Sometimes when we talk to kids about issues going on in the world, like I wrote about on Monday with my stepson and the visiting priest from Africa who needs money for his church, it is hard for them to understand what we mean by freedom–especially if they live in a free country like the United States. It’s hard for them to imagine that there are places where children don’t have the freedom to go to school or church or the doctor when they are sick. Young children, especially, need concrete examples of what freedom means, especially if they are taking part in any type of donation activity (like collecting pennies for an organization like Loose Change to Loosen Chains).

This book, This is the Dream written by Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander and illustrated by James Ransome, is a great picture book that can illustrate the concept of freedom. What I especially like about this bright and colorful book is the way it shows the United States before the Civil Rights movement, then some of the Civil Rights leaders, and then the way the country is now–with freedom for everyone. In the year 2010, the fact that black people used to drink from a separate fountain or ride at the back of the bus might be particularly shocking for our children since less than 50 years later, our president is black.

Here are a few verses from this great book:

“These are the fountains that stand in the square, and the black-and-white signs say who will drink there.”

“This is the fountain that stands in the square and the unwritten rule is to take turns and share.”

Love it!!

In order for children to understand what it looks like when there’s not freedom and what it looks like when there is, you can use a picture book like This is the Dream by Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander. Then you can explain to them how around the world in the 21st century, there are still people living without freedom, and we are collecting pennies to try and help them. The Civil Rights leaders helped in the United States, and now it’s our turn!

*Picture book for preschoolers through 2nd graders, fantasy (fractured nursery rhyme)
*Dish and Spoon as main characters
*Rating: Kids love books like The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon that play off an old nursery rhyme and have loads of fun stuff in the illustrations.

Short, short summary: What happened after the dish ran away with the spoon? Well, this book will answer that question. From trying their luck in a vaudeville show to buying a car and shopping for jewelry and furs, the Dish and Spoon have quite an adventure. It’s all fun and games until the Dish meets a rock, and the Spoon meets jail. Will these two ever make it together again?

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Read the nursery rhyme to children, “Hey Diddle, Diddle!” Ask children to imagine other things about this nursery rhyme. For example, ask them, “Why do you think the cow jumped over the moon?” “Why did the little boy laugh?” “What are the cat and the fiddle doing?” You can record answers on a piece of chart paper and create a classroom display by asking students to illustrate their answers. Be creative! Mini Grey sure was.

2. Study the illustrations carefully, especially the ones on the sidebars. What else do the illustrations tell about the story of the Dish and the Spoon that the text doesn’t tell? Discuss with students how in the picture book genre illustrations are as important as the text, and both work together to tell the story.

3. This is a book about friendship. Spoon and Dish are friends, they trust each other, and they love each other. Talk to students or your children about being a good friend. What are the qualities of a good friend? How do Dish and Spoon show these qualities? How do you show these qualities in your everyday life?

*Picture book, contemporary fiction for preschoolers to kindergartners
*Two circle dogs as main characters
*Rating: Circle Dogs by Kevin Henkes is a cute book for young children–it can teach them shapes and sounds and that reading is fun!

Short, short summary: Two dogs who like to sleep and run in circles live in a square house. This book takes you throughout their day from interacting with “their people” to running and playing in the yard to taking naps. The story is also a circle–beginning with the house and sleeping dogs and ending in the same way.

1. This is the perfect book for a preschool or kindergarten classroom during a unit on shapes. Not only does the text point out some shapes, but children can look for other shapes in Dan Yaccarino’s illustrations.

2. Who has a pet at their house? Ask children this question, and you are sure to get a lot of hands raised. Provide opportunities for children to make personal connections with the text to further comprehension by asking them if their pets act similar or different to the circle dogs.

3. The “sounds” that Kevin Henkes provides in the text of Circle Dogs makes this book a fun read aloud, and one that kids will want to read again and again.

