The Baker’s Dozen Book Usage Tips
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

2004

Anna's Book

With Children:
After reading this small lap book to a toddler or a young preschooler, ask your child what her favorite books are. Suggest finding a favorite book to read to a doll or stuffed animal.

With Families:
Elicit reactions to reading the same book over and over again. Discuss how young children can profit from multiple readings of the same books: that memorizing the text for "pretend reading" is a first step in reading, that children often learn to recognize where to turn the pages, that being comfortable with the language of print (vs. language of speech) makes children better listeners as we read to them.

Construction Countdown

With Children:
Read this book before taking children to the sandbox to play with their trucks, or before taking a field trip to a construction site. Prompt them to use words and phrases from the book as they participate in the activity. Make a lotto game with cut-outs of the various construction vehicles to help children learn the specific names and thereby expand their vocabularies.

With Families:
Read this book aloud, modeling how to read it to children. Drop your voice on the rhyming words, point to them and ask parents to fill in the word. Explain that this is one of the ways children learn to read, and that it is a good technique to use with similar books. This book is also a good example of a topic that is often interesting to even the busiest of preschoolers. Finding the right book is a great way to develop readers. Point out that counting down is related to learning to subtract.

The Dog From Arf! Arf! To Zzzzzz

With Children:
Discuss dogs they know (and love), talking about how dogs behave. Identify the kinds of dogs in the illustrations. Have children imitate some of the actions of the dogs in the book. Set up a dog kennel in a pretend play area, using stuffed dogs. Encourage the children to use vocabulary from the story: Fetch, Roll Over, Stay!

With Families:
Discuss the importance of alphabet books. Explain that having a variety of alphabet books that children love re-reading gives them lots of practice in identifying letters and their sounds.

Guess Who, Baby Duck!

With Children:
Have children bring in pictures of themselves as babies or toddlers, and discuss things they did and enjoyed.

With Families:
Encourage families to make memory books for their children to look through on sick days or down times. Discuss items that could be included in addition to photographs (children's drawings, birthday cards, movie tickets, etc.).

Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse

With Children:
This book is a perfect vehicle for helping children understand and use prepositions correctly (under, next to, up, down, etc.). It might be fun to prepare a mouse obstacle course after reading.

With Families:
Suggest that after a couple of readings, the parent and child might read together; one telling the story of the inside mouse and the other, the outside mouse. Point out that turn-taking is a great way for a child to accomplish small steps toward enjoying and reading books independently.

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale

With Children:
Invite children to share their own stories of favorite objects (stuffed animals, blankets) and their experiences in losing and finding them. These tales might make a good class book, or a personal, homemade storybook.

With Families:
This book ought to prompt good discussions of children's attachments to objects such as stuffed animals and blankets, as well as how to handle tantrums. This is a good time to explain the importance of children learning language; and that many times tantrums occur because children cannot make themselves understood.

Lemons Are Not Red

With Children:
This book provides a perfect lesson in classification of objects. As you share this book with preschoolers, they will have fun recognizing and describing characteristics that objects do and do not possess. You can extend the reading by applying the guessing game to other familiar objects.

With Families:
Discuss how children develop visual literacy through sharing books, then ask families to look for the cut-out visual clues embedded in the pages of this book. This is also a fine opportunity to discuss the preschooler's sense of humor as this book is sure to elicit laughs.

Polar Bear Night

With Children:
Supplement this reading with information about the Northern Lights and the habits of various arctic animals. Some children might want to have you point out that while young polar bears might be allowed to wander out at night, young children are not!

With Families:
Discuss characteristics that make this a good bedtime story-the hush of the words, the calm of the illustrations. Model a soothing and contented approach to reading this story aloud. Bring along other examples of good nighttime stories.

Subway

With Children:
Point to the repeated words (which stand out, in color) in each section of the text, and allow children to finish the refrain. Talk about subway and travel experiences.

