Madam President

This week, my book talk was on Madam President by Lane Smith.  This book is about a young girl who has just learned about the President.  With her new knowledge, she goes throughout her day imagining what it would be like if she were president.  For example, when she is eating breakfast she talks about how there are executive orders to give, and it illustrates her at the table a sing for more waffles.  

I think this is a great book to introduce the topic of the President and what his role is in our nation.  One downside to this book is it highlights more of the celebrity side of being President rather than what his actual job consists of.  Another downside is, without discussion, this book can be misleading to young children.  There is a page where it talks about the presidents cabinet.  In the cabinet is a list of the different secretaries.  For example the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Agriculture.  in this cabinet is a "Secretary of Naps," and "Secretary of Secretaries.  This is added in for fun and to grab attention, but without a discussion on what is real and what is not, this could be taken as fact.

Overall I liked the book and think it would be great as a class read to clear up any misconceptions and learn all about the president.

Sandy's Circus

I did my book talk on Sandy's Circus by Tanya Lee Stone.

It is a biography on the artist Alexander Calder who went by the nickname "Sandy."  Sandy came from artistic parents and was very artistic himself.  He did all kinds of art but making sculptures was his true passion.  What was unique about Sandy was that he didn't consider himself an artist and he didn't consider his creations to be art.  He created things because of his love of creating, not to become a famous artist.  Well, it turns out that he became known as an artist anyway.  Sandy made many pieces but this book puts a focus on a circus he made out of scrap metal.

What I liked about this book was that even though it is a biography/ non-fiction and really informational, it is still in picture book form and written at a level for young kids to understand.  When first getting it from the non-fictional biography section I automatically assumed that it would be geared towards older kids.  After reading I realized that preconception was wrong and I would definitely read it to a class as young as first graders.

I think a fun activity would be to have students try to collect things they would normally throw away and have each student make something circus themed then put them all on display.

A Pig parade Is a Terrible Idea

You might be one to think that a pig parade sounds like it would be super awesome and a lot of fun!

After reading this book, your mind will be changed.  The author of this pig points out many reasons why a pig parade would be very unsuccessful.  For example, it would be almost impossible to find enough majorette uniforms to fit all the pigs.  If you could for some strange reason, the pigs would not wear them.

I love this book because it involves both imagination and fact.  There is no misleading facts about pigs. It lets us use our imagination enough to imagine what a pig parade might be like, but then kindly reminds us of why it would never work.

The kids would really have to use their imagination to make the connections that the book makes.  The humor in the book is my favorite part.  It is sarcastic and to the point, which is the kind of humor i enjoy most.  It is just a fun book all around.

This book could be read to a class as young as kindergarten for entertainment and even as high as second or third grade to encourage critical thinking.  I might have my class pick their favorite animal that they would want to see in a parade and have them write about why it just wouldn't work.

Cook-A-Doodle-Doo

I did my book talk on Cook-A-Doodle by Janet Stevens.  This book is about a rooster who one day decides he is tired of eating the same old chicken feed.  He finds an old cook book that his grandma had left hidden in the chicken coop.  He decides to make a strawberry shortcake and he gets his help from a few of his friends Potbelly Pig, Iguana, and Turtle.  Each of his friends have a special way of helping, whether it makes the process more productive or not.  In the end something bad happens and the characters become discouraged and began to bicker.  Rooster quickly reminds them that they made the cake as a team and they will always be a good team.

This book was not on my book list but after coming across it, I enjoyed it so much that I asked if it was ok to share it.  First of all it is a great way to introduce measurement.  What I like the most is that it covers misconceptions that young students could have when learning about measurement.  For example they figure out they need a few tablespoons of one ingredient and a few teaspoons of another.  Iguana, super confident looks under the table for the tablespoon and in the tea pot for the teaspoon.  Rooster then corrects him and shows him what a tablespoon and teaspoon really are.  It really is a great book to open up a lesson on measurement.

