EEK! Bugs everywhere!

    But you won't mind these bugs!  They don't bite or sting or buzz in your ear! In fact, they are just plain cute! So cute, in fact, that they are in The Best Bug Parade!

       The Best Bug Parade, by Stuart Murphy, is a favorite among kindergarten teachers and students!  Students love the vibrant, colorful bugs, and teachers love that it introduces measurement as a math concept!  In the story, different types of bugs go marching by on "parade".  The captions compare the bugs as they stroll by, using terms like big, bigger, biggest, and long, longer, longest.

     Summarizing is a good reading comprehension strategy for students that involves more than simply retelling what they heard or read in a book.  In summarizing, students point out the main points of a book. It can be used for fiction or nonfiction books.  In fiction, students point out the main characters, the setting, the events, etc.  In nonfiction, students point out the main ideas or key points.  Teachers can offer sentence prompts like first, next, finally, etc.


      One strategy that is good for summarizing The Best Bug Parade is called exit strategy.  In this one, the teacher writes an answer on a note card and students must answer it correctly before they can leave the room  (for block, lunch, etc.) or the table (if it is group time).  For example, the teacher writes shorter on one side of the note card and longer on the other.  Then the teacher holds up or points to two items.  She asks the students "Is the pointer shorter or longer than the flagpole?", and students who hold up the right answer get to line up or leave the table to go back to their seat.
  

     Synthesizing is a reading comprehension strategy that takes summarizing a book one step further. Instead of just repeating what is heard in the book, students relate what they already know about the subject to the book.  Then they take the new things they learned from the book and add it to their existing knowledge.

     There are several  strategies that work well for synthesizing this book.  One is called "say something".  In this activity, students pair up and take turns reading the text.  After reading a page or two, students each take a turn making a significant comment about what they read; it might be something that the book reminded them about or what the readers thinks is important; it might even be a request for clarity on the matter.  The teacher might suggest statements like:

• This reminds me of...
• I did not understand when....
• I know something that is ...(longer, shorter, taller,etc.)

So if you are looking for a good book to introduce students to measurement concepts and comparisons, check out The Best Bug Parade", and see if these aren't just the cutest little bugs you've ever seen!

Can I Have?......

Today is my FAVORITE day of the year! Just watch you'll see what I mean....

Have you ever asked a question and the answer you got in return was always Yes!? Well, if so then you sure are lucky.  In our book Yes Day!, written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld, the main character tries his luck at getting everything he wants throughout the day. 

"Can I please have pizza for breakfast?" Yes!

"Can I clean my room tomorrow? Yes!

"Can we have a food fight?" Yes!

For all of those out there that have little children, this book will surely get them excited and send them on a journey of their wildest dreams.  After reading this book we have developed an appreciation for the little things in life.  For children, life is all about having fun and Yes Day! truly shows life's little pleasure from the perspective of a child.

"Can we stay up really late?" Yes!

"Does this day have to end?" Yes

Visualizing allows readers to create pictures in their heads based on their understanding from a particular story.  We feel as though a visualizing activity is a great way to get students engaged with reading because there is no wrong or right answer and it allows students to be free with the their thoughts.  In our activity we would first read the book to students without showing them any pictures.  Reading the book to students without showing pictures allows students to create their own images in their head without relying on the images that are in the book.  As we read the book we will tell the students to create their own pictures in their head of things that they would love to have or do for an entire day.  Once we finish reading the book, children will create their own Yes Day book that will be inspired by their own thoughts, and they can later go back and retell the story in their own words as much as they like.   

But I'm not sleepy!

     If I had a dime for every time I have heard that from a child who could barely hold their eyes open, I'd be a rich woman!  This is the plot of Jake Stays Awake, where the little  boy Jake refuses to go to sleep unless he can sleep in the bed with his parents.  Of course his parents are less than thrilled with this sleeping arrangement, but in order to get Jake to close his eyes and go to sleep, they allow him to come get in the bed with them night after night.

This drove his poor parents
Straight up a tree-
they had a bed made for two, Not a bed made for three.

"We love you, dear Jake,
but we can't even doze.
How can we sleep
with your toes up our nose?"

      The book continues along this pattern with the family trying several different sleeping spaces; they tried the bathtub, where the family got stuck.  Then they tried the kitchen, but Jake couldn't sleep because he was too busy stuffing his face.  They even tried the trash cans but couldn't get the smell of liverwurst out of their clothes.  When the car was too boring, and his dad's snores were too loud, he had an idea that had never occurred to him before.... his bed!!!


      I think many parents and children will be able to relate to this story.  It talks about many issues that children face daily.  Teachers could start the book by asking if students have ever been afraid of the dark.  Students could share why they are afraid of the dark or any bad dreams they might have had that kept them awake. Or the teacher could ask the students if they have ever been scared to be separated from their parents. This is a very common occurrence that children face, especially when they start school for the first time. They could share with other students things that make them feel better at night or when they're away from their parents. For an activity, students could draw in their journal a picture of their bedroom at night and draw ways that might make someone feel better about being alone in the dark.  They could offer suggestions like a night light, a favorite stuffed animal to cuddle with, or having their parents read to them until they fall asleep.


    I would also tell my students how my son and I handled his fear of the dark. I would them that my son was scared to sleep in his own bed until we put a night light and a music player in his room.  Now he sleeps in his own bed  (almost) every night.  I would also share with my students that my son cried every morning his first week of preschool because he didn't want to leave me.  He looked at me and said "my whole little life in this world is ruined!!  But after the first week, he loved school so much that he didn't want to leave at the end of the day! 

      Another very similar book is Little Bunny’s Sleepless Night by Carol Roth.  It is about a rabbit  that does not want to sleep in his room alone until he realizes that his own bed is the warmest, safest one ever!

My favorite part of this story is the ending:

His parents are happy again
with their son,
and everyone's realized
it's not always fun
to have kids sleep with parents night after night.

But every once in a while?
Well, that's quite alright!!


After all, we all need a little comforting every once in a while, don't we?