With Families:
Suggest ways they can engage their children in conversation about this book. Talk about subway experiences. Where might the family be going? Would you like to take a trip like this? What parts seem like the most fun? If you could take a trip anywhere, where would you go?

Teeth, Tails, & Tentacles: An Animal Counting Book

With Children:
The large text and vivid illustrations provide a perfect math activity. Youngest counters can count along and point to colors, while older children will enjoy the fun of counting various parts of animals. Having children point to the number "2" and also to the word "two" will help them differentiate those two kinds of print.

With Families:
Share information about the importance of math literacy: reciting numbers in sequence, rational counting using one-to-one correspondence, recognizing number symbols, etc. Remind families that children need lots of time and practice to really acquire this knowledge, and that enjoying this book together over repeated readings is a perfect way to practice. Teach your families how to encourage these two skills as they share this book:

• counting on from a given number
• counting objects that are not in a neat or linear array (e.g., the spots on the leopard)

Truck Duck

With Children:
Celebrate children learning to read this book, being certain that they touch the words as they read. Make a matching or memory game with simple rhyming pictures. Include items from the book (caboose/moose; jeep/sheep).

With Families:
Use this as an example of a good book for children to practice "reading" themselves. Point out that looking at pictures will always be a key to successful reading. Encourage families to enjoy the silly pictures, but also to touch the words as they read this book to their children.

Where Is The Green Sheep?

With Children:
In addition to enjoying this fun-filled story-use this as a join-in and read along book, explore the understanding and use of opposites as you read and talk about the pictures, and listen for and point out rhyming words.

With Families:
This is a fine example of an easy-reader. Encourage families to explore why this is so (picture clues, rhyming words, etc.). Have families look through an assortment of picture books, identifying others that would be easy first-readers.

Wow! City!

With Children:
Encourage the youngest listeners to find and point to Izzy and her father on each page. After a few readings, point to the words as well as the objects on the pages. Children will learn to recognize repeated words, and emphasize ones that are in big print (Wow!).

With Families:
Point out the value of public print as a first reading experience. Find the public print in the book, and solicit ideas about readable public print in their children's daily lives. Encourage families to engage their children in reading this kind of text.

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2005

Alphabet House

With Children:
The unlabeled objects cry out for identification. It might be fund to create a graph where the 26 letters travel down the side and children can count how many objects start with each letter and place it in a box next to the letter. Which letter will win the object contest? Can someone guess based on a quick page through?

With Families:
Ms. Wallace has created a book that seems both simple to do yet quite lovely and detailed when done this well. Get out those scissors, paper, and glue sticks and create your own three-dimensional ABCs or counting books or perhaps a story starring your very own child.

Chameleon, Chameleon

With Children:
Prior to reading the book, have children talk about what they notice in the cover photograph. Since many young children may not be familiar with a chameleon, invite them to comment on the animal and the vibrant colors of its skin. Explain that a chameleon can change colors to match its surroundings.

With Families:
Make connections with the life of the chameleon and family life—resting, being hungry, getting food, and so on. The book offers additional information about chameleons which can be shared as children express deeper interest. Since chameleons “talk” to one another in colors, ask each family member to talk about the colors they might use to talk to each other. Since the illustrations are photographs, encourage children to look closely at photos they encounter in their everyday life.

Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready for Bed?

With Children:
Encourage the child to read simple words to make reading time a more interactive experience. To create a repetitive pattern, Cornelius P. Mud answers his mother's questions with a “yes” except for the one question when he says “no” because he wants a hug. When reading this book aloud, pause and let the child read Cornelius P. Mud's “yes” or “no” answers. Point or have the child point to the word “yes” or “no” when it is read. Praise the child's attempts at reading the two words. Have the child look for the words “yes” and “no” in other favorite books or in public print .

With Families:
Direct the child's eyes to meaningful print on the double page picture spread showing Cornelius P. Mud and his 10 storybooks. The letter “P appears in the word “Pig” which is used in several of the bedtime book titles. Have the child point to the letter “P” in the book titles. Have children look for other familiar letters, like the letters in their names in the book titles.

