Awww! This book is sooo cute. This is a recently published book about a little boy who asks his mother questions about what she did for him and if she was there when he was growing up. The mother assures him that yes-she was there-reading him stories, feeding him his bottle, etc. He then asks her, "When I'm bigger will you still be there?" and she assures him that yes, she will always be there.
Illustrations are simple but tell a story and reflect emotions. When the little boy is younger and playing outside, you can tell his joyfulness and adventure from his eyes. When the mother is changing the little boy as a baby, you can see the tenderness and care in her face. Cute family book, would keep this in my classroom and for a read-aloud, especially for younger elementary-aged children. This would be a good book to have students draw a picture of their parent(s) and write on it what they appreciate their parent(s) do(es) for them. Reminding students to appreciate the care their parent(s) give them is a good lesson.
Next up - Do You Sing Twinkle? A Story About Remarriage and New Family by Sandra Levins and illustrated by Bryan Langdo (2010)
This is a recently published book as well telling of the common new family structure with remarriage. I enjoyed this book-it's a cute story about two brothers who are adjusting to their mom's remarriage and the addition of two stepsisters. They don't see their mom as often and miss her, but the older brother takes his frustration out in the form of anger. He misses the bedtime song "Twinkle" his mom used to sing to his brother and him, and imagines her singing it to her new stepdaughters. It's a cute, loving family story.
I immediately grabbed this book because books about this topic interest me as my boyfriend has a daughter, and her mother has remarried and is expecting a child. Thus, she is balancing out her two homes with her mother, stepfather, and almost baby sister, and with her father and I. I would definitely have this book in my classroom and for read-aloud, because combined families are becoming more common, and it's important to send a positive message for these children.
The illustrations are well done in this book, and start to tell the story before the text begins, which I love. I prefer to have these picture books in my classroom. The illustrations show simultaneous events, for example when the boys are talking to their mother on the phone, it shows both of them in their different places. A couple activities I think would be fun to do as a response is an activity I call "Feelings" and for students to sing a song, since "Twinkle" is a song the mother sings to her children. For "Feelings" we would go through the book together as a read-aloud, and we would record what feelings he experiences, when he has them, why he has them, and how he came to a resolution. This book is awesome!
Next up - Big Sister, Little Sister by LeUyen Pham (2005)
This is a cute "realistic fiction" book that was presented by classmates. It's also cute because the lady who wrote it is the "little sister" and has a "big sister" she based the story off of. It shows how the little sister looks up to the big sister, and the big sister watches out for her and teaches her things.
I grabbed this book right away because as stated, my boyfriend's daughter is going to be a big sister as her mother is expecting a baby girl. I would use this in my classroom for read aloud and for students to look at, as I feel sibling books are important. Giving a positive reflection of the relationship between siblings and their roles is needed.
The illustrations are simple but cute, showing a lot of action which represents the sisters doing a lot of things together. I think this would be a good book to have students respond to it by writing a brief response (1/2 page to 1 page) of the positive traits of their sibling(s) and what they appreciate of them. For students with no siblings, I would have them write a response of if they would like a sibling, and if so what they would like from having a sibling relationship.
Next Up - Sky Magic selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrations by Mariusz (2009)
This is a neat composition of poems all regarding the sky-poems about sunrises, sunsets, the sun, the moon, etc. This is one of the books I chose to share for children's poetry. The illustrations are all beautiful with rich, almost-soothing colors. I would read these poems aloud to my students, especially when we do the poetry unit!
Another activity I think would be fun is along with the poetry unit, is have students write their own poem about anything regarding the sky. This activity would be made cross-curricular by incorporating art: students could draw and then paint with watercolors how they envision the aspect of the sky they're writing a poem about. Then, they could write over their painting with a light paint-color, or write it on white paper and cut out the words and place it on the paper. We would then hang them all around the room for other students to see.
Next up - Poems For The Very Young selected by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Bob Graham (1993)
This is a nice book full of poems for young children, as stated. I really like the front cover how there is a cute whale, as well, haha. The borders and illustrations of the book are cute, and like the other poetry book I shared, I would use this in my classroom and for read-aloud, and o'course for the poetry unit!
These poems are mostly short, so I think a fun activity to do would be to have students sit in a large circle. We would then take turns each reading a poem from the book. In this way, a lot of different poems could be read. As an extension activity, I would ask students to write a poem about their family, which would be a neat topic.
And Finally - Olivia by Ian Falconer (2000)
This is a cute, simple book about a girl piglet, yet also tells a good story about her day. Whether having a fun time during dress-up, getting ready for the day, going to the beach, going to the museum, taking a nap, etc. she is presented as "This is Olivia. She is good at lots of things." This is actually a series book, there being other books such as Olivia Goes to Venice and Olivia Saves the Circus.
The illustrations are done simply in just black, white, and red-though they are bold and show the story well. The illustrations start before the text begins, which I really like in a picture book. They also portray Olivia's actions and how she feels about them. This would be a good book for read-aloud, and for an extension activity I think it would be fun to have students in small groups afterwards. We would then do the activity where the student each writes a question they have about Olivia, and all the other students discuss it but them. Olivia is a unique and insightful character to observe. After reading this book, I would get the other Olivia books for students to look at when they have free reading time.
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