By: Kim Norman
Publisher: Sterling Books
ISBN: 978-1-4027-7076

FROM THE FLAP: Join ten adventurous friends as they speed down a snowy slope on their giant toboggan. How many of them will end up together at the bottom of the hill? With plenty of slipping and sliding, gliding and riding, this raucous race promises to have a very bumpy ending.

KATE’S TAKE: Kim Norman takes readers on a whimsical, rollicking, winter ride.

ALLITERATION PARTNERS Interpersonal and Verbal/Linguistic
Write the name of each animal on ten separate index cards. Then write each animal’s action on ten other index cards. Give ten children animal cards and ask them to find their action partner whose card will start with the same first letter as their animal does.

Seal and spilled, hare and hopped, sheep and shot, walrus and whirled, fox and flipped, squirrel and squeezed, wolf and wiped, moose and muddled, bear and bailed, reindeer and running

POPSICLE STICK SLEDS Visual/Spatial
Each child will need six Popsicle sticks and a 3x5 index card. Before you give the children the Popsicle sticks, you should make these adjustments: cut the ends off at forty-five degree angles from two of the sticks and cut one stick in half. Three of the sticks will remain unaltered. Ask the students to paint all of their sticks red. Then have them place one of the short sticks on the bottom of their index card, and one short stick at the top of the index card. Next ask them to glue the three unaltered long sticks on top of the two short sticks. After the top of the sled has dried, students can glue the runners(the sticks cut at 45% angles to the bottom of the sled.

TEN ON THE SLED BOOKS Visual/Spatial and Verbal/Linguistic
Give each child a ten-page mini book with the simple sentence: There were ____________ on the sled. Have the children write in the missing number words 10-1 and illustrate each page. On the last page the sentence should look like this: There _________ _____________ on the sled. Students can write in the word was on the last page.

TEN ON THE SLED MATH Logical/Mathematical
Now that the kids each have their own sled, you can use teddy bear math manipulatives to have the students tell addition and subtraction stories. For example, there were ten bears on the sled and four fell off. How many are left? Kids reenact the stories with their bears and write the algorithms on their white boards.

TEN ON THE SLED SING-A-LONG Musical and Kinesthetic
Have ten kids sit one behind the other on the rug. Ask the whole class to sing the words to the book and ask kids to roll off the sled.

BOOK BUDDIES
-Christopher Counting by Valeri Gorbachev
-Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh
-Ten in the Bed by Jane Cabrera
-The Baker’s Dozen: A Counting Book by Dan Andreasen
-Who Invited You by Candace Fleming

HAPPY SNOW DAY NEW ENGLAND! I'M OFF TO JOIN THE SNOWBALL FIGHT RAGING IN MY YARD.

CALVIN CAN'T FLY: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie

By Jennifer Berne
Publisher: Sterling
ISBN: 978-1-4027-7323-5

FROM THE FLAP: Calvin was born under the eaves of an old barn with his three brothers, four sisters, and sixty-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-two cousins. Calvin may be one of many, but he’s certainly different from the rest.

While the other little starlings learn to swoop and hover and fly figure eights, Calvin buries his beak in books. In the library his mind soars, taking him places his wings never could.

KATE’S TAKE: A fun fall read that celebrates books and being one's self.

FALL FUN BOOKS: Verbal/Linguistic, Visual/Spatial, and Intrapersonal
Give each student a piece of paper with the sentence starter: In the fall I like to_____________. Ask each student to finish the sentence and draw a picture to go with it. Then, have students illustrate their sentences. Put each sheet in a three ring binder and make a class book to send home with the students.

FORMATION TAG-Bodily/Kinesthetic and Naturalist
Discuss the possible reasons why starlings might fly in formations. One reason is to protect themselves from possible predators such as hawks. Take students outside to play a game of predator vs. prey tag, hawks vs. the starlings. As the starlings try to cross from one line to the other, they’ll learn the benefit of flying in a group vs. flying solo.

