4 truly loved valentine books

Last week I posted about how our class celebrates Valentines to connect family and school. You can read that post called 'Got Valentines?' by clicking here.

I realized I need  - truly that is the word NEED - to share my favorite and best loved Valentines books...

Here are my 4 Top Picks:

1. Frog in Love. by Max Velthuijs. Sadly, it is no longer in print so I suggest you search the amazon world for it because it is the most heart felt and sweet story of Frog who falls in love with Duck. The illustrations are tremendously lovely. Perhaps my favorite book on "love" :)

2. Franklin's Valentines. by Paulette Bourgeois & Brenda Clark. You know all about the Franklin series of books. The characters are so well done with Bear, Owl and all the friends. IN this Valentine adventure, Franklin has a little mishap with his special cards for his friends and -well - I won't tell you how it all gets resolved [but it does!].

3. The Day It Rained Hearts. [also know as Four Valentines in a Rainstorm]. by Felicia Bond (the 'If You Give a Mouse' author!). Such a simple, sweet story of one girl who makes extra special Valentines for her extra special friends. Super short story and young children love trying to guess which Valentine is for which kind of friend.

4. Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch. by Eileen Spinelli & Paul Yalowitz. Oh, how I do love this longer story of dear, quiet Mr. Hatch who [accidentally] gets a Valentine box of chocolates delivered to his house. The delivery makes him think someone Does love him and he begins to have confidence to talk to co-workers and become a bit more connected in his neighborhood. Oh, and how sad when the box is determined to not really be his - so sad for only a moment. Mr. Hatch's new friends let him know they Do love him :)



Do you have a favorite read for this time of year?

got valentines?

"You have to go to school

so you can love people you didn't know before."

quote from class group of young-fives discussing school, friendship and valentines.

delivering home-made valentines to school-made valentines bags = literacy, art, family, friends, sharing, giving.

Valentine's Day is a special holiday for many schools.

When I was in my long-term position as Young Fives teacher, we created a special tradition around Valentine's Day to incorporate literacy and art from home AND school.

Here are the key ideas we used:

1. HOME made valentines. All about choice and inclusion.

one friend delivers his home-made card to me!

• We asked families to be part of the Valentine making process. It IS a process and our intention was to uplift the creating process, the including all friends process and the make-it-at-home-then-bring-it-to-school process. We felt that the young-5s age is an appropriate age to challenge the creating/planning for 20 cards for their classroom friends. This is also likely a first-time challenge for guardians to "support" their child without doing the project for them. (* to note, it usually ended up that 1 out of our 16 would still be 'parent made' but that's ok - it is a learning curve for everyone to let go :)
• We'd make sure to start the planning of this at least 2 weeks ahead - not too soon that it got set aside, yet not too time-scrunched for parents.
• We sent home a printed BOLD list of all names from our class - this included children, teachers, pets at the time (yes, we would have a Valentine Bag ready for our fish or rat !) and any other significant member of our class group. The bold list could be used at home to copy from when writing or even to literally cut out and glue them onto their work.
• We encouraged guardians to chat/plan with their child THEIR way they would like to make valentines. We encouraged the CHOICE to be made by the child so that they would be excited and motivated to enjoy the process of valentines. Examples include
  1. Maybe via the COMPUTER with a self-made design or using artsy software
  2. Maybe via LOTS OF ART with glue and shapes and markers and glitter
  3. Maybe via store bought commercial CARDS (some children super love Hello Kitty or Star Wars or whatever - that's fine!) with the child signing their own name. *We encourage no candy so that we focus on literacy + art.
  4. We'd have the completed cards arrive the morning of Valentine's Day in a zippy bag for safe keeping til the children would pass them out mid-morning.

"I think this is the right bag for this card I made..."

2. Meanwhile AT SCHOOL, we would decorate sturdy, open topped, handled party bags.

• Use decorative, colored papers in traditional (pink, purple, red) colors and non-traditional (yellow, brown, orange) colors.
• Could have pre-cut hearts (for convenience) as well as stencils and scissors for children to design and cut their own hearts.
• Doily papers (lace-like cut papers), silver foil, gold stickers, be creative. These could be donated by families or purchased from your classroom budget.
• Super cool addition is COMPUTER PRINTED, LARGE "LOVELY" WORDS to glue onto their bags if the children choose. Word ideas include: KISS, LOVE, HEART, HUGS, SMILE. I tended to use shorter words so they would take up all the room on their bag.
• We found gorgeous holiday paper napkins that we would cut or tear to use pieces all over the bags.
• Blank papers for children to write their own words or messages to glue on.