I can really connect with this book because I love to bake.  Sometimes when baking, I become discouraged when I don't get the recipe quite right.  I wish I had Rooster there to encourage me!

Monkey and Me

I did my book talk on Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett

This book is about a little girl and her toy monkey.  Throughout the book they use their imagination and pretend they are at the zoo looking at animals.  It is very short and only talks about the girl and her monkey "going to see" animals.

This book is very short.  I see it as more of a picture book than a story.  For this reason I think it would be great to introduce to beginner readers, or even readers who are a little slower to help encourage them.  Especially because it has a lot of repeating words. 

Reading this book as an only child I felt that I could really connect with it.  Since I had no siblings, I usually played alone and relied on my imagination to get me places.

Overall i really liked the book besides the fact that it had very little content.

Dinosaur VS. Bedtime

This week my book talk was on Dinosaur VS. Bedtime by Bob Shea.

It is a very short book about a dinosaur who thinks he is so awesome that nothing can stop him.  He proves this statement by going against everyday activities and winning against each one.  ROAR!

Then when it comes to bedtime, Dinosaur is no match and bedtime wins.

In the book Dinosaur roars a lot, at least 3 times on each page.  When I first read it, I thought it might be a good idea to teach the students "roar" as a sight word, and when reading this book in class have them roar each time it comes up in the story.

I really enjoyed this book!  I believe that many kids can find a connection because the obstacles that Dinosaur faces are activities that a lot of younger kids struggle with (talking adults, tall slide, a bowl of food, taking a bath.) Kids can try to avoid all of these things if they want, but it is inevitable, everybody falls asleep.

Llama Llama Red Pajama

I did my book talk on Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney.

It is about a little Llama who misses his mama shortly after she tucks him into bed to go to sleep.  She begins to do some house work as he calls out to her.  When she doesn't respond right away Llama Llama red pajama begins to panic and act dramatically.  His mama reminds him that there is no need to act that way because mama loves him.

The story is told in a rhyme and highlights certain vocabulary words.  Even though the story itself doesn't have any certain lessons that can be learned in a classroom (besides being patient) there are vocabulary words that can be discussed such as 'fret' or 'tizzy.'

I really enjoyed this book and found myself being able to easily relate because as a child I was literally attached to my moms hip and constantly worried when I wasn't near her.

I found this cool video of some people singing the story. 

:LL

Old Bear

Old bear falls asleep as the snow starts falling at the beginning of winter.  He begins to dream about himself as a young bear.  In his dream he experiences all four seasons.  The seasons in his dream all have their own imaginative spin on them, for example, in summer the sun was a daisy, the leaves were butterflies and it rained blue berries.  Old bear wakes up thinking he took just a small nap, only to find out the whole winter season had gone by! 

I love this book because all of the imagination in it.  I have a huge imagination and enjoy thinking of different possibilities for ordinary things such as the seasons.  How awesome would it be if the sun was a daisy?!

I think this book is great for the class room because kids enjoys using their imagination as well and hearing of cool things like it raining blueberries.  I think a great lesson plan to follow it up would be to divide the class into groups and assign each group a season.  The groups could work together to paint, draw, or write a story describing their season and add a little imagination to it.

Katie Loves the Kittens

 

Katie is dog dog who is so super excited when her owner, Sara Ann, brings home three new kittens.  Katie loves the kittens and is excited to play with them, but when Katie expresses her excitement, she frightens the kittens.  Sara Ann tells Katie that she is scaring the kittens and warns her to give them time to get used to her.  Still every time Katie sees the kittens she can't contain herself and ends up scaring them away.

I went to the library to look for books for my annotated bibliography and came across this book.  I wanted to check it out but decided not to because I couldn't think of any lesson plans to attach it with or how it would benefit students in an educational way.  I was very excited to learn it was on my book list and I went right away to check it out for this first book talk.  I have a passion for animals having 2 dogs and 4 cats myself.

I think is book is really great for anyone looking to read for entertainment reasons, but like I stated before, there is no real educational lesson to be taken from this book besides maybe patience.