STARLING BLACK BIRDS-Musical and Bodily Kinesthetic
These lyrics are adapted from Music Together
Starlings black birds-put hands in your armpits and flap wings
Crow flying round-flap arms out at your side
Nut hatch hopping down the tree-have one hand hop down your opposite arm
Chickadee, dee, dee, dee-hold both hands out front and open and close fingers to thumb like a bird beak, using quick, small motions
Caw, caw, caw, caw-do same motion as chickadee but open the beaks wider and at a slower pace
Repeat chickadee line and actions four times
This is a fun song to sing in a round, too.

STARLING STAMPS-Visual/Spatial
Starlings form all sorts of amazing formations while flying through the sky. Ask each student to outline their favorite shape on a large piece of sky blue construction paper. Make bird stamps out of a potato or apple and have kids stamp multiple bird shapes inside their outline.

STARLING SENTENCE SEQUENCING-Verbal/Linguistic
Divide a 8x11 sheet of paper into 6 parts. Trace a flying bird shape into each section. Write one of the following six words on each bird: Starlings fly south for the winter. Make enough copies for the class. Ask each student to cut out the six birds and glue them in order onto a long strip of paper made from a 11x18 sheet of construction paper cut in half length wise and stapled together. Ask students to glue the birds down in order on their paper.

BOOK BUDDIES:
-Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss
-How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
-Swimmy by Leo Lionni
-The Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen
-Wolf! by Becky Bloom

WILLOUGHBY AND THE LION

By Greg Foley
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN 978-0-06-154750-8

FROM THE FLAP: This is the story of Willoughby, whose new house feels too small and very lonely.
It’s also the story of an enchanted lion and spectacular wishes come true: of roller coasters, and fast, fast shoes, and enormous crowds of people.
But most of all, it’s the story of one important question: What is the most wonderful thing of all?

KATE’S TAKE: Stunning illustrations and a heart-warming read.

ANIMAL CHARADES: Kinesthetic and Interpersonal

At the end of the book, Willoughby becomes true friends with the lion. Gather students in a circle on the rug, and ask them if they could have any animal as a true friend, which one would they choose? Then, one-by-one ask students to move like their animal on the rug, and ask the spectators to guess which animal their classmate is imitating.

MAKE A WISH CLASS BOOK Intrapersonal, Visual/Spatial, and Verbal/Linguistic
Give each student an 8 x 11.5 sheet of paper with the following sentence starter: If I could wish for anything in the world, I would wish for ___________________________________________. Ask students to fill in the blank and illustrate their sentence. Put all of the work in a three ring binder and send the binder home with each individual student.

THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT Musical
Sing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by Robert John. http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/robert_john/the_lion_sleeps_tonight.html

WISH MATH Logical/Mathematical
Give each student ten manipulatives and a white board. Ask them how many wishes Willoughby had at the beginning of the book. Counting down from ten, subtract each wish. Ask students to model each problem with their manipulatives and write the number sentence for each problem.

WISH SCAPES Visual/Spatial
Give each student an 11x18 sheet of black construction paper. Ask students to illustrate their wishes using white chalk. Then give students white and gold paint to mimic the illustrations in Willoughby and the Lion.

BOOK BUDDIES:
-Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
-If I Were a Lion by Sarah Weeks
-Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen
-Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
-Willoughby and the Moon by Greg Foley

MY HEART IS LIKE A ZOO

By Michael Hall
Publisher: Greenwillow Books An Imprint of Harper Collins
ISBN: 978-0-06-191511-6

FROM THE FLAP: Welcome to the zoo! Twenty animals are waiting for you—some are familiar, some may be brand new. What are they doing? How are they feeling? Are they friends of yours? Come on in and say hello!

KATE'S TAKE: A bright, emotional intelligent book that's sure to spark creativity.

ALPHABETIZED ANIMALS (Kinesthetic and Verbal/Linguistic)

Give each one of your students a different heart animal. Make sure the name of each animal is visible. Ask students what the first letter of the alphabet is and ask that student to come in front of the class. Continue until all of the students are in alphabetical order in front of the class.

