Fall Reading List

I was going back through my drafts to add some information to my winter reading list and realized I have started our winter book list but never posted our fall list, whoops! So here are our favorite books from the fall. I started our winter book list in December so these really are all books we read in the fall. Check out our fall reading list from 2015 (last year) here, 2014 here, and our list from 2013 here.

 

Our Top Reading Choices From This Fall:

• Bailey at the Museum by Harry Bliss, Carter absolutely loved this book. He wanted to read it every time we sat down to read. It reminded me a lot of Curious George because Bailey the dog was curious and making mistakes just like George. I think that may have been part of the reason why Carter liked it so much. He also loved the speech bubbles in the pictures and would point to them asking me to read them again. 
• Giraffe Meets Bird by Rebecca Bender, Carter really enjoyed this one and picked it out to read every time we sat down to read books. I liked that it showed the perspective of both the giraffe and the bird. By doing that it also showed that it's okay to not always agree with your friends or get along, but you can still be friends. I've noticed Carter has been liking books lately that show the main characters struggling or displaying negative emotions. I think it's because he can relate to it and he feels better that he can't always control his emotions like he'd like to.
• Rules of the House by Mac Barnett, I didn't particularly like this book very much but Carter loved it so I'm adding it to the list. I'm not really sure what it was about the book, but he would grab it and retell it as he flipped through the pages pretty much every morning. I'm not sure if it was because it was repetitive in a way that it was easy to remember the words or if it was because the older sister was always pinching her younger brother, haha! It was so cute to hear him read it by retelling so I loved that about it. It may have also been a favorite because it was kind of scary without really scaring him. I just didn't like that in the end they tricked the monsters rather than apologizing and fixing their mistakes. I felt like the book could have had a better message.
• Turtle's Penguin Day by Valeri Gorbachev, In this book a turtle learns about penguins and loves it so much he dresses like a penguin and takes his book to school to share with his class. Carter loved this one I think in large part due to Turtle's love for learning and curiosity about animals. I really liked that Turtle's teacher took his interest in animals and used it as a way to engage her class in learning. It is such a powerful learning experience to engage students in learning about things they are interested in and allowing them to lead the learning. Inquiry-based learning is difficult at times in our current education system, but it is so rewarding.
• Yeti Turn Out the Light! by Greg Long and Chris Edmundson, We had read this quite a few times before. Each time we see it at the library Carter wants to check it out. I don't think I had ever put it on a favorite books list so I added it to this one. It is such a cute story of Yeti getting scared over shadows he sees at night. It shows how our imaginations can turn such sweet and harmless objects into something scary.
• Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long, Carter absolutely loved this book. It had the humor of poop and diapers along with pirates. Ever since Carter was a pirate for Halloween last year he has really liked reading books about pirates, I know part of it is my pirate voice I read with, haha! He thought it was hilarious that they tried putting diapers on the dog and the cat. He would sit and look at that picture forever and kept wanting to go back to it.
• Too Small for My Big Bed by Amber Stewart, This was another book I think Carter really enjoyed because he could relate to the character. The child tiger in the book is named Piper and he kept talking about Piper long after we had returned this book to the library. Piper is afraid to sleep in bed by himself and wants to sleep with his mom. I love that the mom is very patient with him and what she says to him. At the end Piper isn't afraid to sleep in bed by himself. Carter could definitely relate to this book as he had difficulty sleeping in bed by himself once he transitioned to a big boy bed and would often times wake in the middle of the night and come into our room just like Piper in the book. Carter was very proud to say he was a big boy and slept in his bed by himself as we read the book.

Winter Reading

We still go to the library at least once a week and the librarians all know us. One time I had two bags with me and they were shocked when they saw me only turn in 10 books, saying normally you all have way more than that! I assured them we had a whole other bag under the stroller. When we go we usually check out 20-50 books. The limit is 50 and sometimes we have to put books back. If we only make it to the library once a week we end up reading our books 3-4 times over! Favorite books are read more than that and each set of books means a new favorite book for Carter! I'm so excited that Elise has started crawling over to grab books and will sit turning the pages like she's reading (with board and bath books). Check out our reading list from last winter here and our list from 2014 here.

