Book Love: Book of Sleep

I have loved A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na for a long time now, as a bedtime story for my son. But I decided to give it a try with my preschool class since we had been talking about what people and animals do at night. It worked really well for this topic.

This book is really simple and explores the way that different animals sleep (or don't sleep, in the case of the owl) at night. I love the whimsical illustrations, and the patterned rhythm of the text.

Read-Aloud Tips:
We decided to read this book in the dark and pretend it was night. The kids liked the change of gathering around close together to see the pages by the light of a lantern.

 Each animal in this book does something unique when they sleep. We took our time with each one to think about what it might be like to sleep that way, and even acted out some of the ideas, like sleeping with one eye open or standing up.

There is also a little owl on each page, and so naturally they were eager to find it.

Nocturnal Animals Connection:
We used this book as a springboard to talk about other nocturnal animals that stay awake during the night, and sleep during the day. The kids took turns looking through this set of nonfiction books about different nocturnal animals, still to the light of the lantern of course.

Day and Night Sky

We've been exploring another natural cycle of time: day and night.

Day and Night Sky Pattern

Day Sky Art

(using construction paper, cotton balls, and glue)

Night Sky Art

(Using construction paper, stencils, white paint, and pom-pom brushes)

The Seasons Cycle

Time is still an abstract concept for preschool aged children, especially extended periods of time like weeks, months, and years. While I don't expect my students to fully understand the ways that we measure time, I do try to build up their background knowledge and help them to develop a sense for the repetitive way that our measurements of time work.

We focus on concrete aspects of seasons as they come along, but I noticed that some of my students were confused about the order in which they occur. So we did this craft to help us visualize the cycle that seasons go through every year.

We read this book to help us think about each season individually. After every season, we would stop and add a sticker or die cut to represent that season on our paper plate wheel.

I also took the opportunity to practice beginning sounds by supporting the students as they found each season word on their own by matching the sounds and letters.

Then we used the wheels to explore how the cycle goes around and around, and pointed to each season in order as we sang this simple season song:

(Tune: Skip to My Lou)

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

4 seasons in a year!

We will keep talking about other natural cycles and patterns that happen as time goes by, with day and night coming up next. 

Reading with Babies and Toddlers {Part 2}

This is Part Two in a series about my experiences reading and sharing books with my son (Gorilla). Read Part One here.

When Gorilla was a baby, it was pretty easy to establish routines and read with him every day. But as babies transition into toddlers, they become much more active and independent. It is such an exciting time of developmental growth, but it can also make things like reading time (and really, any time) a little more tricky to navigate. Today I am sharing some of the things that have been working for us during these early toddler years as I continue to try to foster a love of reading and books within my son.

Keep the Routine

Routines help toddlers to feel safe and in control because they know what to expect. Reading books at bedtime is not an original idea by any means, but it's a routine that definitely works for us. We have read together before both naptime and bedtime since Gorilla was a baby, and so in the least we always have that time, even if we do nothing else with books throughout the day.

Follow Their Lead

Some days I try to initiate reading together as a part of playtime. Sometimes Gorilla will read with me for a long time, and sometimes he won't. Sometimes he will let me pick the books to read, and sometimes he will turn away all of my choices and want to pick his own. Sometimes he will sit on my lap to read, and sometimes he won't. All of this is perfectly normal toddler behavior, but sometimes the inconsistency can be frustrating to adults. In those moments, I remind myself to let him take the lead. If I try to force or control the situation, it won't be a positive experience for anyone. Some of my favorite reading moments have happened when I wasn't even thinking about books, and he initiated reading on his own. 

For example, I was doing the dishes one afternoon when I heard the soft pounding of little feet coming down the hall. Gorilla, about 1-year old, rounded the corner into the kitchen with a book in his hands. He walked right up to me, tried to hand me the book, and looked at me with excited, smiling eyes. I'll admit that for a brief minute I wanted to delay his request and finish the dishes, but really- how could I refuse? I turned off the water and we sat down right there on the kitchen floor to read the book together. 

Make Books Accessible

Part of letting him take the lead is storing our board books in places that Gorilla can access easily. We have books in various places around our house. The majority of his books stay in his bedroom, on either the bottom of the bookshelf or in a little bin on the floor next to the recliner. 

Let's be honest, this approach gets messy at times because he will often pull out a huge stack of books along with the one he decides to look at. 

But personally, I love walking into the room and finding him enjoying books on his own. I want to support that independence, and I don't mind cleaning up the books with him afterward.

Have Fun!
Reading does not have to be a sitting-still activity, or even a quiet activity. Toddlers will be much more engaged in books when the approach is playful and active. I was already in the habit of adding sounds or movement into his stories for extra sensory stimulation, and now it is so fun to see him trying out those same actions as he connects to the book. He will often anticipate a page before I even get to it by making the sound or  facial expression or action that I usually make.