ANIMAL YOGA (Kinesthetic and Interpersonal)

Gather the students on the rug and give each child a chance to physically emulate an animal. The other students will try and guess which animal the child is mimicking.

HEART COLLAGES (Visual/Spatial)

Place a variety of hearts of all shapes and colors at the art table. Give each student a large sheet of black paper and ask them to create a heart collage. They could choose an animal or they could choose to create a different object.

HEART GRAPHS (Logical/Mathematical)

Make a graph of how many hearts Hall used to create each animal or make a graph of the how many hearts there are of each color.

OUR HEARTS ARE LIKE A ZOO CLASS BOOK (Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Verbal/Linguistic, and Visual/Spatial)

Give each child a 8x11 piece of white paprer and ask him/her to complete the sentence ________ heart is as ____________ as a ____________ when ______________________________________________________. Have them illustrate
their sentegnce. Bind the work together to create a class book to send home with a different student every few days. If you’re working one-on-one with a child, he/she can easily make their own book which contains five or six pages that each talk about a different emotion and animal.

BOOK BUDDIES:

-Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen (November 22, and November 25, 2009 posts)
-Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert
-Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh
-Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood
-Wild About Books by Judy Sierra

SUBWAY RIDE

By Heather Lynn Miller
Publisher Charlesbridge
ISBN: 978-1-58089-111-0

FROM THE FLAP:
Pay the fare.
Turn the gate—
Take a subway ride.

People rush.
Music blares.
Doors slide shut.
The train roars down the track.

A wondrous trip through the world’s subway stations brings five children together, showing how travel through different cultures creates community.

KATE’S TAKE: Celebrate transportation and multiculturalism with Heather Lynn Miller’s Subway Ride.

MOVE AND GROOVE (Kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal)

Take your class outside or to the gym. Form a train. Have the engine pick a movement such as skipping, hopping, or galloping and ask the rest of the class to follow him. Keep changing leaders until everyone has had a chance to be the engine. Play train music in the background such as Dan Zanes’s “Catch That Train.”

RHYME AND MATCH (Verbal/Linguistic and Interpersonal)

Draw two train cars on an 8 ½ by 11 sheet of paper. Make ten copies. Then, write one word from the story in the top car and its rhyming pair in the other car. Pass out one train car to each child and ask them to pair up with their rhyming partner. Follow up with a worksheet that has the rhyming pairs separated in two columns and ask them to draw a line to the word that rhymes with the word in the other column.

SIGHT WORD SEARCH (Verbal/Linguistic)

Miller’s text repeats these sight words often: we, our, up, and down. Type out the short text and list the four sight words at the top of the page. Ask each student to circle all of those sight words on her page. Then give students another page that has the text without the sight words. Ask them to write in the missing words.

TICKETS FOR SALE (Logical/Mathematical)

Miller’s book takes readers to ten different subway stations throughout the world. Ask ten of your students to be ticket sellers and the other ten pretend to be customers. Both customers and vendors will need pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Ask each student to go to one vendor to buy a ticket. You can have the tickets be different amounts so that each child is buying or selling a ticket at his or her math level. After the ten students have bought their tickets, ask them to find a train seat on the rug. Extend the math by adding up the cost of the tickets in each row and on the whole train. Then have the sellers become the buyers and visa-versa and repeat.

WE RIDE CLASS BOOK (Verbal/Linguistic, Visual/Spatial, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal)

Celebrate your classroom community with a class book. Give each child an 8 ½ by 11 sheet of white paper with the following sentence on the bottom: We ride past __________ home on __________ _________. Have the children write their name in the first blank and their street name on the second and third blank. If you have a homeless child, he or she could pick a street where they would like to live and draw their dream home. Compile the pages in a 3-ring binder and send home with each student.