Special envelop with heart sticker for each friend around our Valentine Mail Table!

ADMIRATION and MATCHING and READING. Also part of the process.

• When children brought in their bag full of cards on the morning of Valentines, I would make a special point of admiring their heavy bag or wanting to peek inside at their hard work :) The children would save their cards in their cubbies til we did our Special Valentine Delivery late morning.
• At morning meeting, we'd talk about the work we did and try to explain to our friends what we did for our collection and how they might identify our cards later. Admiring the process of CHOICE and HOW MANY DAYS OR HOURS it took to make these collections is important. Children begin to see how everyone did their own work and how we collectively come together to share and celebrate. 
• When we DO pass out our Valentines, we had a big table set up with our school-decorated bags ready to filled. We'd put our school big name card in front of our bag for easy finding and matching. (Our name cards are an integral part of our good morning times as well as our early writing experiences. You can see my name card a couple photos above - all children have one just like it.).
• Children take turns with a partner to pass out their cards while other children are in the choice time in the classroom. This allows for everyone to have their own time - long or short - to match up their cards to the bags on their own or with some support from teachers. The children playing in the room know they also get their own turn without being hurried or bumped around.
• When we are all done, we ADMIRE the bags so full on the table and bring our bags to our meeting area.
• We just ask the children to CAREFULLY look through their bag yet not dump them all out in case the cards get mixed up. Of course, the dumping and looking completely can happen at home :)
• When the children are reading through their Valentines, they are admiring each others' work, trying to read or guess who made which one, seeing stickers or art or envelopes. It is a special time to model how to look close, to give attention to work given by others, to appreciate effort and friendship.

Can you see the boy is smiling as he admires the Valentine from his bag? A very special moment.

The bags go home happily with the children at the end of the day.

The guardians' faces light up when they seen ALL the children walk out of the classroom with their hands holding tightly to their colorful, love-filled bags of Valentines.

Don't you just love Valentines Day?

the girl at the motorcycle museum

What if you could always self-select your activities to determine your own enjoyment and engagement? Sounds good, right?

What if then you were surrounded by people who also self-selected That experience on That day? Hmm, that could work out well.

Likely, it would turn out like my own family adventure over holiday...

My 8 year old niece Megan is a choice maker, an experimenter, an inventor.

She is sharp witted, she is colorful, she is action packed.

She is 'I can keep up with my 4 older brothers' AND she is 'I love sparkly things.'

Megan 'test rode' every demo bike at the Museum!

So, it really shouldn't have surprised me when my husband and I visited Wisconsin over holiday and planned to go on a field trip to the Motorcycle Museum one hour away from my niece's city.

I called my sister, Megan's mother, to find out if any of the big brothers or Megan would like to join us the next day at the Museum.

My sister's answer was 'Yes, Megan wants to go.' 

I said 'You are kidding?' 

My sister said 'Oh, no, really, Megan wants to go. She is already counting her money so she can go to the gift shop.' 

I said 'Really...really?'

My sister says 'Do you want to talk to her so you'll believe me?'

Me: 'Yes, Absolutely, I'd like to talk with her.'

Megan gets on the phone.

I said 'Meg, your mom said you'd like to join us to go the Motorcycle Museum?'

Megan: Oh, Yes I would.

Me: So, you know this is a different kind of museum. It doesn't have Dinosaurs nor Fancy Artwork nor Experiments for Kids to Play? It is only Full of Motorcycles.

Megan: Yes, I know. I'd like to go!

We left the next afternoon for a most memorable museum experience.

It is highly possible that Megan was more engaged and delighted by the Harley-Davidson Museum than even my engine-loving husband or my younger sister and her teen-age son!

We all wore the usual motorcycle casual attire: blue jeans and other things that are black or gray.

Gotta get low in the Race Position!