Our Top Reading Choices From This Fall:

• The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson, This book was so cute! Carter cracked me up as we read it because he said, "Why's the cow eating cookies? Them are for Santa!"
• Nose to Toes, You Are Yummy! by Tim Harrington, This book was a song with actions for different body parts. We always enjoy books that are songs and Carter loved doing the actions along with the book.
• Take Me to Your BBQ by Kathy Duval and Adam McCauley, This was the last book Jeremy read to Carter before his accident and Carter loved it. He had us read it over and over and over. The book had a great rhyme and rhythm to it and Carter really enjoyed the aliens in the book.
• Ruby in Her Own Time by Jonathan Emmett, This book was so great. Ruby is slower to do things than her siblings but then at the end she can fly higher and farther than any of them. I loved the message that it really doesn't matter if it takes someone a little longer to start doing something. This would be a great book to read to a child who is feeling frustrated that they aren't keeping up with their peers.
• Soon by Timothy Knapman, This book initially got my attention because it had elephants as the main character and the artwork was beautiful. Then we read it and Carter loved it. It was so much fun to act out the different animals the elephants encountered and mother elephant's reactions to them. Then we went on a hike later and walked to the top of a hill like the elephants did which was fun.
• Hiccupotamus by Steve Smallman, This book was almost like a song because it had such a great rhythm to it! Carter loved talking about the different sounds each animal contributed to the song and he absolutely loved the page where the hippo emerged from the water!
• Honey I Love by Eloise Greenfield, This is a poem I used to read in my class each year when we did our writing unit on poetry. I used it from a book of poems and had no idea it had been made into a picture book! The poem has a lot of figurative language which Carter enjoyed and thought was funny, especially when she said "a flying pool" when talking about a hose. He also loved that the poem had such a nice rhythm and was almost like singing a song.
• Bravery Soup by Maryann Cocca Leffler, This book would be great for discussing bravery in a classroom or to help a child who is afraid of something. It has a great message that being brave doesn't mean you aren't scared, it means that you tried anyway! I loved this book and Carter really liked it too. He loves talking about being brave and was mentioning the other day how a boy on the playground was brave for climbing up the ladder.

Fall Reading List

I know it's not quite officially winter yet but I figured since we are into December I'd go ahead and post our favorite books from the fall. We came across some really great books this fall. We kept up going to the library at least once a week. We discovered that the library right by our house had revamped their storytime with a stay and play time after books and songs so we started going to it every week. Carter loved it and Elise did too! Every once in a while we'd stop by a different library for storytime or just to check out books. I love that when we've read all the books in our bag Carter starts requesting to go to the library! Check out our reading list from last fall here and our list from 2013 here.

Our Top Reading Choices From This Fall:

• Baby Bedtime by Mem Fox & Emma Quay, I immediately loved this book. The characters were adorable elephants. There were actions on each page that as I read the words I would do to both Elise and Carter. Little mister loved it and would turn his head and ask me to whisper in his ear again when we got to that page. I would whisper "I love you," then he'd turn and whisper, "I love you too." It was the sweetest. This would be a great book for Elise's book shelf.
• No Matter What by Emma Dodd, This book reminded me of one of Dodd's other books, I Am Small. It was so sweet and I loved that the message was that the adult elephant loves the baby no matter what. It is such an important thing for our children to understand. Of course, I loved that the animals she chose for the book were elephants. I'm thinking this is a perfect first birthday present for Elise since Carter got I Am Small as a first birthday present! I also wrote it down as a book to read when we are talking about opposites since each set of pages shows opposite actions or feelings for the baby elephant.
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems, As always when it comes to Mo Willems books, this one was very witty and had me laughing along as we read it. I liked how it poked fun at the original Goldilocks story. Carter absolutely loved it and had me read it so many times I couldn't even guess the count. On one of the last pages the small dinosaur is crying because Goldilocks got away. Carter would always have me stop there and would talk about how the baby dino was sad and why was he crying?! It cracked me up because he was worried about the dinosaur crying rather than feeling relieved that Goldilocks got away.
• Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin, This was a book I had in my classroom but I didn't remember much about it. In the story dragons don't like spicy foods and if they eat something spicy they breathe fire. Carter enjoyed the book and would ask for the dragon book as one of his book choices each night before going to bed. This book makes the list mostly because Ty liked it so much. He read it over and over to Carter and enjoyed the fact that dragons breathe fire because of spicy food.
• Daisy Gets Lost by Chris Raschka, Carter has really gotten into wordless picture books. He really enjoys looking at the pictures and telling me the story. This one was a favorite because it had a dog and a squirrel as main characters. I would make the animals make sounds showing surprise, frustration, or fear and Carter thought it was hilarious. He asked for this book to be read over and over.
• Splat! starring the Vole Brothers by Roslyn Schwartz, This book was so funny. It had both Carter and me laughing. I liked that the book was mostly comprised of sound words with most of the story being left to the reader to interpret the pictures. We used the book to talk about emotions as well as how the characters could have reacted differently. It was a very cute book which lends itself to multiple teaching points
• That Pup! by Lindsay Barrett George, This one was a favorite of Carter's because it showcased a dog and a squirrel, two of his favorites! I loved the simple text and how well it lended itself to making predictions. We enjoyed looking for the squirrel on each page and finding her watching the dog. One page showed all the acorns, some green and some brown. We counted them and talked about the colors. It would be a great book to read and then have acorns for kids to practice addition, subtraction, and patterns looking at the book to make up their own problems. I would love to use this book in the fall in math tubs when I'm back in the classroom. I also liked that at the end it showed the dog and squirrel putting the acorns back which was a perfect way to help readers retell the story.
• Vincent and the Night by Adele Enersen,Carter initially didn't want to read this book because he called it a baby book and said he wanted to leave it for daddy to read to sissy. When we got through all of our library books he decided to go ahead and read it and he absolutely loved it! I'm not sure exactly what it was about the book, but I think it may have had a little bit to do with Vincent being naughty and that he wasn't going to bed. Carter loved to read the page where Vincent was described as naughty. We read the book 4 times in a row the first time we read it and then he wanted to read it multiple times after that. I even found him sitting in a chair reading it to himself and was shocked how close he was to reading it word for word. It would also be a great book for babies since there are photographs of a baby and the pictures are mostly black and white. I'm excited to read it to Elise when she can have time to really look closely at the pictures!
• Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rowlinson, This book is so sweet. We read it last year during our fall theme but Carter didn't make it through the whole book. This year it was his absolute favorite during that library haul and asked for it over and over. He'd say he wanted to read the fox book and then once he remembered the fox's name after multiple readings, he'd ask for Fletcher. The last page of the book shows the tree in winter and you can touch raised up icicles which he also loved.
• Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton, One thing we've been working on as we read books is predicting what will happen next. Carter loved this book because he was able to easily predict what would happen. He also loved that George was naughty even though he wanted to be good. I think he really connected with the character!