BOOK BUDDIES:

-All Aboard! by Mary Lyn Ray
-Freight Train by Donald Crews
-I Love Trains! by Philemon Sturges
-Puzzle Train by Susannah Leigh
-Shortcut by Donald Crews

COLD PAWS, WARM HEART

By Madeleine Floyd
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 0-7636-2761-5

FROM THE FLAP: Far away in the land of cold and ice lives Cold Paws, a lonely polar bear. With only his silver flute for company, Cold Paws shivers and wonders why he always feels cold inside. But when young Hannah from the nearby village makes friends with him, that chilly feeling inside Cold Paws begins to melt away.

KATE'S TAKE: A fun book just in time for Valentine's Day.

A SPECIAL GIFT (Verbal/linguistic, Visual/Spatial and Interpersonal)

Hannah gives Cold Paws material gifts, hugs, and the gift of her time. Ask students to draw a picture of a material gift or a gift of time they received from a friend or loved one. Have them write about their picture and share it with the class.

GLOWING HEARTS (Visual/Spatial)

Obtain a glow stick bracelet for each student. Ask each pupil to cut out a large, medium and small heart. On the large heart, have students write: You make my heart glow. Tape the large heart to the middle of the glow stick. Tape the small heart at one tip of the glow stick, tip pointing away from the stick. Tape the large heart to the top of the glow stick pointing down the stick. Have students exchange their arrows with other students and wear their bracelets for the rest of the day. Special thanks to FAMILY FUN for this activity. http://familyfun.go.com/valentines-day/valentines-day-cards/best-valentines-day-cards-834796/#Hearts%20Aglow;4

MY BODY’S PUMP (Musical and Naturalist)

To the tune of Bingo have students sing “My body has a pump and heart is its name-o. H-E-A-R-T and heart is its name-o.” Students clap each time they say a letter name. On each consecutive verse, they don’t name one of the letters. So, the second time through it will be CLAP-E-A-R-T. Repeat until students are clapping each letter name instead of singing it.

PATTERNED SCARVES (Logical/Mathematical and Visual/Spatial)

Hannah gives Cold Paws her striped scarf to keep him warm. Have students make a patterned scarf out of construction paper. Hang the scarves around the room to keep everyone warm.

WARM UPS (Kinesthetic)

Hannah teaches Cold Paws jumping jacks. As a group give students a chance to suggest a warm-up activity for the class. Count out loud and perform the exercises together.

BOOK BUDDIES:

-A Bear for All Seasons by Diane Marcial Fuchs
-A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker
-Bear’s New Friend by Karma Wilson
-How Does Your Heart Work? (Rookie Read-About Health) by Don L. Curry, Jane Waddell and Jeanne Clidas
-The Lonely Moose by John Segal

OTIS

By Loren Long
Publisher: Philomel Books
978-0-399-25248-8

FROM THE FLAP: Otis is a special tractor. He loves his farm and farmer. He particularly loves the little calf in the next stall, whom he purrs to sleep with his soft motor. The two become great friends, romping in the fields, leaping bales of hay and playing ring-around-the rosy by Mud Pond.

But when the big yellow tractor comes to the farm and replaces Otis, he is cast away to rust behind the barn until the little calf gets stuck in Mud Pond. Then there is only one tractor(and it’s not big or yellow) who saves the day. It’s little Otis!

Artist Loren Long has created an unforgettable story and a truly unforgettable character.

CHARACTER SEQUENCE (Verbal/Linguistic)

Assign students the character roles of Otis, the little calf, the farmhands, the yellow tractor, the fire chief, and the fire truck. It is helpful if you have signs with a picture of each character to give to the students. Ask the students to tell you what little calf’s problem is. Have the little calf stand in the "mud." Ask who came first to help the calf? Then, have the farmhands stand next to the calf. Repeat the activity until you reach Otis. If you repeat the activity once or twice, every student will get at least one turn.

