Speechy Sunday: Activities for Karma Wilson's Bear Books

Don't all you teachers and SLPs (and parents/aunts/grandparents!) just love Karma Wilson's wonderful "Bear" books?  She has written so many lovely rhyming books about Bear and his friends (the raven, the wren, the mouse, the hare, the mole, etc.).  My favorite of her books is "Bear Snores On," which is about a hibernating bear whose friends come by while he is sleeping and basically have a potluck party in his cave, and the craziness that ensues when he wakes up!  It's a great little book, and my daughter Flannery has loved it from the time she was 1 1/2, and she still enjoys it (and she's almost 6 now!).

I love these books because they typically include some wonderful more challenging vocabulary for young children (ex:  cuddle, heap, howl, flutter), and the books are usually very sweet stories about a group of animal friends being kind to one another in different ways.

But best of all, I just discovered that Karma Wilson has some free teaching materials and ideas for how to tie her book into other activities throughout the school day.  She lists some really great activities such as an imaginary potluck, a glitter activity to help children learn about how germs are spread, a seasons coloring page featuring Bear, and many more cute ideas.

Check them out, and let me know how it goes if you end up using them with your own students or kiddos!



What resource have you just discovered that you're excited to use or share?

Speechy Sunday: My Favorite Beach Books

I love to bring along children's books that relate to our trip whenever we travel.  I think kids love to read about things that relate to their real life, and books can make us more curious and excited about the details of our experience, too.  Since we've been to the beach a few times this summer, we now have a pretty good beach book collection!  Here are a few of our favorites:

1.  Jenny's Suprise Summer by Eugenie - This Little Golden Book is an oldie but a goodie.  I read the book when I was growing up and saved it to share with my own children.   Jenny visits her grandmother by the ocean, and while she's there, she finds two kittens.  She plays with them all summer, but then when it's time to go back home to the city, her parents tell her that she can only bring one of the kittens back home with her.  She has a hard time making the decision, until she considers the different personalities of each cat.  I like the way the author builds the relationship between Jenny and her kittens, and how easy it is to develop empathy for Jenny's situation.  I also love how logical she is about making her decision in the end.  Overall, this is a very sweet story set at the beach, and my 5 year old daughter has loved it for several years now.

2.  Just Grandma & Me by Mercer Mayer - Mercer Mayer is a favorite at our house, and this story of Little Critter's visit to the beach does not disappoint. It's just an ordinary day at the beach, but Little Critter feels special being there on his own with just his Grandma.  My daughter has liked this book from the time she was two, and although now that she is almost 6, she's able to read more complex stories than this one, she still requests it because she can relate to all the fun activities they do at the beach.

3.  Big Al by Andrew Clements - I just discovered Big Al this summer, and my daughter and I really love it!  It's a story of a very ugly fish who has a hard time making friends because he scares them all away.  He tries lots of things (including hiding his true size, shape, etc.) to make friends, but in the end, his brave and caring actions make all the fish love him just the way he is.  It's a great story with extremely beautiful illustrations, and I'm so glad I stumbled upon it this summer!

4.  Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle -  In his classic artistic and engaging style, Eric Carle teaches children about the many sea creatures whose fathers take care of them as they grow.  My daughter especially loves the pages where there is a clear overlay hiding the sea creatures, and then when you turn the page, you can see the new daddy tilapia or eel caring for its babies.  In the end, the little seahorses have to go on their way, but the Mr. Seahorse tells them how much he loves them.  This is a sweet story that made my 5 year old daughter curious about different sea creatures, and we really enjoy reading it together.

5.  What Lives in a Shell? by Kathleen Zoehfeld - This nonfiction informational book is a wonderful resource for little shell collectors.   The author teaches about shells and the animals that live in them in a very simple, straight-forward way that is interesting to preschoolers (and to me!).  This book held my daughter's attention, and was a fun way to make her shell collection come to life once we got back home by trying to match what she had found at the beach to the book illustrations.

6.  Stella Star of the Sea by Marie Louise Gay - This sweet little story book stars Stella and her little brother, Sam.  Sam has never been to the ocean before and is reticent to get into the water, but his sister Stella is a pro and knows everything about the sea.  Sam asks a zillion questions about the ocean until he becomes comfortable enough to join Stella in the sea.  I like the way Stella answers all her brother's questions with kid logic--it's very cute!  I also like this book for helping children who aren't sure about getting into the ocean realize that it's like that for everyone their first few times at the beach.

7.  Moon Song by Mildred Plew Meigs -  My mom got me this book back when I was in college, to save for her future grandchildren.  It is gorgeous and mystical, and so interesting!  It's a rhyming book with beautiful lyrics, and makes references to constellations and ocean folklore.  I love the chorus of the poem ("and the waves roll in, and the waves roll out, and the nodding night wind blows, but why the moon man fishes the sea, only the moon man knows").  It's a rare book that is super expensive to buy, but you might be able to borrow it from your library, and trust me, you'll be glad you did!

