in order to show children how long one day is with sun and moon in semicircle. As I tell story “sun comes up and it’s morning (I show Monday card)….Lily tries to cut out a nice shape of heart, but she couldn’t….she was tired, so she goes to bed (I show moon with star….), next day I show sun is up (now Tuesday card) and so on…..

Children Participation 

Materials: 2 headbands as Lily and Mother, Days of week (7 cards), 7 shapes of heart, a string and some cloth pin.

One of the ways to present the book is acting the story by children. It has a positive influence on child’s cognitive development, communication and social skills as they have an active interaction with peers and are engaged with story in details. It is required children to listen carefully and cooperate in order to act properly regarding to the sequence of story. Two children play roles of Lily and Mother. Seven children play a role as seven days of week and seven other children become different hearts. When I start to tell a story, children act their roles as they hear. At the beginning children as days of week stand in sequence and wait for Lily to join them one by one. For example, while I say “On Thursday (I point at child with Thursday tag) Lily (child as Lily goes to Thursday child) makes a forth valentine, but it is too curvy (and child as curvy goes to Thursday and stands with lily. Lily moves forward to next day and so on. The other way is each child (each day of week) joins to Lily and stand beside previous day as I tell story. By the end of story, there are 7 children standing as 7 days that make one week. As Lily got an idea, children as heart comes together and use pin cloth to attach it on string and make a perfect present for Mom.

TV Screen

Material for making TV screen: Cradboard box, cardboard tube, long paper, scissors, tape and print out pictures from book.

How to make a TV screen:

                          

I prefer to tell the story in my words and use the TV screen at the same time. It is a wonderful experience to see children’s reaction to the story as something moveable in the box and they look forward to see what will happen and what is coming in the next scene. I like TV screen as something new for telling a story because child as same as I likes to make his/her own TV screen and makes up own story and then draw it on the paper. I had a same experience to make my own story in TV screen when I was a child. I remember my audience such as my parents, siblings and friends enjoyed watching the story in different way. I can use different papers for different story and I am still eligible to use drawing and coloring, print pictures or calendar photos as background. It depends on story and creativity.

Wonders

v I wonder what Lily wants to make.

           

v She runs out of colorful papers and has not finished her work yet. I wonder how she feels now. I prefer not to say her feeling and wonders how my feeling and children feeling would be.

v  

v I wonder what I should do if I was in her situation.

v I wonder what she is going to do as it is almost a valentine day. What is her idea?

v I wonder what children decide to do if they face a same situation.

v I wonder what is her mother feeling and reaction when Lily says “I tried to make you a valentine but it did not turn out right”.

v I wonder by the end of story how Lily’s feeling?

Extension

1)    Song for days of week :

 * Sunday, Monday            Tuesday, Wednesday          Thursday, Friday, Saturday (2)

Each day, I sing a song related to that day.

* Today is Monday (2)       that’s what it is today        

Today is Monday (2)       that’s what it is today 

Moooooooooonday!!!!!

2)    Craft of valentine in February.

       Materials: construction paper, scissors, crayons and the storybook on the table.

 I believe the book itself is completely a provocation for children. So, I just leave the book on the table and some papers and scissors. Hopefully, some of them might start drawing a heart and cut it out. They might start to compare and see the differences or similarity between hearts they make. Sometimes, some children are more interested to drawing and coloring different shapes of heart like small, big, skinny or chubby one.

3)    Craft

Cut the whole seven shapes of heart out of foam (pointy, round, square, curvy, skinny and fat) and leave them on the table with crayons and papers. Those hearts should be made of foam as the idea is to provide an opportunity for children to get familiar with the concept of some words used as adjectives such as pointy, skinny or square by allowing children to observe, touch, hold and trace the hearts on the papers.

4)    Non-fiction book

One of the concepts of book is introducing days of week to children. It would be a good idea if I use non-fiction book as extension. The book I chose called Talking about time: days of the week by Jilly Attwood. The book is about different activities children do each day of week and at the last page of this book, each name of days come in a sequence and show the order in clock turn.

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.