Spring Reading List

Now that the rain has finally stopped and the sun is out it is starting to feel like summer.  My old co-workers are out of school for the summer and the reading program is underway.  Although it's not officially summer quite yet, it sure seems like it around here so I figured it was time to post our spring reading list.  It's been fun to not just read books with Carter, but also Elise and more often than not both of them together!  Read last year's spring reading list here.

Our Top Reading Choices From This Spring:

• More by I. C. Springman, I loved all the possibilities of this book.  It could be used to start so many different discussions.  The bird has a tag on it's leg which could spark a conversation of why and what it would be used for.  On each page there are words that describe amounts which would be good for talking with younger children about what they mean.  The book could also be used when it's time for your child to get rid of some toys.  You could read the book and talk about the problem the bird had, relating it to your child. 
• Happy by Miles van Hout, This book was really simple.  Each page had a feeling word with a fish showing that emotion on the opposite page.  Carter loved the book and frequently asked for the "fishy book".  It would be a great read with older children as well.  You could look at the picture of the fish and have them tell you what emotion they think the fish is displaying.  It would also be a great way to talk about more colorful words you could use to describe emotions such as happy, sad, and mad.  In that sense it would be a great mentor text for writer's workshop.  You could also use the book to talk about colors and even stretch it further into art and why we use certain colors to depict different emotions.  This book provides so many opportunities for teaching!
• Use Your Words, Sophie! by Rosemary Wells, Carter loved this book and asked to read it over and over.  I think he liked it so much because he related to Sophie since she was newly a big sister.  The book would be great for starting a conversation with an older child who is struggling with a new sibling.  I wished I'd found this book for our new baby theme, it would have been perfect!
• Baby, Come Away by Victoria Adler, Carter wanted to read this one over and over.  He liked that it had different animals and a baby and that the baby played with the animals.  He also tends to really like books that rhyme. 
• Hickory Dickory Dock by Keith Baker, This adaptation of the traditional nursery rhyme thrilled Carter.  He loved all the different animals and his favorite page was when the donkey kicked and broke the gate.  He would flip back to that page and laugh.  He liked it so much we'd read it multiple times in a row.  Then he'd ask me to go through and look at the animals, making up words for what they might be saying.  We had way too much fun with that and belly laughed like crazy.
• Mommy's Best Kisses by Margaret Anastas, This was a favorite of mine.  Each page had a different animal mother kissing her baby on a different body part.  Of course I kissed Carter on the same place as it said in the book.  There were some that were his favorites.  Each time I got to the page where the giraffe mother was kissing her baby on the neck he would start giggling because he knew I was going to kiss his neck.  I loved it!  It was a perfect book to have around for Mother's Day and a great excuse to kiss my baby over and over!
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Jane Cabrera, Another adaptation to a classic nursery rhyme that Carter adored.  We read it over and over.  The only problem was then in the car he would ask me to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and when I'd start singing he'd say, "No, the sparkle sparkle one."  I didn't know the words so I couldn't sing it!
• Baby ABC by Deborah Donenfeld, I loved this book.  It was so simple.  Each page had a letter of the alphabet and then a baby pictured with something that started with that letter.  What I really loved about it was that the picture was all in black and white except for the item that started with the letter for the page, it was in color.  It was fun to point to the letter and tell Carter it's name and sound, then ask him what started with that letter.  I'd help him figure it out at first and then he caught on that the only thing in color on the page was the answer.
• Little Burro by Jim Arnosky, This book is one of my picks.  I really enjoyed it and loved all the teaching points it lended itself to.  The baby burro in the book behaves just as a toddler would and leaves us with the start to a conversation about behavior.  It would also be great to talk about how sometimes it's scary to try something new, but you might actually really like it.  In the book the burro doesn't want to leave his favorite place and go to the river, but once there he loves it and it becomes his other favorite place.  Carter also enjoyed the book due to all the hee-hawing going on! It ended up being one he asked me to read over and over.
• White Is For Blueberry by George Shannon,  This was a great book to get children to think about things in a different way.  I'd love to read this to Carter when he's older and then have him think of other objects that could be described with a different color than what we'd normally think.  It would also be a good book for practicing with colors.
• One by Kathryn Otoshi, I'm definitely buying this book for my classroom before I go back to teaching.  I'd also like to get it for Carter.  There are so many great lessons in this book.  The most obvious is bullying and how you can stand up to a bully and how important it is for friends to stand up for others who are being bullied.  It could also be used to talk about how everyone is important and how important it is to do your best.  It would even be a good read during Earth Day because you could talk about how one person can make a difference.  This book could be an opener to a conversation about how one person could make a difference and then list out different things we can do to make a difference.  I loved this book so many times over!  It was probably my favorite children's book I've read in a while! 