8.  Children's Animal Enclyclopedia  by Sally Morgan - We also brought along an "animal encyclopedia" last time we went to the beach, that was a pretty big hit.  We found what I thought was a hermit crab one day at the beach, then looked it up that night, and figured out that it was really a "shore crab."  We also looked up manatees, pelicans, coquinas (those little clam-shaped shells that dig down into the beach by the shore!), and my daughter and niece (5 and 8 yrs old) were really into it.  Each night, they were so excited to see what we would learn about before bed.  Way to make a mom feel cool!



Do you have a favorite book you've read with your children this summer?  

Speechy Sunday: Read a Book a Hundred Times if they Ask

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(Oops...this somehow didn't post yesterday, so I'm posting it now, on...er, uh, Speechy Monday. I know you'll forgive me.)

I remember when Flannery was tiny, she always wanted us to read the same book to her every night.  The one about the dogs.

And so, we read it.  And read it.  And read it.  And pieces of it got torn.  And we taped them on.  And they got torn again.  So we bought another copy.  And then another copy.  I'm pretty sure we  bought 3 copies by the time she was 2.  And every time we read that dog book, she was just so happy.  

I remember at the time, that there were nights when I'd secretly want to hide the dog book.  I wanted to read some beautiful rhyming book like "Moon Song," or something with gorgeous illustrations like "On the Night you were Born."

But what kept me from hiding the dog book, is that I knew the research on sharing books with infants and toddlers.  Favorite books are a learning device.  Reading the same book repeatedly to a child helps the child develop strong and secure understandings of the vocabulary in that book.  Instead of learning a little about a lot of books, Flannery--by asking us over and over to read the same book to her every night--was learning a lot about one book.  She was learning (in great depth!) about all the things that dogs do, the different types of dogs, sounds dogs make, types of fur dogs have, etc.

And if I had hidden her beloved dog book, if I had insisted on novelty--a new book every night--then she would've missed out on forming those lovely deep and strong connections to the vocabulary in her favorite book.  She wouldn't have had umpteen experiences pretending to "howl," or "scratch," or "shake" to dry off after a bath.  She wouldn't have had a gazillion chances to pet the "fluffy" dog or to scrunch up her nose when the author pointed out that "all dogs poop."   Maybe she wouldn't have realized so quickly that cats and dogs are usually "enemies," by lifting the flap a zillion times to discover a cat high up in a tree trying to "escape" from the dogs.

So, there you go.  You have my permission--as a speech language pathologist, birth to three specialist, language & literacy coach to early childhood teachers, and also just a regular mom--to read your child's favorite book to them as many times as they ask.  To think of it as "building depth of knowledge" for your child. To stop feeling guilty that you're not exposing them to something new and different and educational every night.

Because, really?  The best education your child will ever get?  Is when a caring adult sets aside his or her own agenda, follows your child's interests, and settles in to read their beloved "dog book" the fifteen hundredth time they ask.





What book did you just love to read over and over again as a child?  

My Favorite Birthday Books

It's my birthday today!

In celebration of the nerdy mama SLP that I am, I'm going to post a list of my favorite birthday-themed children's books today.  Because that makes me super happy.

Aaaaand the winners are: 

The Birthday Zoo - by Deborah Lee Rose - this book has unique animal and verb vocabulary, which appeals to the speechy side of me.  The pictures are cute, and the text isn't too long, so the book is readable in the 20 minutes you have for reading with your kiddo before bed.  Plus, it rhymes!  I bought it before I had Flannery, to read with my preschool speech students on their birthdays, and I bring it out every year to read during Flanna's birthday now.  Such fun!

On the Night You Were Born - by Nancy Tillman - Warning!  This book will make you cry!  When I found it in the bookstore, I got all weepy and just had to buy it.  And I wasn't pregnant or anything. And they only had it in hardback.  And it was expensive.  And I am pretty cheap.  The illustrations are works of art, and the words--sigh.  I love to give this to new parents.  My hubby says if you read it too much, you'll make your child conceited.  Maybe so, but I still read it with Flannery all the time, especially on her birthday.   I mean, come on, the polar bears did dance 'til dawn the night she was born, and none of the ladybugs flew away!  It's just true.

Happy Birthday, Moon - by Frank Asch -   My mentor, Anne van Kleeck, introduced me to this author forever ago when I was in graduate school.  I love the sweet stories and concepts introduced in each book about Moonbear and his friend Little Bird.  Plus, this book takes me right back to my time doing research on book-sharing in grad school, which I really enjoyed.  I know, I'm a nerd.  But, hey, it's my birthday--I can be as geeky as I want today and no one can say anything, right?

Birthday Monsters - By Sandra Boynton -  who doesn't love a good Boynton book?  It rhymes, it's silly, and there are monsters.  Enough said.

(By the way, I don't get any money if you click on these amazon links...they're just there so you can see the cute books I'm talking about.  My mom would love it if I were technosavvy enough to put ads up on this blog, but I have to admit I'm not there yet.)



What are your favorite kids' books?