Megan wore her Mrs. Santa dress - long sleeved red velour dress that went mid-calf and had a white furry collar. She also wore the fluffy cuffed toe-socks that we gave her for Christmas. She carried a blue jean purse with special zippers. She was all set. Period.

The HD Museum actually had an amazing Scavenger Hunt for children when we entered: Megan got a clipboard, a pencil, and a photo flip chart of 12 cool motorcycles with clues to find them throughout the museum. She was focused and completely rose to the challenge to find these specific motorcycles to complete her game. Megan read clues and read signs and re-read clues. She got some "help" in the search from my wonderful nephew Dan and my sister Jeri.

Later, Megan got a prize of stickers and a wash-away HD tattoo for completing the Scavenger Hunt. Megan shopped in the Gift Shop with her special money from her special purse. She bought something for herself and gifts for her whole family. She was all set.

Megan could be a poster child for "How to Love Going to a Museum."

Megan, clipboard & purse: Studying the Robot that makes special moto parts!

The Harley-Davidson Museum was a huge success.

It was a huge success because an 8 year old girl named Megan Self-Selected to go with us to unlikely place.

I could write more, more, more, but really, Megan had a great time because she Chose to be there.

It is that simple.

Red sparkle dress, furry socks, blue jean zipper purse = Ready for the Motorcycle Museum.

The clear connection to our Early Childhood Education practice: 
Trust children to choose their own experiences. Trust children to want to engage in experiences that interest them. Trust children.

hands-on nativity scene

One of my favorite explorations during the Christmas season is offering the children the pieces of the Nativity scene to get their hands ON. The classroom is lucky enough to have two distinct kinds of hands-on pieces for children to handle - you can see a few pieces of both sets in the photo.

Have nativity pieces for children to interact with along with a book - they love it!

1. One lovely set was gifted to our classroom nearly twenty years ago. A mom hand-painted pre-cut wood pieces from the local craft store, small enough for small hands, painted with rich colors and even some gold on the kings crowns (don't children LOVE silver and gold!).

2. The second collection is from a purchased hand-carved set with lightly washed-in colors, larger sized yet still handle-able by young children. These pieces I purchased one or two at a time over some years.

It is wonderful to be able to have pieces that are For Children to use, handle, play with, explore, experiment as they wish. So many Nativity scenes are 'extra special' to only look at on display, never touch, breakable, treasured, all that - it is important to offer pieces to children at home/school that invite them into the scene of the Birth Day :)

In your classroom:

You can make pieces from CONSTRUCTION PAPER, decorated by children, laminated to last longer and make more handle-able.  

You can make pieces from CLAY or PLAYDOUGH.

You can make pieces from RECYCLABLES & CARDBOARD.

Out of print but worth a search!

This particular book, The Christmas Story: A Nativity Tale for Young Children by Anita Ganeri, is a favorite to read, act out and also put out alongside the creche pieces. The book is unfortunately out of print, yet perhaps available if you search for it from sellers. The main reason I love it is because the pages are literally photographs of children dressed as though in a play acting out the Christmas Story and the story is easy to read and follow for the young age group.

* To note, this exploration is appropriate at our religious based school, where we explore religions of any students along with Christian celebrations.


Happy reading. Merry Christmas. Peace. Joy. Jingle.

not-scary books for halloween

Gotta love happy reads for Halloween time. 
I appreciate books that are kid-friendly and are not scary for the <5 year old group.
Granted, some kids do like scary books, yet generally in a class group of children there will be 1-3 who don't like to be scared.
So, I just leave the potentially scary stuff for children to individually check out from the school library or with their guardians.

Books about Pumpkins:

1. Picking Apples & Pumpkins. Amy & Richard Hutchings. Real photos at a farm!
2. The Pumpkin Patch. Elizabeth King. A real pumpkin patch.
3. Pumpkin Pumpkin. Jeanne Titherington. Growing your own pumpkin.

Book about the Day of the Dead:

1. Felipa and the Day of the Dead. Birte Muller. Felipa looks for the long-lasting soul of her grandmother, Abuelita. Beautifully written & Illustrated.

