Picture Book of the Day – Page 14

Sorting Through Spring

Sorting Through Spring (Math in Nature)
by Lizann Flatt (Author) and Ashley Barron (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Numbers, patterns, shapes — and much more! — can be found by observing everyday plants and animals.

Snippet:
Would prairie chickens practice their moves so they match?
Woo-woo flap, stampity stomp-stamp.

Can you perform this pattern?

Nonfiction Monday

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Peek-a-Boo Bunny

Peek-a-Boo Bunny
by Holly Surplice (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Bunny is having such a wonderfully exciting time during his forest game of hide-and-seek that he manages to miss most of his friends’ hiding places. Can you find them?

Snippet:
Bunny,
Bunny,
don’t you peek…

Bunny, Bunny, hide and seek!

What’s in the Garden?

What’s in the Garden?
by Marianne Berkes (Author) and Cris Arbo (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Good food doesn’t begin on a store shelf with a box. It comes from a garden bursting with life, color, sounds, smells, sunshine, moisture, birds, and bees! Healthy food becomes much more interesting when children know where they come from. So what’s in the garden? Kids will find a variety fruits and vegetables, and a tasty, kid-friendly recipe for each one to start a lifetime of good eating.

Snippet:
Delicious, nutritious, what could it be?
In spring there are blossoms all over the tree,
Red, green, or yellow, with fruit that is round.
If you don’t pick it, it plops to the ground.

TURN THE PAGE to see a recipe for making applesauce!

Nonfiction Monday

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Nat the Cat’s Sunny Smile

Nat the Cat’s Sunny Smile
by Jez Alborough (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Nat the Cat shares her smile with her friends, but then her own smile is gone. Luckily, she’s passed it on to her friends and they soon come along to cheer her right back up again! (Sheet music for Nat the Cat’s Picnic Song is in the book, and you can download the sheet music and the song, too!)

Snippet:
Nat the Cat jumped out of bed
with a smile spread halfway round her head.
She packed a picnic snack to share
with her friends, Billy Goat and Hugo Hare.

Listen to the author read the book.

Cookie, the Walker

Cookie, the Walker
by Chris Monroe (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: In this picture book that looks like a comic, Cookie the dog walks on her hind legs. That catches the attention of a show producer, who turns her into a star. And with fame come benefits: bacon, candy, a fanny pack, her own mini-fridge… But the more Cookie walks, the more people expect from her.

Snippet: Cookie and Kevin were at the park.

KEVIN: Hi, Cookie! What are you doing?

COOKIE: Walking!

Little Naomi, Little Chick

Little Naomi, Little Chick
by Avirama Golan (Author) and Raaya Karas (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Little Naomi has a busy day! She gets ready for school, plays with all her friends, builds with blocks, bakes mud pies, colors pictures, eats lunch, and helps mom with the shopping. Little Chick has to stay at home with the other barnyard animals, but that doesn’t stop him from having adventures of his own.

Snippet:
She gives Little Bear a hug.
She kisses Mommy
and gives Daddy’s hand a tug.
Little Naomi is ready to go!
Off to preschool, with Daddy in tow.

But not little Chick.

One Word Pearl

One Word Pearl
by Nicole Groeneweg (Author) and Hazel Mitchell (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Pearl loves words. All kinds of words. Words make up songs, stories, poems . . . and what does a lover of words do? She collects them, of course!

But one day, most of Pearl’s words are blown away…

Snippet: Outside her room, safe from the storm, Pearl opened her chest. But the wind had only left a handful of words—not enough to tell a story, not enough to sing a song, and not enough to make a poem rhyme.

So Pearl decided she would use only one precious word at a time.

Wired #lessonplans

Where does electricity come from? Help K-5 students answer this essential question (and meet the Common Core State Standards) with the Teaching STEM lesson plans for this mentor text: Wired by Anastasia Suen (ATOS 5.1 / 820L)

Unit Summary: Students will examine the essential question, “Where does electricity come from?” As you read the book, the students will identify and write the main idea for each spread. They will look up generators and read about them. Using the library resources and online materials, they will create a diagram of a generator and label it. Finally, students will design a flow chart leading from the generator diagram of where electricity goes when it leaves the generator and they’ll use their collected information to write about the entire process.

The Library Activity begins on page 111. The Collaborative Teacher Activity is on page 114.

Extension Activities (sample)

1. Explore other ways electricity is generated. Consider hydropower, solar power, tidal power, and wind power.

2. Bring in a guest speaker from the local power company.

3. After reading the book, have the students write a short description of the main idea of the book. Use the phrase, “I am a technology specialist. I know that _________.”

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

You can find more Teaching STEM lesson plans on the Teaching STEM blog.

Bad Boy, Good Boy

Bad Boy, Good Boy
by Kay Chorao (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Sam is always up to something in this oversized picture book comic with four short chapters.

Snippet:
GRANDMA: Bad boy!
SAM: Sorry, Grandma.

Sam could run like the wind.
Today the wind blew
swoooosssshhh.
Sam swooshed through
Grandma’s tulips.

Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies

Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies
by Cokie Roberts (Author) and Diane Goode (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Details gleaned from letters, private journals, lists, and ledgers tell the story of the female patriots of the American Revolution.

Snippet:
ELIZA LUCAS PINCKNEY
Eliza Lucas was only sixteen years old when her father went off to fight for England against Spain and left her in charge of three plantations in South Carolina.

March is Women’s History Month.
For more great titles, follow the KidLit Celebrates Women’s History Month blog.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!