Before I get to the topic of today’s post, “Being a Safety Nut,” I wanted to announce the winner of Gogo’s Dream: Swaziland Discovered. And the winner is. . .LuAnn Morgan. Congratulations to LuAnn. Thank you to everyone who left a comment. You can still go to Monday’s or yesterday’s post and order a copy of the book. All profits go to help people in Swaziland, which is unfortunately number one in the world for people affected with HIV/AIDS, leaving thousands of orphans. I am deciding right now who on my Christmas list to give a copy of this beautiful book!

Now on to today’s post. . .:)

Evenflo has just released the Momentum 65 DLX Convertible Car Seat, with features that help make safety, installation and use as easy as possible for parents. Evenflo and JuiceBoxJungle sponsored me to write this post, and talk about what child safety means to me and my family.

The great thing is I can talk about this from the perspective of having a 9-year-old stepson, and then from the perspective of getting ready to have a baby in December! First, my stepson–Logan. I think the thing I am the most “safety nuts” about is germs. Yes, I am constantly telling him to look both ways before he crosses in the parking lot of the mall or McDonald’s; yes, we still use a booster seat on long trips and don’t let him in the front seat–even though he is tall, tall, tall; and yes, I check on him at night to make sure the covers aren’t over his face–however, as kids get older, safety seems to be more in their control than ours except for germs. I’m not sure if it was because of the H1N1 scare this past year or just not wanting to be sick or what, but I’m now carrying hand sanitizer with me everywhere. I even embarrass my husband at church when after we pass the peace and shake hands, I get out my hand sanitizer (I try to do it sneakily) and squirt some into my hands and Logan’s. Any time Logan picks up something off the ground (which 9-year-old boys love to do)–I am telling him, “Go wash your hands.” Every time he comes out of the bathroom, “Did you wash your hands?” It’s to the point where he sometimes says to me: “I know, wash my hands.” I don’t want him to get sick. I want him to be safe and healthy and able to do the fun things we have planned. If that’s nutty, well, that’s me.

Now with the baby: I can already tell that I’m going to be one of those parents that I used to secretly laugh at when I worked at a preschool. My baby is not using a blanket in his/her crib (we find out the sex in July)–she/he will use a sleep sack. My baby is going to use safe plastic or glass bottles. My baby will most likely eat organic baby food. Okay, and the list can go on and on. My husband says I shouldn’t read so much–ha–it puts all these ideas in my head. And my mom says, “Well, when you were a child, we didn’t even know about blah, blah, blah, and you turned out okay.” But now I know, and now I’m a “safety nut,” so. . .

How about you? Any safety stories or advice to share? (P.S. Here’s my favorite book for kids about germs–and how to get rid of them. It’s so cute–even the germs are adorable in it.)

*Picture book, contemporary fiction
*Young boy as main character
*Rating: A cute book that will help kids who are anxious about their first day of school–preschool or kindergarten.

Short, short summary: A little boy gets all ready for school, but then he decides he doesn’t want to go. He is afraid that his stuffed animal, Hank, will miss him. His parents convince him to go, and Hank goes, too. He meets his teacher and the other kids. He has fun and likes the first day. He decides that Hank wants to go back the next day, and he’ll go with him.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. This is the perfect book to read and discuss with your child if they are having any reservations about starting school. You can get this book now and start reading it during the summer months if you think it’s going to be a problem at the beginning of the school year. Teachers can also share this book at an open house.

2. The boy in this book doesn’t want to go to school, but he finally does with his stuffed animal, Hank. Do your students have a favorite stuffed animal? After reading this book at the beginning of the school year, you can host a bring your stuffed animal to school day.

3. This is a good book to start discussing with students story elements such as characters, problems, solutions, setting, climax, and conclusion. This story is pretty cut and dry, and so it should be easy for students to pick out these elements.

*Picture book for preschoolers through first graders
*Animals as main characters
*Rating: A cute book with a lot of different animal descriptions that kids will love.

