GUINEA PIGS ADD UP

By Margery Cuyler
Publisher: Walker and Company, Bloomsbury
ISBN: 978-0-8027-9795-7

FROM THE FLAP: Mr. Gilbert tells our class that soon we’ll have a pet. A garter snake? A hermit crab? We wonder what we’ll get.
What starts as an innocent search for the perfect classroom pet turns into a furry fiasco when one guinea pig turns into two, then five, then twenty! The students love their newfound friends, but how can Mr. Gilbert stop the guinea pigs from taking over the classroom.

KATE’S TAKE: A humorous way to spice up a math lesson.

CLASSROOM PET BOOKS: Verbal/Linguistic and Visual/Spatial
Give each student an 8x11 sheet of paper with this sentence starter: If I could have any pet, I’d get _________________. Have them complete the sentence and illustrate the pet. Bound the pages together into a classroom book, and send it home with each child to read.

MATH MADNESS: Logical/Mathematical
This story lends itself to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Show the students how to do each type of number story. Then, ask each student to write a pet number story.

PET STORE: Visual/Spatial, Logical/Mathematical, and Interpersonal
Give each student a dollar in paper coins. Mark each coin with a q for quarter, d for dime, n for nickel and p for penny. Ask them to draw a picture of their ideal pet, or use color copies from the classroom book activity. Have each student label their pet with a price under a dollar. Display all the pictures on the chalkboard and ask students to come to the store and purchase a pet. One of the students can be the shopkeeper and be responsible for making the correct change. Special thanks to Mr. Hacket for this activity.

PET CHARADES: Kinesthetic and Interpersonal
Ask students to sit in a circle on the rug. Give each student a chance to come to the middle of the rug and imitate an animal without speaking or making noises. The rest of the students can guess which animal the student is impersonating.

WRITER’S WORKSHOP: Verbal/Linguistic
At the end of the book, the author hints at another pet problem. Ask students to write a sequel to this book and make sure their characters solve the new problem.

BOOK BUDDIES:
-Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
-I Love Guinea-Pigs by Dick King-Smith
-Oh, Theodore! Guinea Pig Poems by Susan Katz
-Princess Justina Albertina: A Cautionary Tale by Ellen Dee Davidson
-Sammy: The Classroom Guinea Pig by Alex Berenzy

CLEVER JACK TAKES THE CAKE

Written by Candace Fleming
Illustrated by G. Brian Karas
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 978-0-375-84979-4

FROM THE FLAP: What would you do if you were invited to the princess’s tenth birthday party but didn’t have money for a gift?

Well, clever Jack decides to bake the princess a cake.

Now he just has to get it to the castle in one piece.

What could possibly go wrong?

Here’s a deliciously fresh and funny picture book by the creators of the bestselling Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!

KATE’S TAKE: Sometimes a book makes me want to jump for joy, which is exactly what I did after I read this book.

FRACTION CAKES: Interpersonal and Logical/Mathematical
Cut out several different colored, large circles. Cut each one into different fractions such as: ½, 1/3, ¼, 1/5. Give each child a slice of cake. Then ask them to walk around the room and find the rest of their cake. When all the cakes are whole, ask them to line up in order from the smallest piece of cake to the largest piece of cake. Point out how with fractions the larger the number in the denominator, the smaller the fraction or the slice of cake is.

READER’S THEATER: Verbal/Linguistic and Interpersonal
If you’re looking for a story to act out as a class, this is a great pick. There’s a role for everyone and the dialogue is short and snappy.

STORY ELEMENTS LAYER CAKE: Verbal/Linguistic and Visual/Spatial
Give each child four strips of lined paper. Each strip of paper should have one of four story element headings: main character, setting, problem, and solution. Ask the children to write the appropriate information onto each strip of paper. Then, have them arrange these strips, the cake layers, in order from top to bottom on a piece of construction paper. With their pencils, they can outline each cake layer and top it off with a strawberry. Finally, they can outline their cakes with black markers.