MIRROR MOVEMENT (Kinesthetic and Interpersonal)

This activity builds student confidence, strengthens community, and helps get rid of the jitters. Better yet you can do it during transition time. The little calf mirrors Otis’s movements. Ask one of your students to pretend to be Otis. This student will move a part of his or her body and all of the other students will mirror his or her movement. Switch leaders often.

PERSONIFICATION ART (Visual/Spatial)

Loren Long highlights his personified character by juxtaposing primary colors with a monochromatic background. Give students brown, black, or gray construction paper and white chalk. Ask the children to draw a landscape with white chalk. Then, they can choose a primary chalk color and personify a vehicle. Check out the Book Buddies section for more books with personified vehicles.

ROPE TUG MATH (Logical/Mathematical)

Gather students on the rug and give each student a whiteboard or clipboard to record addition problems. Tie a long rope onto a large object and tell the kids to pretend the object is the calf. Have a small number of students/farmhands come and hold the rope. Then ask more students to come and hold the rope. How many students tried to pull the calf out of Mud Pond? If you’re working on subtraction, start with the larger number or students and have some of them leave the scene.

TRACTOR SONGS (Musical)

Check out the book John Deere: Crazy About Tractors Songs and sing them with your class. This url lets you listen to song previews: http://www.amazon.com/John-Deere-Crazy-About-Tractor/dp/B002LB6EMY

BOOK BUDDIES

-John Deere: Crazy About Tractors Songs by John Deere
-Dinotrux by Chris Gall
-I’m Dirty by Kate and Jim McMullan
-I Stink by Kate and Jim McMullan
-The Three Little Rigs by David Gordon

WAITING FOR WINTER

By Sebastian Meschenmoser
Publisher: Kane Miller
ISBN 978-1-935279-01-4

FROM THE FLAP: Deer has told squirrel how wonderful snow is, so Squirrel sits outside and waits for winter. He waits, and he waits, and he waits. It’s boring.

All his not-so-patient waiting has woken Hedgehog, who decides he’d like to see it snow too. They wait, and they wait, and they wait. And it’s still boring, even when there are two of you. Maybe singing will help to pass the time?

All the not-so-patient waiting and the not-so-quiet singing has woken Bear. He’ll have to help Squirrel and Hedgehog find the snow if he wants to get any sleep this winter. Deer said it was white and wet and cold and soft. How hard could it be to find something like that?

Well, maybe harder than he thinks.

GARBAGE DAY (Naturalist)

Give the kids plastic, disposable gloves and garbage bags, and take them for a walk outside. Have them pick up any litter or garbage they see. Not only does it make their immediate surroundings cleaner, but it keeps the trash from traveling elsewhere. Read Tracking Trash by Loree Griffin Burns for more information.

SNOWMEN RETELLINGS (Verbal/Linguistic)

Have each child cut out two symmetrical snowmen. Then, ask them to put glue on one vertical half of the snowman and stick the other snowman on top. Fold back the two halves without glue. The snowman should have three sides and be able to stand up on its own. On one side have students write about the beginning of the story, on the next side have students write about the middle of the story, and on the last side have students write about the end of the story.

SNOW LANDSCAPES (Visual/Spatial)

Give students an 8x11 piece of black or blue construction paper and a piece of white chalk. Have them draw snowdrifts on the bottom of the paper. Then, give them sheets of white paper to tear, clear beads, snippets of white ribbon, and foam snowflakes for the falling snow.


SNOW SONGS (Musical)

Squirrel sings to pass the time. Welcome winter with these snow songs available at http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/preschool_themes/ice/ice_songs.htm and http://www.songs4teachers.com/snow.pdf

SQUIRREL TAG (Bodily Kinesthetic)

Each child starts off as a squirrel. Have two squirrels be it. When they tag a student, the child becomes a tree, a base for the other squirrels that have yet to be tagged. Time how long it takes for the pair of squirrels to tag ten students and repeat.