Winter Reading List

I was scrolling through posts to see what I had in the way of drafts and came across this post, whoops!  I think it's the last post I wrote before Elise was born and forgot about, so there shouldn't be any more super late posts!  It's definitely way past time to post Carter and my list of our favorite reads from this winter.  This winter we found some really great books at the library.  With our weekly learning themes I like to get as many books on the topic as I can, so we end up with fewer random books than we did before we started our learning themes, but I'm still impressed with how many great books we discover.  Read last year's winter reading list here.

 

 

Our Top Reading Choices From This Winter:

• Who Can Jump? by Sebastien Braun, Carter absolutely loved this book!  Not only did it have flaps for him to lift, but it also was one he could "read" the words on.  I would read the words, who can jump.  Then Carter would look at the picture and say the animal and jump for example, "Frog jump!"  Then he'd lift the flap and I'd read the full sentence so he could hear how it would sound as a full sentence.  We read this one so many times!
• Global Baby GIRLS, I absolutely loved this book and can't wait to read it to Elise!  I know she'll love seeing pictures of other babies.  It was so neat how they included photographs of babies from different countries around the world.  I also loved the message saying girls can change the world!  It was also fun to read it with Carter and look through to see which baby Elise might look the most like considering that Carter has blonde hair and blue eyes.  We also used it as an opportunity to talk about how Carter has light skin.  He then went through the list, "Mommy light skin, Daddy light skin, Caca light skin".
• Global Baby BOYS by Maya Ajmera, We read the Global Baby GIRLS book first and then found this one on our next trip at the library.  I loved it for the same reasons I liked the book about girls.  After reading it we again looked through and talked about how the boys looked the same or different compared to Carter.
• Moo Moo Brown Cow by Jakki Wood, Carter really enjoyed this book because I sang it to the tune of "Baa Baa Black Sheep".  It was a great book for practicing lots of skills.  I liked that each animal was a different color so I could ask Carter what color the animal was.  I also liked that each animal had a different number of children so we could practice counting.  The book could also be used to practice animal names as well as the sounds they make.  I absolutely love books with multiple teaching points!  
• Early Rider by William Wegman, Carter picked this book out at the library and it was an obvious favorite because each page had an actual photo of a dog with the background drawn in around it.  The book showed different forms of transportation and we found it the week after we'd just done a learning theme on transportation.  When I read the book I would stop in the sentence where it said the form of transportation shown on the page and Carter would shout it out.  He loved getting to "read" along with me!  We also used the book to practice counting by counting the number of dogs shown on each page.
• Very Hairy Bear by Alice Schertle, This book was adorable.  Carter laughed throughout the book and enjoyed the ending.  I wished we read it before our winter themed learning week because it would have been perfect during that week!  I love Alice Schertle mostly because of Little Blue Truck.  Her books are too cute!
• Go, Shapes, Go! by Denise Fleming, I grabbed this book thinking it might be a good review on shapes.  Carter loved it and thought it was so funny when the shapes made a cat to go after the mouse.  We then made our own pictures using shapes.