The Dog Who Cried Wolf

With Children:
At the end of the book, Michelle, the little girl, reads a book about monkeys and the last picture shows Michelle swinging from a ceiling light holding a banana. Ask your child what Michelle and Moka are feeling in the last picture based on their facial expressions . Provide your child with a variety of writing and drawing materials and have your child draw a picture of what Moka might do next.

With Families:
Encourage the families to read a variety of nonfiction materials to their children. In this story, Moka, the dog, was inspired to act like a wolf because Michelle, the little girl, read a book about wolves. Help the families locate brief encyclopedia entries, newsletters, periodicals, online articles, and nonfiction books about wolves. Together highlight interesting facts on wolves that would be fun to share with the children.

Food for Thought: The Complete Book of Concepts for Growing Minds—Shapes, Colors, Numbers, Letters, Opposites

With Children:
Invite young listeners to pay closer attention to the book by encouraging them to point to and name familiar objects in the illustrations. Another approach is to call children's attention to how many times items like bananas are used and to count those different ways. Likewise, the pictures in this book promote discussion on concepts that are interesting to young children. Use the end papers to introduce or review some of these concepts, for instance, have children count the number of airplanes or name the colors of the animals.

With Families:
Read this book before preparing a meal together. Use the book's words and ideas after reading by reminding the child of the concepts while cooking together. Have the child count as ingredients are measured or label colors as vegetables are washed and peeled. Call the child's attention to opposites in the kitchen such as the stove's burner is hot and the inside of the refrigerator is cold . Encourage the child to look for more Food for Thought concepts in other parts of the home and during daily routines.

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

With Children:
The pleasantly repetitive pattern of the text lends itself to singing the song. Children could make up verses that easily fit the pattern. Add words in the spirit of the song or have some silly fun with your verses: “He's got cookies and ice cream in his hands . . .”

With Families:
Talk about the many activities this family is enjoying in the book. Make plans to do similar activities or think of others that your family members may enjoy doing together. Go to the local library and look for the song on audio-tape or CD recorded by various singers over the years. Sampling other old spirituals can expand everyone's musical knowledge. Make sure to sing “He's Got the Whole World” (which is included in the back of the book) on your own adventures.

Hi! Fly Guy

With Children:
Point out that this story is divided into three separate chapters. Young children will enjoy the fact that they can understand a big kid's book—a true chapter book! Discuss with the children how each chapter's first sentence gives a clue to what some of the story action will be in that chapter.

With Families:
Share with families that punctuation plays an important role in making this story interesting to read aloud and provides clues on how to read dramatically. Discuss the variety of punctuation marks in the book and how they provide hints to reading aloud with expression, for example, ending a sentence with an exclamation point! Instead of a period.

Llama Llama Red Pajama

With Children:
After enjoying the story once or twice, read it again, but first ask your child to listen carefully for words with the same ending sound. Play a little hide and seek game with the sounds in the story and see if your child can pick up some of the rhyming pairs as you read them.

With Families:
Point out to families that this book has a fun sing-song rhythm when it is read aloud because of the rhyme pattern. Note that some of the rhyme pairs stand out in the book with bold colored letters like “pouts” and “shouts”, but some of the rhyme pairs are harder to see in print because the ending letters are not the same like “near” and “here.”

Mommy, Carry Me Please!

With Children:
Point out the word pattern “Mommy ______, carry me please…” on each page as you read it. Encourage your child to say the words as you read them. See if your child can recognize some of the words as you turn to each different animal page.

With Families:
Provide a selection of nonfiction books featuring photographs of animal mothers and their babies for the families. Point out the similarities and differences between the picture book illustrations and real photographs. Ask questions about why animal mothers would carry their babies in the way shown in the pictures.