Short, short summary: A Bunny is Funny takes a look at different animals you might find at the zoo. From crabs to skunks, from giraffes to lions, each animal has a rhyme and an illustration. Take for example the porcupine: “My quills act like a warning sign: Don’t mess with me. I’m a porcupine!”

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Let students or your children pick their favorite animal illustration and rhyme. Then ask them to draw their own illustration and write a sentence to go with it. You can then create your own class book: A Bunny is Funny 2.

2. Each of the lines about the animals rhymes. Ask children to put a thumbs up when they hear a rhyming word pair. When you are finished reading the book to them, make a list of rhyming words. You can also extend the activity by asking children to come up with more words that rhyme with the pairs.

3. Take a field trip to a farm or a zoo and see how many of the animals from the book that you see on your field trip. Take photographs on your field trip and compare these with the illustrations in A Bunny is Funny.

First, I’d like to announce the winner of the Seeds of Change book giveaway from last Thursday’s post. It is . . .Becky Povich. Thank you to Becky and everyone who left comments on this post.

Beatrice’s Goat by Page McBrier and illustrated by Lori Lohstoeter is a wonderful children’s book based on a true story. You may have heard about this book before–it’s pretty popular. It is the story of Beatrice and her family, who live in Uganda and whose lives change when they receive a goat from Heifer International. The goat bears two kids and provides enough milk to feed the family and to sell for profit. Before this, life is extremely hard for Beatrice and her five brothers and sisters, who lived in extreme poverty. The children could not even go to school because they were so poor. By the end of the book (a year), Beatrice is going to school and the family is moving into a sturdier house thanks to the gift of the goat.

I love Heifer International, and I will probably talk a lot about how they change lives in poor communities all over the world. They provide (through donations) livestock to families, so they can raise more livestock and collect products from livestock to help themselves and other community members.

I receive their magazine, and here are some facts on the back of the latest issue: “In just three months in 1994, more than 800,000 Rwandans were killed in one of the worst acts of genocide in recent history. When you donate to help rebuild hope in Rwanda, your donation will be matched 3-to-1 up to $1.6 million to help revive farming traditions lost 16 years ago. That means your gift will go four times as far to help turn Rwanda’s violent past into a peaceful–and prosperous–future.”

If you are looking for a project to do in summer school or at home this summer, think about reading Beatrice’s Goat or checking out the Heifer International website and raising money to buy a family a goat, a cow, or some chicks. You can buy a share of these for as little as $10.

*Picture book for infants to Kindergarteners, contemporary fiction
*Young girl as main character
*Rating: Say Hello! is a book children will return to again and again as they learn to speak “hello” in many different languages. Rachel Isadora is a brilliant illustrator, too!

Short, short summary: Carmelita, her mom, and her dog are on their way to see Abuelo Rosa. As they walk through the street, they encounter several people who speak, “Hello,” in different languages. There’s Mrs. Rosen who greets them with, “Shalom!” The baker says, “Bonjour,” and the pizza maker says, “Ciao!” Along the way, Carmelia and her mother answer each of them, and so does Manny the dog. He says, “Woof!” each time, but everyone is convinced it’s because he can understand the hello in a different language and is simply answering back.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. The best thing about Say Hello! by Rachel Isadora is that it is meant to be read aloud, and children are meant to practice saying hello in all the different languages. And children love this! After you have read it through a couple times, you can ask children if they know any other ways to say hello. You can make a list of all the ways–from the book and from your children–and display this in the room. At home, when you pass your child in the hallway or enter a room, you can say hello in one of the ways you learned in the book.

2. This book is also great to start a discussion about businesses/buildings in a community, which is often a primary social studies objective. What are the places that Carmelita passes or visits on her walk to see Abuela Rosa? Are these same type of businesses in your community? What do you do at each of these businesses? Why are they important to the community?

3. Another discussion to have with children is about the similarities and differences between people. Depending on where you teach or where you live, your children may be in a neighborhood like Carmelita, where people come from various backgrounds, or you may be in a place where people mostly come from the same place. No matter what, you can have the discussion with children about how people may speak differently or look differently, but we are all people with feelings, friends, families, and even special talents. Again, one of the early social studies objectives is learning “ALL ABOUT ME.” This book can be a starting point for students to explore their families, share unique things about families with the class, or even create a family tree.