Books for the Fun of Halloween:

1. Franklin's Halloween. Paulette Bourgeois/Brenda Clark. Franklin book series is so appropriate for children!
2. Georgie. Robert Bright. A ghost looking for a friendly haunted house.
3. Boo! Made You Jump! Lauren Child. Love Charlie & Lola?? Of course!
4. Pumpkin Soup. Helen Cooper. It takes teamwork to make good soup!
5. The Bumpy Little Pumpkin. Margery Cuyler/Will Hillenbrand. Choose the pumpkin YOU like best!
6. Room on a Broom. Julia Donaldson/Axel Sheffler. Adventures on a crowded broom!
7. Angelina's Halloween. Katharine Holabird/Helen Craig. Angelina series.
8. The Biggest Pumpkin Ever. Steven Kroll/Jeni Bassett. Two mice tending to 2 pumpkins for the Big Contest!
9. Bats at the Library. Brian Lies. Did you know Bats love to read???
10. Big Pumpkin. Erica Silverman/S.D. Schindler Best best best recorded tape/CD - must get! Teamwork of ghost, bat, mummy, vampire to help witch get her pumpkin!
11. Winnie the Witch. Valerie Thomas/Korky Paul. Colorful adventure of Winnie!
12. Winnie Flies Again. Valerie Thomas/Korky Paul.
13. Winnie's Midnight Dragon. Valerie Thomas/Korky Paul.
14. Too Many Pumpkins. Linda White/Megan Lloyd. What if accidentally you had a yard FULL of pumpkins and you didn't even like pumpkins???
15. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. Linda White/Megan Lloyd. A huge favorite, great call-response, so wonderful & surprise ending!
16. The Teeny Tiny Ghost. Kay Winters/Lynn Munsinger. The ghost who didn't like to be scary or loud!
17. On Halloween Night. Harriet Ziefert/Renee Andriani. Repetition, rhyme, & colorful illustrations as one girl gets the elements of her costume on for Halloween night!

 BOO!

Happy Reading!

Do YOU have a favorite Halloween book?

egg collector project

three straps with side collection tray Egg Collector...just add fluff.

We had a tradition 
in my 4s/5s class the last few years that I was at the particular school which was church affiliated. We began doing a mini-project around spring/easter to "study baskets and anything that carries something else" (backpacks, toolboxes, purses, snackbags and on and on).

tall, bent handle with pocket side collection area for Eggs!

* We made lists of different "collectors" from around the classroom and ones we could think of together.

individual basket makers at work...!

one strap with zipper-style cuts on the side...double strap with front extra egg tray!

triple handle in one direction, one handle in the other direction!

* We made lists of different attributes of different collectors - strap handle, double handle, shoulder straps, zippers, flaps, thin, wide, deep, double storage, long storage, low storage, soft, hard, bendable.















* We collected recyclables to begin planning our own Egg Collector to use for our Egg Hunt.













* We examined the recyclable and materials we collected.

* We drew plans for our individual Egg Collector.

"would you like to add anything here?..."

wide single strap plus movable side collector...ready for the hunt!

criss-cross handles, zipper side cuts...lost of room for Eggs!

"Maybe I would like":
...a low basket with three handles.
...to use a long tube to stack my eggs inside and a have one long rope handle.
...to use cardboard to build my own basket shape, then add a "side collector" for extra eggs (just in case!).
...criss-cross handles.
...to decorate my Egg Collector with polka-dot paint...or stripes...or all purple!

straps over the basket, handles on the side, and a side tray!

large green handle with polka dots!

When we put our baskets to work, it was so exciting! There is something so fabulous and rewarding and "wow" when we are contributors to our own adventure: there is something so fabulous when WE are the creators, WE are the inventors, and WE make our ideas come to life (even in a basket!).
Of course, this really is no secret.
 
Off we went on The Hunt...

holding our Egg Collectors securely AND  trying to scout for eggs before we hear "Hunt!"

The cheery smile is a good indicator that her Egg Collector really worked.

the double tray really worked well for this collector!

Egg Collector full of eggs in both trays with the fluff underneath.

Exploring our collection of treasures inside the eggs!

"Look what I got!!"..."What did you get?"

Egg Collector Group Celebration!


“This post is part of the Teach/Learn Carnival, April’s theme is Easter.  If you would like to join in submit your own post here, or check back at just before Easter for the links to lots of great posts.”