With Children:
Encourage your child to use story words and ideas after reading the book together. The author uses the phrases, “Flex those muscles. Crack those knuckles.” before the mouse starts to load his plate with the snacks and carry the plate to his hole to indicate that mouse was ready for some serious work. Remind your child of the story by using the same phrases, “Flex those muscles. Crack those knuckles.” before daily routines such as setting the table, picking up toys, or energetic outdoor play.

With Families:
In addition to the funny story, Mouse Went Out to Get a Snack reviews the concept of counting up to 10 and counting back down again. Remind the families that letting the children look for, point to, and count the food items will add time to the reading session, but is an important way that children interact with books and reinforces the children's concept of counting.

Snip Snap! What's That?

With Children:
Point out to your child that the book uses both lower and upper case letters in interesting ways to make the story more dramatic. Have your child point to the words in the books when they appear in all uppercase letters like the words “SNIP,” “SNAP,” or the phrase, “YOU BET THEY WERE!” Ask your child to point out other interesting ways the author used print in the book to make the story more interesting or dramatic.

With Families:
Encourage the families to extend reading into play by role playing the book as a hide and seek game. Have the family members take turns being the “alligator” and “children.” When the alligator finds the children, have the childrenshout, “ALLIGATOR, YOU GET OUT!”

So Happy!

With Children:
In So Happy , turn-taking is modeled when the boy, the rabbit, and the magic seed each get a turn being the focus of the storytelling. After reading the book together, look at the pictures again with your child and talk about the picture clues that tell whose turn it is based on what is shown in the pictures. As your child responds to the picture clues, point to where the word boy , rabbit , or seed is on the page to reinforce the connection between the word and the picture. Point out that all three take turns in the book.

With Families:
Engage the families in literacy related play by providing materials like seed packets for pretend or real seed planting. Look for the directions on how to plant seeds on the back of seed packets. Point out any words from the book such as seed , growing , flower , leaves , and bud that may be on the seed packets. While planting the seeds, encourage the families to talk about how fast the magic flower grew in the book and how long it takes for real flowers to grow.

Whatever

With Children:
William Bee, who wrote and illustrated Whatever lives in the United Kingdom . After reading the book, look closely at the pictures with your child for clues that hint that this story took place in the United Kingdom . Look for the United Kingdom on a map or a globe to show your child where you live and where the story took place. Encourage an interest in books from other countries by going to your local library and looking for books about other countries or set in other countries.

With Families:
Encourage the families to read Whatever with the children's classic Pierre , by Maurice Sendak. Have the families compare the two books by talking about what is the same and what is different, some families may want to write down their ideas on a graphic organizer . Also, have the families discuss the ending of the book. Encourage the families to brainstorm what would happen next if the book continued the story. Start the conversation with open ended questions like, “What would Billy's dad do next?” or “What would Billy say next?”

2006

About Marsupials: A Guide for Children,

With Children:
After reading this story, talk about other animals that have characteristics similar to marsupials.  For example, what are some other animals that live in water?  What are some animals that eat plants?  Pick a favorite animal (or pet) and compare it to a marsupial.  Are they alike in any ways?  It might be fun to chart the similarities and differences. 

With Families:
Preview this book with families prior to them reading with children.  Discuss the related vocabulary in the glossary, as well as the information in the afterward.  Are there any words that might be new vocabulary for children?  Helping students learn new information and explaining the meaning of new words builds vocabulary and aids in comprehension.

Animal Babies in Seas (Animal Babies in Deserts, Animal Babies in Towns & Cities)

With Children:
Discuss some babies and mommies that your child might readily recognize (cats and kittens; dogs and puppies; chicks and chickens, etc…).

With Families:
Have children and family members try making the sounds and movements of the different sea creatures featured in this book.  Can you peep like a penguin?  Can you twitch your whiskers like a sea lion?

Black? White! Day? Night! A Book of Opposites

With Children:
Talking about opposites can be a fun game!  Children may have fun acting out opposite words.  For example, reaching high and reaching low.  Another example would be moving fast and moving slow.  As children become more familiar with concepts like colors, sizes, shapes, and opposites, they begin to sort and classify objects, an important skill for school success.