Don’t forget to enter the book giveaway contest for Seeds of Change, a picture book about Waangari Maathai. See the post from Thursday, May 20 (yesterday) to enter the contest and learn about this amazing book!

*Contemporary picture book for preschoolers through 2nd graders
*The LOUDS (a very fun family) as main characters
*Rating: The Louds Move In! is a funny picture book full of cute illustrations.

Short, short summary: The Louds Move In! by Carolyn Crimi starts when guess what? The Loud family moves into a very quiet neighborhood on Earmuffle Street. The Louds walk loud–”stomp, stompity, stomp”–and eat loud–”chomp, chompity, chomp”–and even play loud–”thump, thumpity, thump.” All the quiet neighbors just can’t take the loudness anymore, and so they call and then write the Louds a note. However, it doesn’t seem to make a difference. One night, the quiet neighbors go over to the Louds’ house to talk to them about their loudness, and there is nothing but quiet. They figure the family must have FINALLY gotten the message. However, the neighbors start to hate the quiet, and they have to figure out a way to get the Louds back to being loud again.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. One of the 6 + 1 traits of writing is word choice. This is a great picture book to use with children to discuss word choice. From the sound effects to the characters’ names to the action verbs, Carolyn Crimi has used specific word choices that makes her picture book sparkle. Ask children to tell you some of their favorite words in the story. Point out how she is making the characters shout or bellow or yell, and how these words match her story. Make a list of specific words she uses that children like, and hang these words in the room for them to use in their own writing.

2. Before children discover that the Louds really didn’t change but went on vacation, ask them to predict what they think will happen at the end of the story? Why are the Louds so quiet? Did they listen to the letter? Did they want to change to make their neighbors happy? Ask students to use clues from the illustrations and text to make a realistic prediction.

3. Children can do a fun art and writing project with this book. Take a piece of drawing paper and divide it in half–on one half students draw themselves doing a loud activity they like. On the other half, they draw a quiet activity. Discuss how most people are both quiet and loud, depending on the situation. Then ask students to write a sentence or paragraph (whichever is age-appropriate) explaining their illustrations.

Are you part of the Louds?

*Picture book, fantasy for preschoolers through second graders
*Young boy as main character
*Rating: Orson Blasts Off by Raul Colon is a great adventure-type picture book that kids will love to read over and over again.

Short, short summary: When Orson’s computer breaks, he doesn’t know what he’ll do to pass the time. He’s already bored! But then his jack-in-the-box, named Weasel (as in Pop Goes the Weasel), talks to him and suggests he goes outside to play in the snow. Of course, Orson can’t believe Weasel can talk or that it’s snowy in July. But when he looks out the window, that’s just what he discovers. This starts Orson’s big adventure through the North Pole, a terrible storm at sea, and outer space–with Weasel as his faithful companion. Raul Colon’s wonderful illustrations paired with his creative story and cute pictures make this a picture book that boys (and girls, too) will love!

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Children can choose which setting from the story they like the best such as the North Pole, the sea during the storm, or outer space. Then they draw a picture of themselves, enjoying an adventure like Orson. Depending on the age of the child, ask students to write a sentence or short story about spending a day at this place. They can put Orson and Weasel in their picture and story, too.

2. Have any of your students or your children ever felt like Orson when a favorite toy breaks? Or how about if you lose your electricity? Will they survive without the T.V. or video games? Ask students to tell you about a time when they had to find something else to do just like Orson. You can also ask students which seems more fun–the video games Orson likes to have or the adventures that he went on in his imagination? (Or was it imagination? See #3 below.)

3. Here’s a question for debate: Is this a fantasy story where Orson really goes on these adventures OR is this a story about Orson’s imagination? Ask students what they think and ask them to give reasons to support their answers.