My students are really into inventing lately, filling my classroom with incredible oddities. For anyone who ever wished turtles came with more cuddly shells, please take note of Feel Good Turtle, lovingly built with pom poms and feathers. And if you want to house two distinct beverages in a single …
The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs, a stunning biography written by Chana Stiefel and illustrated by Susan Gal, hit shelves this week. Yaffa Eliach grew up in the Polish town of Eishyshok, helping her grandmother in her photography studio. When Nazi soldiers …
As New York transitions from blueberry season to cranberry, Berry Song, the first self-authored book by Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade has taken root on the whiteboard ledge in my classroom, where I keep all the books I anticipate kids grabbing over and over again. In this story, a plucky little …
Here in NYC, I am soaking up the last few weeks of summer vacation. It’s hard to think about the frenetic energy of school during the laziest August days. But one thing I look forward to as September looms is imagining all of the glorious books I will enjoy with …
“What makes you big? What makes you small?” the blurb on the back of Nina Crews’ new book, I’M NOT SMALL, asks. In spare text and lively digital collage, a little boy, or maybe a BIG KID, sets off to explore this idea in his own backyard. When mom tells …
Geometry is one of my favorite math units to teach in kindergarten. Kindergartners mold playdough shapes for ages, chatter about sides and vertices, and become suddenly fascinated with rectangular tiles—tiles, people! And the books! We have enough shape books in our classroom library to fill a big ole’ basket. But can …
It’s labeled Read Aloud on the classroom schedule, but it’s hard not to think of it as Story Time. It’s where we gather on the floor and make our voices sound like each of the three Billy Goats Gruff, where we make predictions about whether Little Star will eat the …
Pictured above is the newest addition to our classroom library: TOGETHER WE RIDE by Valerie Bolling and Kaylani Juanita (Chronicle). Yes, I know it’s an empty book stand. But that’s just because ever since it arrived, the book has been passed from one marker-stained set of hands to the next, …
I’m sure my fellow teachers know the feeling. You see a book announcement or a cover reveal and you immediately want to plan that title for tomorrow’s read aloud. But you have to wait. And wait. And wait four more days to be exact, because that’s when Abdul’s Story by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow …
I love the way bedtime books make the florescent lights and hard linoleum of the classroom feel a little softer and cozier. The children lean closer, their fidgeting slows, and we wrap ourselves in the warm hug of a beautiful book. Of course, THE COT IN THE LIVING ROOM, written …