BOOK BUDDIES

-Snow by Uri Shulevitz
-Snowball by Nina Crews
-Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
-Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam and the Science of Ocean Motion by Loree Griffin Burns
-Under the Snow by Melissa Stewart

THE CIRCUS SHIP

By Chris Van Dusen
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN 978-0-7636-3090-4

FROM THE FLAP: When a circus ship runs aground off the coast of Maine, the circus animals must stagger to the shore of a small island. At first the townspeople view them with suspicion, but it’s not long before locals and animals are sharing the island in harmony.

When the greedy circus owner returns, the townsfolk and the circus refugees come up with a delightfully original way to outsmart the bloated blowhard, exacting hilarious revenge in the process.

With rhymed text and brilliantly caricatured illustrations that evoke the early nineteenth century, Chris Van Dusen has crafted a stunning picture book about the unique bonds of friendship and community.

THEY CAME IN TWOS (Verbal/Linguistic)

Take twelve pairs of rhyming words from the text. Write each word on an index card. Pass out a card to each student. Say a rhyming word from the same family and ask the students who have words from that same family to come to the front of the room. As a class brainstorm as many words as possible that rhyme with those words.

CAMOUFLAGED CHARACTERS (Spatial)

As a class, talk about how each animal is hidden by the townspeople. Brainstorm different ways each animal could camouflage itself in varying realistic and fantastic environments. Have each student choose an animal and draw a picture of it camouflaged in a realistic or fantastic setting.

CIRCUS SONGS (Musical)

There are some great circus songs you can sing with your class at http://www.preschooleducation.com/scircus.shtml. All of the lyrics are set to well known tunes such as Mary Had a Little Lamb or I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.

TIGHTROPE WALKERS (Physical)

Circuses usually showcase tightrope walkers. Put a balance beam or a two by four in the middle of the class rug. Have a few students pretend to be hungry crocodiles swimming around the rug waiting to gobble up any students who fall off the tightrope into the water.

THE CIRCUS SHIP READER’S THEATER (Interpersonal)

This book has a distinct beginning, middle and end and has a large list of characters. So, it’s great for Reader’s Theater. Talk about the beginning when the boat crashes, the middle when the animals cause havoc and the Tiger saves Emma Rose, and the end when the townspeople and the animals work together to trick the circus owner. Give students the roles of the animals, the circus owner, the captain, Emma Rose, Little Red and the townspeople and have them reenact the book. Don't forget to have the animals camouflage themselves in the classroom!

BOOK BUDDIES:

-Circus by Lois Ehlert
-If I Ran The Circus by Dr. Seuss
-Last Night I Dreamed a Circus by Maya Gottfried
-Miss Bindergarten Plans a Circus with Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
-Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing By April Jones Prince

AND THE DISH RAN AWAY WITH THE SPOON

By Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel
Publisher: Harcourt, Inc.
ISBN 0-15-202298-8

FROM THE FLAP: Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laughed to see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Every night the rhyme gets read. Every night Dish and Spoon run away. And every night they return, until tonight!

Where can Dish and Spoon be? The rhyme can’t go on without them, so Cat, Cow, and Dog set out to search for their missing friends. But where to start? Should they go north? East? Northeast? They’ll just have to read Fork’s map, ask directions, and try not to get lost in Little Boy Blue’s haystack or under Miss Muffet’s Tuffet or in the Big Bad Wolf’s Kitchen…

“Fee, Fi, Fo…”

Oh no. Could that be the giant?

JUMPING OVER THE MOON (Kinesthetic)

Cut out a large moon from yellow bulletin board, tape it to the rug, and have students jump over it one-by-one. Have students recite And the Dish ran away with the Spoon rhyme saying each child’s name instead of Cow when he or she jumps over the moon. Take a picture of each child jumping over the moon for the Who Jumped Over the Moon? activity below.

LOST AND FOUND (Intrapersonal and Visual/Spatial)

Cat is very upset when he realizes Dish and Spoon are gone and is very relieved when he finds them. Draw a picture of how you felt when you lost something and how you felt when you found it. Write a sentence describing your picture.