With Families:
When reading the book, give the first item in the pair of opposites, and then see if children can guess the opposite word.  Parents can point out opposites in their environment, like the “walk” and “don’t walk” signs at an intersection.  With families, brainstorm other opposites that are found in everyday activities.  Encourage families to turn these everyday activities into teachable

Clip-Clop!

With Children:
Clip-Clop invites thigh or lap-bouncing fun!  As you read the story to the child, gently bounce the child up and down on your thigh (or on your lap) to the rhythm of “Clip-clop, clippity-clop.”  Or have child clap the rhythm each time you read, “Clip-clop, clippity-clop” (one-two, three-four-five, six). 

With Families:
Talk with children and family members about all of the animals mentioned in this book (horses, cats, dogs, pigs, ducks).  Expand childrens’ knowledge of these animals by looking for some books about these animals at your school library or local library---perhaps even online.  Read the books to/with the children, then ask the children some questions:  “Which animals are large, which are small?  Do you know what sound a horse (“cat,” etc.) makes?  Where do these different animals live?"  Think of as many questions as you can based on your knowledge and the new facts you learned from the books and other sources.

Heave Ho!

With Children:
Help your child look for and identify the ‘number’ words on each page spread (twelve, first, second, etc…).  For each ‘number’ word, write out its numeric equivalent (12, 1,2, etc…) and discuss with your child.

With Families:
Involve family members in encouraging children to invent their own stories in sentences, and in writing down each sentence for the children.  Then, help the children count the number of sentences in their stories.  Talk about the basic elements of a story, and ask children to help identify the beginning, middle and end of their tales

How To Be

With Children:
At the end of the story, help children relate the positive traits to the animals they read about: "Yes, curious like the monkey." Act out the various behaviors during re-readings. Extend this story by thinking about other animals.  What actions would they do? Plan a trip to a local zoo or a pet shop.  Take photos during the trip, and involve children in creating a memory album by labeling the pictures.  Children will be able to retell the story of their field trip by using the pictures as a guide.   

With Families:
Children learn about social interactions through interactions with others and also through dramatic play.  This book is a nice introduction to talking with children about feelings.  Parents and children can look at pictures of children showing different feelings.  Together, families can talk about the feelings, and what could be the reason the child is feeling this way?  Allowing children time to pretend play at home and at school gives them an opportunity to express emotions, too.

“I’m not cute!”

With Children:
Discuss differences in children's behaviors at home and away from home - as owl wanted his mother to think he was cute, but not others. Draw a picture of Baby Owl as he imagines himself.  What does a “huge, scary, sleek, sharp-eyed, hunting machine” look like?

With Families:
Talk with children and other family members about Baby Owl’s feelings in this book.  Why was he frustrated when his friends said he was cute?

The Last Laugh

With Children:
Children may enjoy creating their own extensions to this story!  After drawing a picture, ask children to describe what is happening in their drawing.  Write the description on the picture.  Reread the story, but this time, add the child’s picture to the story.

With Families:
This book allows children to tell the story in their own words – a great pre-reading skill!  By telling stories, children develop language skills and gain practice with sequencing.  Are there other ways that parents can use sequencing picture cards in daily routines?  For example, parents may be interested in creating sequencing cards that show pictures of their child’s bedtime routine.  “Reading” the cards and knowing what to expect next may ease the bedtime transition for children.

Not a Box

With Children:
Draw some squares on blank sheets of paper.  Encourage children to draw around the boxes and create their own ‘Not-a-Box’ illustrations.

Read this book in tandem with Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon.  Discuss the similarities between the two books, including the use of imagination.  What does Harold imagine?  What does the bunny imagine?

With Families:
Take a large packing box and take turns seeing how many different things everyone can pretend it is!  How many ideas can everyone come up with?

