Teaching elementary school introduced me to a huge variety of children's books. Today I would like to feature a favorite picture book, a non-fiction book, and a favorite chapter book, with ideas to incorporate these books into activities with your children.
Falling for Rapunzel
What a delightful book this was, and a great twist on the traditional fairy tale. If you are going to watch "Tangled" with your kids, I suggest finding a variety of Rapunzel books for some fun compare/contrast activities. Here is a great site to give you some ideas.
Activities to do before/during/after reading Falling for Rapunzel:
1. Talk about communication. Do you ever hear each other incorrectly? What kinds of situations can arise because of miscommunications? Great time for listening practice.
2. Rhyming words games are great activities, and the fun rhyming in this books is a great way to point out word families and words that sound the same.
3. Act out the book. Dress up and be sure to have a part for everyone!
4. A puppet show is always fun!
Weather by Seymour Simon
Haven't heard of Seymour Simon? Well, all of his books are highly recommended, especially for ages 8+. I've read this book with my 3 year old, but we mostly just look at pictures. However, this is a great book to start introducing weather concepts to younger children.
1. Observe the different kinds of clouds. Are they fluffy or wispy, dark or light? Give your child the name for those kinds of clouds! I'm a huge fan of teaching vocabulary early. And if you wonder at whether the clouds are cumulous or numbus or stratus clouds every time you go outside, both you and your child will quickly remember the different types. And you'll teach them to be careful observers of their surroundings! You can also point out whether it is "mostly sunny," "mostly cloudy," ect.
2. Science is SO MUCH FUN!!! Here is a great site with some fun weather experiments: Science activities
3. Brainpop.com is an amazing website I used all the time in the classroom! You can get a free trial to view some fun weather cartoon educational videos. Or, it's $80 a year to subscribe to unlimited videos. I'm considering doing this once we officially start "home pre-school" in the fall. I'm not in any way affiliated with Brainpop, I just love their videos on every subject imaginable!
4. Have your child keep a journal recording the different types of clouds they see, complete with illustrations! You can even have them find and print pictures online to have them practice cutting and gluing if they need to work on that!
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My mom read the first few Little House books to me as a small child, and to this day I still love me a good frontier/pioneer/homesteading story! Some ideas for this book:
1. Play "what would it be like" and imagine different scenarios from the book and how you would have reacted.
2. There are lots of imaginative play opportunities from this book!
3. Some ideas other people came up with, because, hey, why re-invent the wheel? Here, here, and here.
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