PAPER PLATE PUZZLES (Visual/Spatial)

Give each student a paper plate(Dish) that has been cut up into six pieces. Have them repair Dish. Then, around the edge of the paper plate, have them use marker and create a striped border in an A, B, A pattern.

WHO JUMPED OVER THE MOON? (Verbal/Linguistic)

Using the pictures from Jumping over the Moon, create a class book. Each page will feature one picture of a student jumping over the moon, and the rhyme minus the word cow. Put a blank line where the word cow would go and have the pictured student write in his or her name. Take turns sending the book home in a bag with each child.

WHO RAN AWAY WITH THE SPOON? (Interpersonal)

Instead of playing Doggy, Doggy Where’s your Bone, play Who Ran Away with the Spoon. Change the last line of And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon to And someone ran away with the spoon. Have one student go into the hallway while one student hides the spoon. Have the class chant the rhyme when they’re ready to have the student come guess who ran away with the spoon.

Book Buddies:

-Little Miss Muffet Counts to Ten by Emma Chichester Clark
-Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose by Leo and Diane Dillon
-The Neighborhood Mother Goose by Nina Crews
-You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very short Mother Goose Tales to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW

By Mei Matsuoka
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
ISBN:-13: 978-0-8050-8792-5

FROM THE FLAP: Wolf is feeling offended and indignant: all the wolves he’s ever read about are nasty, scary, and greedy! To set the record straight, he decided to write a story about a nice wolf. But will his wolfish instincts get the better of him after all?

EXCELLENT ENDINGS (Verbal/Linguistic)

Ask students to write an ending to FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW from the wolf’s point of view and another ending from one of the other animal’s points of view. If students are emerging writers, have them illustrate their ending and have them dictate the story to you.

FOOTPRINT BORDERS (Visual/Spatial)

Have students mount their stories from Excellent Endings onto white construction paper. Then have them stamp a border of footprints around their stories. If you don’t have stamps, use potato prints.

FOOTPRINT SCAVENGER HUNT (Bodily/Kinesthetic and Logical/Mathematical)

Photocopy six different sets of footprints. You’ll need about twenty of each kind. Place the footprints throughout the room or school. Divide students into teams of three or four and have them follow their animal footprints. Every five footprints or so, right a clue on the footprint about the size of the animal, whether it’s prey or predator, habitat, and size. At the end of the footprints, children will find a photo of the animal. Challenge students to identify their animal before they find the photo. Go to www.bear-tracker.com for drawings of various mammal footprints and useful information about their habitats and diets.

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW MATH STORIES (Logical/Mathematical)

Talk about each animal in the story and about its diet. Create addition and subtraction problems such as: Five flies flew around frog’s head. Frog ate two. How many flies were left? Or, rabbit ate three carrots from one garden and five from another. How many carrots did rabbit eat all together? After doing many as a class, ask students to create their own math stories.

STEPS TO FRIENDSHIP (Interpersonal and Intrapersonal)

Wolf sets out to make friends, but he is unsuccessful. As a class brainstorm a list of things to say to someone when trying to initiate a friendship. The other animals weren’t friendly to wolf either. Brainstorm a list of friendly responses children can say when someone approaches them and asks to be friends. Ask students to trace their footprint, cut it out, and sign their name on their footprint. Post the prints around the room.

BOOK BUDDIES

-My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza
-The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt and Tony DiTerlizzi
-The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
-Wolves by Emily Gravett

What Do WHEELS Do All Day?

By April Jones Prince
Illustrated by Giles Laroche
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
ISBN-13: 978-0-618-56307-4

FROM THE FLAP: Yeah, what do WHEELS do all day? Well they push, race, stroll, fly, whiz, and spin all day long!

Hoop Action (Bodily-Kinesthetic)

April Jones Prince uses twenty-nine different verbs in WHEELS. Explain that verbs are action words. Read through the story and list all of the verbs. Then, take students outside and give each student a hula-hoop. Call out a verb from the story and have children act out the verbs with their hoops.