Snow Sounds: An Onomatopoeic Story

With Children:
Have children repeat the “sound-words” in the book, and ask children, “What other objects make similar sounds? What are some loud sounds in this story---and some soft ones?  What sounds in this book do we hear only when it snows?  What sounds do we hear even when there is no snow?”

With Families:
When you travel with your children on foot or in a vehicle, ask your children if they remember the “Snow Sounds” book, and encourage them to listen for sounds, and to try to recall some of the “sound words” (such as “Vroom” and “Beep”) from the book.  Share with children additional “sound words” for sounds you hear while out together.

Tools

With Children:
If you have some clean paint brushes and a bucket, let children “play painters” by dipping brushes into a bucket of water and “painting” the sidewalk or steps.  If you have a paint roller, someone can paint with that, too!  Of course, the water will evaporate----but not right away!  (Remember:  to children, work seems like fun!)

Take turns in a group, having each person pretend to use a tool.  (For example, make a cutting motion with an index and middle finger as if cutting with scissors---or pretend to saw by pretending to grasp the handle of a saw, and draw your arm back and forth as if cutting a piece of wood.)  Maybe you can have someone pretend to use a tool, and others can guess what tool that person is pretending to use.  Then talk about what kinds of jobs those tools are used for.

At school, teachers could schedule a tool-themed show-and-tell, asking children to bring a tool used by a parent.

With Families:
After reading the book, see if you can find any of the tools (only safe ones, such as paint brushes or cloth tape measures, please!) mentioned in this book around your home or apartment, and ask the child if she/he can remember what jobs these tools are used for---or let the child point to the pictures of the tools in the book again to see what jobs these tools are used for.  If you have measuring spoons, you can play indoors taking turns with your child measuring teaspoons, tablespoons, etc. of water, then pouring them into a bowl.  (You could also do this outside with water or sand.)  After pouring the “spoonfuls” into a bowl, let child stir the water (or sand) with a large mixing spoon, pretending to mix batter.

What a Treasure

With Children:
After reading the story, spend some time digging in a sandbox!  Before children begin to explore, hide several objects in the sand.  Create pictures cards (with labels) of the hidden objects, and ask children to match the objects they find to the picture card.   This activity allows children to name and count objects!

With Families:
Discuss with families how extending a story supports comprehension.  Asking questions about or pointing out how the actions in the story relate to the reader’s life helps children make connections and expands their understanding of the story.  Treasure hunts can happen in many ways---through actual digging in a sandbox, to looking for specific objects while riding in a car. 

What Do Wheels Do All Day?

With Children
Ask your children to point to the pictures of “the stroller,” “the bus” and other wheeled objects in the book.  Have child name the wheeled objects that have small wheels or large wheels.  Ask children which wheels move fast, and which move slowly.

With Families:
When you travel to town or country (or even just outside around your house), have children point to some of the same wheeled objects they saw in this book---and to other ones, too.  Ask children to draw pictures of their favorite wheeled objects and ask what these wheels do:  “Do they roll?”  “Do they spin?”  Do they make a noise, or are they quiet?

2007

A Closer Look

With children:
Make “Peek Books” with the children. Adults can use manila folders and cut a square in the middle of the top page. Cut out magazine pictures to be glued to the second page. Children may be able to glue the magazine pictures. Ask children to guess what they think the object is when they look at the picture that shows through the cut out square in the Peek Book. Open the folder and find the answer!

With families:
 The size of the words in this book along with very few words on each page makes this a perfect book to help children start to recognize words. After reading through the book a first time with children, print a few of the words on a piece of paper. Reread the book and ask children to find the words as you go back through it.

Dog

With Children:
Allow children time to touch the different textures in the book. Point out different textures in the environment, such as smooth grass, rough tree bark, or a soft pillow. After hearing the story several times, children may want to complete the rhymes on the pages.  Play a rhyming game by re-reading the story and leaving out the last word of the rhyme. For example, “Smooth dog, curly dog, chase dog, catch!  Fleas make an itchy dog ___, ____, ___!” Let children fill in the last words.