Fall Reading List

Read last year's fall reading list here.  Looking back at that list there are a few books we ended up buying and are still favorites of Carter.  Of course I melt a little bit seeing the pictures because he was soooo tiny!  I remember taking the picture of him holding a book on his own for the first time and being so excited.  Now it's not unusual to walk into a room to find him sitting in a chair flipping through a book all by himself!  Sometimes he's even repeating the words that go along with the story due to continuous readings of the same books!  With our weekly learning themes we spent much of the fall reading books within the chosen theme.  I would get on the library website and request books I wanted on the topic the week before our theme began.  I was a little bummed we weren't finding as many of the stand out amazing books like we had before so I made sure to also pick up a few books unrelated to the theme each week.  It's neat that the books listed have switched from my favorite books to the books that Carter liked the most.  But of course I have to add my side notes and teaching ideas the books brought up!

Reading while I was cleaning.

Sometimes I even try to read to him only to have him tell me no because he wants to read to himself!

Our Top Reading Choices From This Fall:

• All Aboard! by Mary Lyn Ray, I picked this book up during our traveling weekly learning theme.  Carter absolutely loved it and would hand it back to me each time I closed the back cover when we finished reading it.  We read it so many times!  I loved that the book had lots of rhythm and sound words in it.  It would be a great book to read to a class when discussing how to add details to a story.  There were some sections of the book that I felt like I was singing to Carter because they had such nice rhythm.  I made sure to copy this book down so we could read it again during train week.
• Little Bear's Little Boat by Eve Bunting, This was another book Carter wanted to immediately read over and over again.  It was a very cute book and I loved the message it conveyed.  It would be a great book to read to a child when they are outgrowing their clothes and you are giving them away or to a younger sibling or when they are too big for a toy.  It could start the conversation and you could relay how they are like the bear in the story.  
• Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills, Carter loved reading this book and requested it often!  On each page one of the characters would ask if their pumpkin was in a certain place and the other would respond with "no".  Carter started responding to the questions with "no" while I was reading.  It was so cute!  I love books that can be interactive like the Pigeon books and Pete the Cat.  Carter loves to answer questions posed by the books, especially if the answer is no!
• I'm Fast! by Kate and Jim McMullan, When Carter spotted this book in our library bag he instantly reached for it and wanted to read it.  We read it 4 times in a row the first time we read it.  I loved it for the same reasons I loved All Aboard!, the sound words and rhythm to it.  Carter loved that the main characters were a train and a car!
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Jane Cabrera, This book was so cute and a fun change up to the song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".  Carter loved it and we read it so many times!  He loved making the animal noises on each page and he also enjoyed that I sang the words.  He loves books that I sing to him! 
• Bears on Chairs by Shirley Parenteau, This book was so adorable Ty even mentioned how much he liked it.  It's rare for him to tell me he liked one of Carter's library books.  There are so many teaching points with this book: friendship, sharing, problem solving, colors, even and odd, addition, counting.  It's the kind of book I am always looking for, one that can be read over and over to teach multiple different lessons.  Those are the best mentor texts!   
• Walk the Dog: A Parade of Pooches from A to Z by Bob Barner, Carter loved this book so much that by the evening of the day we checked it out I was starting to get tired of reading it.  He would immediately flip back to the front upon finishing the book so we could read it again.  It was a very cute book though.  I think he enjoyed the repetition and all the different kinds of dogs.  I added the book to a list for when we do a weekly learning theme on the alphabet.
• Guess Who? by La Coccinella, This was another one Carter loved so much I started to get tired of it.  I think he loved that the mouths of each animal were cut out of the page so he could grab the page there to turn it.  He also liked saying the animal's name and making it's noise on each page.  It was a cute book and it was so much fun to listen to him make the noises!
• Whose Hat Is That? by Anita Bijsterbosch, I couldn't tell you how many times we read this book.  Carter loved it so much!  It was pretty cute and he loved that I would use different voices to read what each of the animals said.  It would be a great book for beginning readers as there is a lot of repetition and predictable animal noises.
• Sheila Rae's Peppermint Stick by Kevin Henkes, I'm mentioned before that Kevin Henkes is one of my favorite children's book authors.  His books have great messages and the mice he typically uses to illustrate them are adorable.  Plus, the way he writes includes so many great techniques to teach in an author as mentor study.  Surprisingly I had never read this gem before.  Mostly because it is a board book and I don't typically use board books in my classroom.  When I saw it in the board book section at the library I instantly grabbed it.  Carter loved it and asked for it multiple times.  It also had a great message about sharing which is timely for him as he will soon be a big brother!  It would be a great book to give to an older sibling when sending presents to a newborn.