Parking Garage Math (Logical-Mathematical)

Ask a group of students to use blocks to build parking garages for Matchbox cars. Give each student ten cars. Tell the children various addition and subtraction stories, and have the students visually demonstrate each story with their cars. For example, there were seven cars on the road. Three drove into the garage. How many cars are on the road now? There were two cars on the road, five more cars pulled out of the garage onto the road. How many cars are on the road now?

Shape Art (Visual-Spatial, Intrapersonal)

Giles Laroche used paper collage to create the art for WHEELS. Give students various shapes of various sizes, an 11x18 piece of paper, and glue. Ask them to make a collage out of the various shapes, and have them share about their art afterward.

Transportation Sharing Circle (Intrapersonal)

There are twenty-two modes of transportation in WHEELS. Ask students to bring in a photo or a drawing of them using a mode of transportation. In an opening or closing circle, ask students to explain their picture.

What Do Kids Do In School All Day Classroom Book (Verbal-Linguistic)

Take photos of individual students throughout the day doing various activities: reading, drawing, writing, painting, playing etc. Give each child an 8x11 sheet of paper with the question “What do kids do in school all day?” written on top of the page. Underneath the photo, have a line for the student to write his or her name and another line for the accompanying verb. One sample page might be “Alicia reads.” Collate the pages into a classroom book and send it home for students to read to their families on a rotating basis.

Book Buddies:

-Car Wash by Susan and Sandra Steen
-I Stink! By Kate and Jim McMullan
-Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee
-Short Cut by Donald Crews
-The Bus for Us by Suzanne Bloom

THANK YOU BEAR by Greg Foley

THANK YOU BEAR by Greg Foley
VIKING BOOKS

ISBN 978-0-670-06165-5

FROM THE FLAP: “Sometimes a box is just a box. Sometimes it is much much more. That is what Bear thinks. But not everyone agrees. Until Bear finds someone who sees it differently. Sometimes finding a friend who sees things as you do is the greatest gift of all.”

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES

BASED ON THANK YOU BEAR

Buildings in our Community (Spatial)

-Have parents donate boxes of all shapes and sizes. Invite children to build a model of a community building using the boxes.

Community Building (Interpersonal)

-Monkey, Owl, Fox, Elephant, Squirrel, and Bunny criticize Bear. As a class, brainstorm supportive responses from each of these characters and stress that these are the kind of responses that we give in our respectful community.

Getting To Know You Boxes (Intrapersonal)

-Ask each child to decorate a shoebox or a box of a similar size at home. Inside the box, ask children to place three or four items that are special to that child. Each day invite a child to bring their box from home to share with the class.

Mystery Word (Linguistic)

-Write out this sentence from the book on the board “He showed it to the ________.” Cover up the last word so that the class can’t see it. Brainstorm answers to the mystery word: fox, elephant, squirrel, monkey and owl. Then, reveal the first letter of the hidden word and ask kids what the mystery word is? How do they know?

-Give each student a set of ten cards. Each card will have one word written on it: He, showed, it, to, the, fox, elephant, squirrel, monkey, and owl. Have kids work in pairs and play mystery word with each other.

Our House (Spatial)

-Call an appliance company and ask them to save you a large appliance box. Cut out a door and windows. Ask students to help you decorate the classroom house with markers, fabric swatches, and wallpaper.

Sight Word Search (Linguistic)

-Type out the text to THANK YOU BEAR. Make sure to use a large font and leave at least three spaces between each word. Have students circle the sight words he, it, to, and the.

-Delete the sight words from your typed-up version, and leave spaces for the children to write in the missing sight words.

-If you want, e-mail me at kate_tomATverizonDOTnet, and I’ll send you the documents. Put THANK YOU BEAR SIGHT WORD SEARCH in the subject line.

Book Buddies:

-A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker

-Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley

-Not a Box by Antoinette Paris

-Regards to the Man in the Moon by Ezra Jack Keats

-My Friend Bear by Jez Alborough