THE TROLL’S BRIDGE: Interpersonal, Kinesthetic, Logical/Mathematical
Jack has to pay the troll, half of his cake, to cross the bridge. Set-up a small balance beam or a line of duck tape that crosses the classroom rug. Ask one student to be the troll. Give other students play coins that add up to a dollar. If you don’t have enough play coins, you can make them out of construction paper and write Q for quarter, D for dime, P for penny, and N for nickel, on each coin. Then have each student ask the troll how much money he or she needs to pay to cross the bridge. After the student pays the troll and the troll returns the correct amount of change, the student may cross the bridge.

WALTZING WITH BEARS: Kinesthetic, Musical, and Interpersonal
When Jack stops to dance with a bear, he loses his gift for the princess—his cake. Usually though dancing is a cause for celebration, not mourning. Show students the basic waltz step and ask them to dance around the classroom, or better yet, the gymnasium, while playing Priscilla Herdman’s “Waltzing with Bears.” Here’s the musician’s site http://www.priscillaherdman.com

BOOK BUDDIES:
-Happy Birthday to You by Dr. Seuss
-Jack and the Beanstalk by John Cech
-Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young by Jack Prelutsky
-The Three Billy Goats Gruff/Los Tres Chivitos by Carol Ottolenghi
-The Lion's Share by Matt McElligott

MAX'S WORDS

By Kate Banks
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
ISBN: 0-374-39949-2

FROM THE FLAP: Benjamin collects stamps. Karl collects coins. When their younger brother Max decides to collect words, one word leads to another until Max has a story worth telling. Now all he needs is pictures.

Enter Boris Kulikov in a brilliant collaboration with Kate Banks that attests to the wonder of words.

KATE'S TAKE: A fantastical tribute to imagination, collections, and a can-do attitude.

COIN COLLECTIONS: Logical/Mathematical and Visual/Spatial
Max’s brother collects coins. Give each student a dollar’s worth of cut-out paper coins. Label each coin with a Q for quarter, D for dime, N for nickel, and P for penny. Then ask them to draw a picture of their favorite pet and label it with a price under a dollar. Hang the pets up at the front of the classroom and ask students to come shopping at the pet store. In order to take their pet home with them, the students must give the proper amount of change to the cashier to pay for the pet. Many thanks to Andy Hacket for this activity. Check out his blog here http://www.mrhacket.blogspot.com


COLLAGE TALES: Verbal/Linguistic and Visual/Spatial
Word process words in different colors and cut out for kids. Ask students to choose ten cut-out words and create a sentence. Then, have them glue their sentence to the long side of a piece of 11x18 piece of construction paper. Last, ask them to illustrate their story.

COLLECTION BOOKS: Verbal/Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Visual/Spatial
Give students an 8x11 sheet of paper that has space for writing a sentence at the bottom of the sheet. Ask them to finish the following sentence: If I could collect anything in the world, I would collect_____________________ because____________________________________________.
Have them illustrate their sentence and bind the papers in a book to send home with students.

CROCODILE AND ALLIGATOR SEE-SAW BOOKS: Verbal/Linguistic, Naturalist, and Visual/Spatial
Collate an eight-page book for each students, and ask them to fill in the blanks.
Page 1: Crocodiles and alligators hatch from __________________(eggs) but,
Page 2: crocodiles have a _______________(v-shaped) snout, and
Page 3: alligators have a _________________ (u-shaped) snout.
Page 4: A crocodile’s fourth tooth_____________( sticks out) when its mouth is closed, but
Page 5: an alligator’s fourth tooth is ___________ (hidden) when its mouth is closed.
Page 6: Most crocodiles live in ________________ (salt) water, but
Page 7: most alligators live in __________________ (fresh) water.
Page 8: Crocodiles and alligators are _________________(reptiles).
After they have filled in the blanks, ask students to illustrate the books.

FAMILY LETTERS: Verbal/Linguistic and Interpersonal
Ask students to write a letter to a family member or a friend who lives far away. Ask parents to send in an addressed envelope and give students a stamp to affix to their letter. Relatives are always thrilled to receive the kids’ letters.

BOOK BUDDIES:
-Alligator Tails and Crocodile Cakes by Nicola Moon
-Max’s Dragon by Kate Banks
-Snap! A Book About Alligators and Crocodiles by Melvin Berger
-The Coin Counting Book by Rozanne Williams
-Word Wizard by Cathryn Falwell