Winter Reading

During the winter we continued our visits to the library.  We didn't always go every week, but it was pretty close.  In December I was looking for cute holiday books and after that I switched to snow/winter related books.  Of course we found books on all kinds of topics as well!  I'm hoping if I post our winter reading list spring will hurry up and get here and we can get rid of this cold weather!

 

• The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, I loved this book.  It was so neat that it started out far away and then zoomed in and then back out.  It would be a great book to read in class when we discuss small moments in writing and zooming into one part of the story.  We'd talk about how if the author zoomed into one part she could really add lots of details.  Carter liked that the pictures were black and white with pops of yellow.  We checked it out as a board book which he loved.  It would be a great book for a younger baby as well.  I'm always keeping an eye out for good black and white books for babies who can't see color yet.

• The Nice Book by David Ezra Stein, the first thing I noticed and loved about this book was the simplicity of the pictures.  This would be a great book to read to Carter again when he's a bit older and then let him finger paint afterward.  I felt inspired to finger paint after reading the book due to the cuteness of the pictures!  It would also be a great book to read at the beginning of the school year to start a mini-lesson on being nice.  The book could be followed by a student-generated anchor chart on ways to be nice.  Another mini-lesson could focus on the page that says "say how you feel" and then the teacher modeling "I messages" for students and allowing them practice with role playing.  I also loved the front and back inside covers with adjectives describing an animal all over them, such as "magnanimous monkeys, kindhearted koalas, etc."  We could do a lot just reading and discussing those pages.  If you couldn't tell I love, love, loved this book.  As with great mentor texts I just kept thinking of mini-lesson after mini-lesson this book could be used for!  This book was quickly added to my wish list for both Carter and my classroom!

• White Snow Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt, In the beginning of the book the author included a poem which was my favorite part of the book.  The book was a little bit outdated with the jobs (especially the wife at home with a broom) but it was cute.  Carter loved the simplicity of color in the pictures.  The illustrator stuck with mostly red, yellow, brown, green, white, and gray which really made the colors pop.  I felt the author really captured the magic of waking up to snow.

• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, Although I've read this book time and time again, I had to include it on a winter book list.  It is the perfect book to read on a snowy morning before going out into the snow.  Then out in the snow Carter and I could try pointing our toes in and out like Peter did in the book.  You also have to love that this was the first full color book to feature a black hero!

• Baby's First Year! by Rick Walton, When Carter and I went to the library the week of his birthday we came across this book and I checked it out to read to him on his birthday.  After we read it on his birthday morning I kicked myself for not reading it earlier in the week.  I would have gotten on Amazon and ordered it for his birthday with our free 2-day shipping and given it to him for his birthday!  It was adorable and perfect.  I ended up ordering it for him for Christmas and writing the dates he hit each milestone onto the pages of the book that talked about that milestone.  It's a sweet book and would make a perfect first birthday present!

• Big Rig Bugs by Kurt Cyrus, Carter LOVED this book.  We read it multiple times because he kept pulling it out of our book bag.  I liked the comparison between the bugs and the construction vehicles.  I have a feeling we will be reading a lot more books like this as Carter gets older.  It had 2 things boys tend to love, bugs and vehicles.

• Hello Dinosaur by Dwell Studio, This book was so cute.  When you lift the flap it reveals what dinosaur the page was talking about underneath the flap.  Carter loved lifting the flaps and each flap lifted in different directions.

•  Mo's Mustache by Ben Clanton, This book will be a great one to bring out when Carter's little sibling is copying what he does.  You can tell kids time and time again that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this book does it in such a cute way!  Plus who doesn't love a well-placed mustache!

•  My Nose, Your Nose by Melanie Walsh, This book is so sweet.  I love how it talks about all kinds of differences there are between children.  I also love how that is followed up by a way they are the same. 

• One Special Day by Lola Schaefer, The little boy in the book is carefree and loves playing.  It goes through his day and talks about all the things he does.  Then at the end he has a big change, he's a big brother.  It is a sweet book and I'm excited to read it to Carter again! 

• Baby Bear's Books by Jane Yolen, I loved this book and how the baby bear is so engrossed in books.  I loved that it talked about reading the pictures.  That's such an important step toward reading the words and is often times overlooked.

• Look! Look! Look! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, I loved how this book showed so many different ways to look at a piece of art.  I read this to my class and then we took frames and placed them on different parts of paintings to focus on different aspects of the painting.  They loved it and it was so cool to see what we noticed when we used the frame to help us focus.

• Toddlerobics: Animal Fun by Zita Newcome, This book was so neat.  It would be a great one to read on a winter day when you are all cooped up inside.  Each page had different animal movements for children to copy.  I love having lots of different ways to exercise when you can't get outside and this was a perfect one!