With Families:
Share with parents that this is a special kind of book that needs extra care when reading. Encourage adults to enjoy each page with children. Adults can show children how to turn the pages and pull the tabs and then allow children to take the lead by turning pages and pulling the tabs themselves.  A fun family activity could be to bring in pictures of a family pet, or a favorite stuffed animal.  Together, families can use words to describe their pets.  Are they similar to any of the dogs in this book?  How are they different?   

Every Friday

With children:
Ask children to pantomime something the boy sees someone doing in this book. For instance, pretend to be sweeping the sidewalk with a broom or pretend to be unloading a truck or doing welding on a building construction site.  The children can take turns and guess each of the pantomimes. You might also have the children act out these city activities as a group.

With families:
Start a family tradition yourself.  It doesn’t have to be going out to eat, but try to set apart some special time for time together.  Try to schedule it for the same time each week or each month, so you will be more likely to stick to the plan---and will give the family members involved something to look forward.  It could be something as simple as going on a walk.   The important thing is not what you do; it’s spending time together with a chance to “talk about all sorts of things,” as the boy and his father do in the book.

First the Egg

With Children:
After reading this book, talk with children about circle stories. They start over again at the end! Share other circle stories such Laura Numeroff’s If You Give A Mouse A Cookie or The Napping House by Audrey Wood.

With Families:
This book is a good choice for talking to families about visual literacy and its importance in early literacy. Encourage families to have children respond to each “first” that is mentioned. For example, the parent would point to the words and say, “First the egg” and then the child would respond, “then the chicken” using the visual clues. This is a good way to reinforce turn-taking as an important skill. This book is one that children will love to look at and say over and over again.

Fish, Swish! Splash, Dash!: Counting Round and Round

With Children:
Before reading, point out the front and back of the book.  Open the book, and look at the pages together.  Guide children as they follow the text and count the sea life on each page.  At the end of the book, follow the little fish and turn the book around.  After reading, involve children in a game of follow the leader.  Try to find objects to count as you travel!

With Families:
Encourage families to build fun counting games into everyday activities.  While reading the story, adults and children can count together. What other objects can they count at home?  Using a stamp pad, children can make fingerprint designs on paper.  Add to the picture using markers or crayons to turn these prints into creatures.  After the artwork is completed, count the creatures created. 

Grumpy Bird

With Children: 
Who does Grumpy Bird meet in the story? Who is the first? Who is second? Who is the third and so on? Use stick puppets of Grumpy Bird and each animal that he meets to talk about the sequence of the story and what happens at the beginning, the middle and the end of the story.

With Families: 
Use Grumpy Bird to talk with your child about feelings.  Why was Bird grumpy?  Does everyone feel grumpy sometimes?  Why?  What helps your child cure a grumpy mood? Ask the child to act out different feelings---grumpy, happy, sad, and more. How does your face look when you are grumpy?  How does your voice sound when you are grumpy?  How does your body move when you are grumpy?

I Don't Like Gloria!

With Children:
Talk about the feelings that Calvin has in this story. Why does Calvin feel left out? What does that feel like? This is a great story to dramatize. As the book is read aloud, the children act out the roles of Calvin and Gloria.

With Families:
Share this book with families and talk about the ways that children express their feelings, for example jealousy, anger, and so on. Discuss that feelings are important for children to express as they become more independent. In the story, Calvin gets a chance to say how he feels, verbalizing his feelings and helping him to learn to live with Gloria and we hope eventually with Jeffrey!

I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean

With Children:
Extend this story by sharing a variety of nonfiction books with the children about ocean life. Children can create their own ocean animals and create an ocean collage. Which animals are the biggest and smallest in the ocean collage?

With Families:
Discuss with families the importance of repetitive phrases in early literacy. The repetitive phrases along with the visual clues make this a great book to read aloud together. This book provides a chance for children to join in repeating the words and pointing at them.  It also provides a chance to talk about bragging as well as making the best out of a situation that doesn’t always go our way.

