Read Aloud Thursday: Night Night

I've been staying with my husband's family at a beach house in Michigan. There is a gaggle of people around- cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. My social toddler is in heaven. Every morning when she gets up she says, "people, people. go, go." And every night before bed (and before each nap), she makes her rounds saying "night, night" to all of her people, hamming every second of this up, of course.  Being at a house with the possibility of continuous interactions excites my extroverted 20 month old. There is always someone to be silly with, go to the beach with, or pick up a book and read to her and her other cousins.

Her cousin brought with him a new favorite of ours, Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann. My husband and I have read it to our daughter several times. Young ones will enjoy the emphasis on zoo animals, and everyone, young and old, will appreciate the sneaky antics of the escapist gorilla.

My sister-in-law mentioned that its' a great book for free-styling and embellishment. I agree. There are few words on each page, but a lot of drama is created with the illustrations. It would be a great book to practice inferential thinking with preschoolers ages 3-6. Even though my daughter at 20 months isn't ready to verbalize her inferential thinking, I try to use cognitive modeling, or speaking my thoughts, to help her along.


It's been a fun treat to be around so much family, especially for my daughter to have the opportunity for multiple read alouds every day!

Watch the embedded video below:



And check out this link at First School for printables and activities for Good Night, Gorilla.

I'm linking up at Hope is the Word. Cruise over are read the other Read Aloud Thursday posts.


Be Well! Read On!

Read Aloud Thursday: Time for a Feast!

Even though my 18 MO daughter has a hard time sitting through an entire read aloud- we try quite a bit. We read several books before bed, and we like to grab a nearby book and read anytime we're lounging around the house snuggling- which happens pretty often (and is usually the highlight of my day)!

Pre-kids I didn't see the point in board books, but now I love them. I love that they allow my wee one to interact with text at any early age- turning pages, understanding how we hold a book, pointing to pictures/illustrations that interest her, etc...

Today we read Feast for 10, by Cathryn Falwell. We picked it up at the library last week.

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Sandpiper (February 1, 1995)


As a mom, this is a book I would want to read to my child again and again. It gently teaches good family values (cooperation, responsibility, and sharing). It's a counting book and I like that it goes through 1-10 twice, once while the family is shopping for the feast, and then when the family is preparing the feast.

As a teacher, I see how the book encourages early literacy skills and number sense (it is a counting book, after all!). How does it teach early literacy skills? The rhyming scheme builds phonemic awareness (awareness of sound patterns in words), which is a foundational literacy skill. The words Falwell uses builds your preschooler's ever-expanding vocabulary (for example: cart, grocery, fry, bunches of greens, dill pickles, ripe, plump, peel, platters, jar, hungry folks). Building your child's knowledge of words early on will help them to be a better reader later on.

I think this book makes a great read aloud for any preschooler.

The only caveat I have is the absence of the father in the book. I feel like this book is trying to be modern(the family does recycle after all), but the father is at home while the mom shops with 5 kids. Does that really happen anymore? My husband shops, cooks, and cleans just as much as I do-- and if I had 5 kids, I'd make sure I would have my husband around to help at the store. Also when the family is in the kitchen the dad is taking out the trash and the mom is baking- hmmm, a little too stereotypical for me. I don't want to scrutinize the book too much, because it's a great read (and nitpicking is no fun)...I just wish it was a little more in sync with the changing roles of the modern family.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

p.s. Reading aloud is one of THE BEST ways to make your child a reader. What have you read aloud to you child/students this week?

I'm linking up at Hope is the Word. Join the fun!

Be well! Read on!

Library Loot: Travel from New Orleans to Spain and Back

I love browsing section after section at my library, pouring over book jackets and reviews... pulling books off the shelves, reading a couple of pages, mmmmm, just lovely!

However, with a toddler in tow, I can't aimlessly meander through the library, sporadically reading books I like. I have to be focused or else...

Today, while I was quickly sampling book after book, my industrious toddler put 30 books in her stroller's basket. Whoops. I suppose I took my eyes off her for a couple of seconds. I don't think the librarians were probably too enthused about that little act of cuteness, but come on now, it's literacy awesomeness! My daughter, at a year and a half, knows what to do at the library- We get books. We bring them home. We read and read and read them. We go back and get some more. I love it! This is why we bring our kids to the library! It has to soak in early: Library good. Books good. Reading fun.

So we picked up a bunch of books earlier this afternoon. Even though I have a Kindle, I thought I'd get some adult books too, to preview any books before I buy them. The novels I am usually drawn to are usually labeled HOT PICK- which means you can only check them out for a week, and there's no way I can finish a novel a week these days.

Books to Preview For the Kindle (for me!)



I tend to like dark novels. The premise of The Convent, by Panos Karnezis, instantly drew me in- an abandoned baby was left in a suitcase at the steps of the convent. The book hints that there is a connection between the baby and the Mother Superior's tainted past.



Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson- I love detective stories, and this had a well-designed, youthful cover (I am a bit of a sucker for a pretty book). The jacket said it was full of wit and wisdom- we shall see!

Books to Share with My Students:



Over My Dead Body, by Katie Klise: I'm always drawn to her books because her husband was in my teaching credential cohort years back. She writes the books, and her sister illustrates them. I love the playfulness of these books, as well as the doom and gloom of this series. My students are obsessed with ghosts, goblins, and all things scary- so I'm sure it will be a hit!  

The Secret River, by Marjorie Rawlings: Beautiful- can't wait to read it!

Ninth Ward, by Jewell Parker Rhodes: A book for young readers about Katrina- I had to pick this up.



Backyard Birds of Summer, by Carol Lerner: This book is for kids. But I got it for my husband and I. We have some crazy loud birds outside these days. I thought this book looked great and would help us to identify our fine feathered friends. 

  

Drummer Hoff, By Barbara Emberly: 70's old school Caldecott winning book about building a cannon. Looks fun! I think this may be more for my toddler than for my students though!

  

Phew! I'm having a ton of formatting issues with this. So not all of the books got on the list. Sorry about that! Hopefully we'll get to dig into these over the next couple of weeks! I can't wait!

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.