Spring Reading

I've had this post sitting in draft form waiting to be posted since the last day of school, but for whatever reason am just now getting it posted.  I think it's mostly due to the fact that I've had really exciting stuff to blog about every day since I've been home with Carter!  Between being really busy with school wrapping up, packing up my classroom, and planning a wedding shower, we didn't get to the library as much this spring as I would have liked.  We also struck out quite a few times and didn't find very many books that we loved and that got my teacher brain squealing with excitement from the teaching points they lended themselves to.  But I know we'll be spending a lot of time at the library this summer which will hopefully lead to more great book discoveries.  I get so excited when I find that hidden gem I'd never heard of or read before!

How Gator Says Good-bye! by Abigail Samoun, this cute book teaches children how to say good bye in eight different languages.  My plan is to teach Carter the little bit of Spanish I know and this would be a fun way to introduce other languages.

Adorable You! by Mae Brown, Carter loved this book and carried it all over the house.  It was a board book so I could trust him to lug it around.  Each page had a mirror on it where the baby animal's face should have been.  Carter loved looking at himself in the mirrors and it was hilarious to watch.

What Grandmas Do Best by Laura Numeroff, I picked this book out because my parents were going to be visiting for Mother's Day that weekend.  I thought it would be a cute book for my mom to read to Carter on Mother's Day.  Then I went to check out and was confused when I saw the title, What Grandpas Do Best.  I thought I must've read the title wrong, but the animals didn't look right.  Once we got home I realized it was What Grandmas Do Best on one side and then you flipped it over and it was What Grandpas Do Best on the other side.  It was an adorable book and I loved that it showed grandmas and grandpas doing the same things with their grandchildren, just in a little bit of a different way.  Carter loved reading it with his grammy!

123 Beach by Puck, We were so ready for summertime when we read this book so it was perfect!  It was Carter's favorite book we read.  He loved that it was a board book and had very few words so he could turn the pages really quickly just like he likes.  I loved that it practiced counting and that I could read what was on the page before Carter hurried me along by turning the page.  It was really cute with simple pictures kids could imitate.  It also used mostly primary colors in the pictures which would be helpful when discussing colors with children.  The back also had some conversation starters which I thought was a neat idea.

I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy, I enjoyed reading this book and doing what it said on the pages to Carter, especially kissing him at the end!  The book was mostly black and white so I also pictured reading this book with a toddler and a baby.  It would be fun for the toddler to get to do what it said on each page to the baby and getting to respond to the questions.  I imagine reading "I tickled the baby.  Did you tickle the baby?" and the toddler tickling the baby and exclaiming, "Yes!"  Wouldn't that be fun?  It would be a great interactive book for a toddler.  It would be visually stimulating to a baby.  All around a fun experience.

Museum 123 by Metropolitan Museum of Art, This book was so neat and got me really excited thinking of all the teaching points and possibilities it allowed.  The book shows a piece of artwork and then gives a number of something in the artwork.  It's a little bit like an "I Spy" as the reader looks to the artwork to find that number of things.  It seemed like it started out very obvious with the number of things listed being the most obvious thing in the picture and then became slightly more challenging.  It was still easy to find, it's not like they were hidden, it would be an "I Spy" for children just beginning to count.  I loved the idea of finding numbers of items within artwork.  I think it would be a great book to read, along with others showing artwork, as frontloading before visiting an art museum.  That way you would engage the child's interest in art and arm them with something exciting to do at the museum, search for numbers in art.  You could use the book to start a conversation about other things to look for in artwork, such as shapes, colors, feelings, anything you are working on with your child at the time.  I definitely plan to read this book to Carter before we visit the art museum closest to us.  Obviously I'd have to explain that the art seen in the book would not be in our museum as the artwork in the book is from a museum in New York, I wouldn't want him to be disappointed at the museum that he couldn't find his favorite pieces from the book.