Leaves

With Children:
Talk with children about the events in the story, and invite them to draw a picture of their favorite part.  As children describe their drawings, an adult can help the children print the descriptions on the picture.  These drawings can be used as sequencing cards to retell the story.  Props are another great way to encourage retelling.  Children can use teddy bears to re-create the story in their own way.

With Families:
This story sets the stage for a discussion about the seasons.  Families can create a list of the fun activities they can do during each season.  Encourage adults to ask questions that connect to the story.  For example, “In the winter, when it was cold and snowy, bear took a nap.  What do you like to do in the winter?”  Adults can write down the children’s responses, and add some new vocabulary to the list, too.  The list can be kept somewhere special and referred to when looking for a family activity idea!

Meet the Meerkat

With Children: 
Can you run like a meerkat?  Can you make sounds like a meerkat?  Encourage your child to act like a meerkat, building on the facts they learned reading the book.

With Families:
 Talk to families about using nonfiction books—books that have true facts—with children. Nonfiction books are important for young readers in developing literacy skills. Meet the Meerkat asks a series of simple questions: “What do you look like?” “Where do you live?” “What do you eat?” and more. Use these questions as a way to help children answer simple questions about themselves or family members. Parents can share the additional child friendly facts at the end of the book with children.

Penguin

With Children:
Encourage the child to read the repetitive words in this book. Penguin almost always says ‘nothing.’  When reading this book aloud, pause and let the child read Penguin’s ‘nothing,’ pointing to the word for the child.  If appropriate, when Penguin says “everything” at the end of the book, point to the word and discuss the difference between ‘nothing’ and ‘everything’.

With Families:
Encourage your child to illustrate a simple event from their day as Penguin does in the book.  Talk with your child about how pictures can tell a story.

Tip Tip Dig Dig

With children:
In either an indoor sand play table or an outdoor sandbox—or just an area that has some soft dirt that’s safe for children to play in with their hands, have children imitate the actions of some of the heavy construction vehicles in this book. Ask them if they remember the words (verbs) that were used to describe those actions—“dig,” “push,” “lift,” and so on.  (If they don’t, do the action yourself, then say the word that describes it—“dig,” “roll,” etc.)

If you have some toy versions of some of these vehicles, great---but you can improvise, too (by using some spoons or small plastic buckets to dig, thick pieces of cardboard (or even just hands) to push the sand or dirt, a rolling pin or a plastic bottle filled with water and sealed to “roll” and flatten the dirt, etc., etc.

With families:

If there’s a construction site near you, take the children to a safe location near it, and see if they are able to point out any of the heavy construction vehicles in this book.  If they find some, ask them if they remember the action words that were used in the book to describe the work that these vehicles do—for example, the dump truck “tips,” the crane “lifts,” etc.  If there isn’t a construction site close to you, consider borrowing from your local library a VHS tape or DVD made for children that shows construction work being done.  These are usually quite easy to find.  There have been some made about building bridges, making tunnels, building roads, etc.

Yo, Jo!

With Children:
 Talk with children about Jomar’s community.  Looking at the illustrations, what do you notice about it? Who are some of Jomar’s friends and neighbors? What do they like to do? What animals are in Jomar’s neighborhood? What places are there to eat? Show children the copyright and dedication pages in the book which show a double page vignette of Jomar’s entire street without the people. Ask the children to retell each of the people that Jomar met along the way. For example, he admired his friend’s shoes at the mailbox, he played with the dog at the fire hydrant by the water pump, and he was just about back at his steps when he ran to greet Grandpa and so on…

With Families:
Encourage families to talk with children about their own neighborhoods. Have parents draw with their children and make a map of their neighborhood using pencils, crayons, paints or cut out pieces of paper/newspaper to create collages like the book. How is it like Jomar’s neighborhood? How is it different?

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