Fall Reading

This summer while Carter and I participated in the summer reading program, I kept a list of our favorite books.  I enjoyed having a list of all the best books we read so I decided to make a fall reading list as well.  We love our weekly trips to the library and I get so excited when I find a new gem to add to our list.  Books of particular interest to me are about becoming a big brother or sister.  I want to have a list of great books compiled for when Carter is going to be a big brother.  Since the official start of winner is in just a few days, I figured today was a good day to post my fall list.

Our Top Fall Reading Choices

•  A Good Day by Kevin Henkes, I LOVE Kevin Henkes and hadn't read this book yet.  It teaches such a great lesson that even if something bad or disappointing happens, you can end up having a good day. 

• Thank You Bear by Greg Foley, This book would be a great one for discussing that some people won't appreciate things you consider to be great.  Not everyone's opinion matters.  Bear is such a cute character and there are more books with him.

• Will It Be a Baby Brother? by Eve Bunting, Bunting is such a great author!  This book is so sweet.  The boy really wants a brother.  He ends up with a sister and realizes that she's just what he wanted all along.

•  RRRALPH by Lois Ehlert, Such an adorable book!  I love how the dog is making noises a dog would actually make, but they make sense with what the dog is being asked.  

• Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh, This is a fun book to read when learning about what colors are made when you mix colors.  I picture reading this book with Carter and then letting him mix paints to try it out. 

• Baby Loves by William Lach, This book uses the art of Mary Cassatt to create an easy reader.  It is a great way to introduce children to art and is also an easy enough read they can use the pictures and the repetition to read or help read the book.

• Sing by Joe Raposo and Tom Lichtenheld, The book is a song written by Raposo illustrated by Lichtenheld.  I'm discovering how much I like Lichtenheld, he has some adorable books!  The song is so sweet and Carter loved it.  The book came with a CD which helped me figure out the tune to the song because I can't sing by looking at sheet music for the life of me.  I was lucky to be successful playing the clarinet using sheet music, I don't push it by trying to figure out a pitch for my voice using it!

• Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex, Labeled a petrifying parody this book is a Halloween version of Goodnight Moon.  It is spooky and fun, but not scary.  I read this one to Carter multiple times just because I liked it so much.

• Thumb Love by Elise Primavera, I waffled back and forth with this book.  It was kind of cute but really strange in some parts.  I was weirded out by the conversations the child had with her thumb.  Obviously I picked it up because of my little thumb sucker.  I want to keep this book on a list just in case we have trouble getting Carter to stop sucking his thumb.  I don't want to kick myself that I didn't save the name of this book.  I have a sneaking suspicion there may be more appropriate books, but just in case there aren't I'm saving it. 

Summer Reading

 

This summer we participated in the summer reading program and went to the library once a week.  I have read lots and lots of children's books throughout my 5 years teaching, not to mention my student teaching, reading practicum, children's literature class, and my childhood.  I have favorite books and favorite authors I tend to go back to time and time again.

Every time we go to the library I check out 7-10 books and I would be happy as a clam to check out 10 books by Mo Willems or 10 books by Kevin Henkes.  So my challenge for this summer was to stick with mostly books I had never read.  Some were authors I knew, but one of their books I hadn't read.  I wanted to find new favorites with Carter and possibly even great books for my classroom.

When I found a book I really liked, I wrote it down to keep track of for later.  I decided it would be a good idea to make a list of our favorite summer reading choices.  So with summer winding down and school starting up on Monday, I'd like to share our list, which is in no particular order.

Our Top Summer Reading Choices

• All Kinds of Kisses by Nancy Tafuri, I love Nancy Tafuri.  She has great books for beginning readers.  Each page has an animal sound on it and Carter LOVED it when I would make the animal sounds and I LOVED it when I got to give him lots of kisses because, of course, every time it said kisses I gave him some.  I also noticed the bird is on every page which was cool and would be lots of fun for a toddler to search for!  This was by far our favorite book we read.
  

• Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld, I always love books with the message that no matter your size you can make an impact and this one is adorable!

• A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson, I use her books as mentor texts for Writer's Workshop all the time, she's amazing!  I had never read this one before and it's probably my favorite book of hers.  Her writing is so poetic and beautiful and usually has a powerful message.

• A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis, I love her book Not a Box.  You must read it if you haven't!  It's also a good book for a beginning reader with repetition and great picture clues.

• City Colors by Zoran Milich, Kids love books with photographs and this would be a fun book to read again as Carter learns his colors.

• Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt, This book is the first in her series.  My students love these books and I'd never read them.  Watt has a great sense of humor that appeals to children as well as adults.  Ty also like this one.

• Welcome, Little Baby by Aliki, Reading this one with Carter made me feel all warm and fuzzy.  It is very sweet and I'm keeping track of it as a great baby shower/new baby present.

• Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox, I had a blast with this one.  Every time it said a baby had ten little fingers I'd stop and say, "Let's check, does Carter?" and I'd count his fingers.  I'd do the same thing when we got to toes.  This is a perfect book for babies and toddlers!

• Hands Can by Cheryl Hudson, This book has photographs of children which kids tend to love.  It is so cute with lots of rhyming, repetition, and bold words.  It is also a good book for a beginning reader with lots of great picture clues for words, but there are some tricky sight words the reader would need to know.

• Otter and Odder: A Love Story by James Howe, I loved this book and thought it had a sweet message.  I had Ty read it and he thought it was weird, so it may not be for everyone.

• Babies Can't Eat Kimchee by Nancy Patz, I want to remember this book to read to Carter when we are expecting a brother or sister.  It is so cute how the older sibling looks forward to teaching her little sister.  I also like the idea of using it in my classroom to draw out questions about other cultures.  It would be a great spring board for research.

• Hopper and Wilson by Maria van Lieshout, The characters are so adorable and reminded me of Mo Willem's Elephant and Piggie, so of course I loved them.  There were some great picture clues for making predictions.  The ending was precious.  I hope there are more Hopper and Wilson books, they need a series!

• I Am Small by Emma Dodd, The repetition is great for young children to chime in and "help" read parts of the page.  The ending is so sweet and touching.  This is definitely a book I will read to Carter when he's older and can understand it.  The size of the book is also small which is nice.  Carter was able to grasp and hold the book on his own.  That's so important for young children to hold or help hold the book and/or turn the pages so they feel like they're part of the reading experience. 

• Traces by Paula Fox, I imagine reading this book with Carter when he's older and then taking a walk or a hike and searching for animal tracks or other traces of animals.  This would also be a good book to use in my classroom to spark a lesson on adjectives, she uses so many great describing words! 

• There's Going to Be A Baby by John Burningham, This will be a good book to read with Carter when he's about to be a big brother.  I think it's so important for him to understand it's okay to sometimes wish there wasn't going to be another baby.  This book would be a great way to start that conversation and then have other 1st borns tell Carter what they love about being a big sibling.

• Jump! by Scott M. Fischer, Carter thought this book was hilarious.  Each time it said jump, I would bounce him and he would laugh.  This would be a great book with a toddler.  They could predict what would happen next the first read-through and then "help" you read the repetitive pages the next time.

• Bark, George by Jules Feiffer, This was another book Carter thought was hilarious.  He LOVES books with animal noises.  He laughs so hard every time I make an animal noise.  It would also be a fun one to read with a toddler.  They could make predictions and make the animal noises along with you.

We will continue going to the library once a week throughout the school year.  Next up will be our fall reading list.  Carter's favorite books from home are still the touch and feel books.  He is adorable when he read them!

Carter Loves Books

When we moved Carter's furniture back into his room after the carpet was installed, I put all of his soft books on the bottom shelf.  I thought sometime soon he may get them off the shelf to play with them.  I had no idea how soon though!  Today he rolled over to the bookshelf and pulled a book down to play with.  Then he pulled 2 more books off.  I wish I had thought to take a video of him pulling them off, but I did get some good pictures!

Grabbing another book.

Last night he reached for a book that was on the floor which made me think it would be cute if he crawled toward a book when he first starts crawling.  After watching him roll all the way over to the book shelf to pull books off, I realize that's a real possibility.  Now when he starts asking me to read him books, that will be even more exciting!

Carter's First Medal

At the beginning of the summer I signed Carter up for the summer reading program at our public library.  I was so excited to check out and read books to him.  A sidewalk was just laid by our house so now we can walk to the library.

Turning the page while reading a book.

We've been going to the library at least once a week and checking out a week's worth of books each time.  The goal for the summer reading program is to visit the library 4 times and read 20 books.  When you accomplish this you get prizes.  At 8 books you are given a medal and at 20 books you get a small stuffed animal.

Carter and I had visited the library 4 times and read 20 books a while ago, but the prizes weren't ready.  Today when we went in they were giving out prizes and I was so excited for Carter to get his!  They have high schoolers volunteering at the summer reading program table and the girl working had the biggest grin on her face as she handed me Carter's prizes.

I opened the medal and put it around his neck.  He grabbed onto the string and played with it the whole time we looked around and chose new books to check out.  When I gave him his stuffed prairie dog he smiled at it, grabbed it, and waved it around.

It may be silly but I was so proud of Carter.  He didn't exactly do anything other than sit in my lap as I read him books and ride in his stroller or get carried around at the library, but I was proud none the less.  I know this is just the first of many medals he will receive from the summer reading program and I am so glad I have the opportunity to teach him how important and fun reading is!  Now I just have to watch out for his new stuffed animal because Harper was very interested in it!