Some of our favorite books that are great for silly sounds and movements include:

This book is so great for adding sound effects, as well as alternating a quiet and loud voice.

Here he is making an airplane noise and moving his finger across the page, copying what I do when I read it. 

Add train noises or swipe your finger across the page faster and faster as the train goes by. 

This book gives you actions to do, and it is fun to set the book down and try each movement out.
 We also love Llama Llama Zippity Zoom.

Gorilla started singing "La,La,La" all the time after we started reading this story. A fun book for sounds.

Sometimes it's also fun to get up and move with a story. A favorite book from when he was a baby, Hello Bugs!, often turns into a chasing game when we read it because he will run away laughing as I make silly bug noises with tickly movements.


Talk and Connect 
Comprehension is a crucial part of learning to read later on, and it is so easy to model and practice those skills now by talking about what you read. Sometimes I will stop and point to things on the page and repeat its name, or I will ask questions or notice connections between things in the book and something Gorilla is familiar with.

In Haiku Baby, Gorilla almost always stops on the page with the moon to point at the moon, then the whale, and the bird, and so I take advantage of the moment to say their names and talk about those things.

This is also a great way to encourage the development of language skills, especially since books are often exposing them to a wider variety of words and topics than day-to-day conversations. It has been so exciting to hear Gorilla say words for pictures in a book, and even more exciting when he uses them again in a different context. Although the book never actually says the word "hippo," I would always ask where the hippo was in Hide and Seek Harry at the Beach. After awhile, he started to say the word on his own while we read, and then one day he recognized a toy hippo that we have using that same word.

Use the Library
We do own a lot of books, and I enjoy having our own collection of favorites on hand. But I also love that our public library has an awesome selection of board books to check out. Sometimes we go to the library just to browse, but as a teacher and a parent I rely heavily on placing an online hold for books that I can go pick up in one quick trip.

There are so many great books out there, but sometimes it can be overwhelming to find them. I often use blogs or Pinterest as a resource for finding new books to try out. I also come across new book ideas from the recommendations that pop up while searching Amazon or my library's website. Libraries also often have book lists available that would have great ideas as well.

Happy Reading!

Reading with Babies and Toddlers {Part 1}

I started reading to my son (Gorilla) when he was only a few weeks old. Maybe that sounds unnecessary, but for me it was a really natural thing to do. I love reading, and I especially love great children's literature. So it was fun and exciting for me to start sharing books with him at that early age.

The way that we read together has changed and evolved as he has grown, as I know it will continue to do so throughout his childhood. But my purpose in reading with him has remained the same: I hope to help him discover his own love and appreciation for good books.

Today I want to share some of the things that worked for us while while reading with Gorilla as a baby.

Keep it Simple
When I first started reading with Gorilla, it was really just another way for us to sit together and pass the time. Reading out loud allowed him to hear the sound of my voice, and it gave me words to say to him. I selected books that I enjoyed reading and sometimes we only made it through a page or two before we moved onto something else.

Grandma and Gorilla, 2 months old

Over time as his senses became more developed, his attention span increased and he began to focus more on the pictures. At this stage, I found that simple books were really the best books for us. Gorilla was engaged by short text, interesting sounds, and clear, bold illustrations.

From the DK Baby Touch and Feel Series: Things That Go

There are quite a few board books out there with illustrations that are mostly black and white or"high-contrast." This style of illustration is said to be especially stimulating and appropriate for a baby's developing eyesight. Hello, Bugs! is one of our favorite high-contrast books, with patterned text that is a springboard for adding movement and sounds into the story.

For example, on the page that says "Hello, Worm!" there are also words that say "wiggle, wiggle." So when I read it, I would wiggle his fingers or toes, or wiggle my finger around and then give him some tickles. Connecting the text to simple actions and sounds can be an enjoyable and fun sensory experience for even very young babies.

Make it a Routine
The easiest way to make sure you read every day is to make it a part of a daily routine. Once Gorilla was out of the newborn stage and sleeping on more of a schedule, I decided to make reading part of his going-to-sleep routine for both naps and bedtime. This is still our routine and it has worked really well for us. But I would be lying if I didn't say that sometimes I purposefully read very short books or even only a few pages because we are both cranky and need sleep fast. :)

For bedtime stories, I typically rotate 2-3 books specifically about going to sleep at night. My personal favorite is A Book of Sleep because I love the unique illustrations.

My husband's favorite is Good Night Gorilla, and now our little Gorilla requests this book frequently, not just at bedtime, and likes to read it over and over again. (Thus his nickname...)

Repetition Promotes Learning and Familiarity
As adults, it can feel very tiresome to read the same book over and over again. But young children often thrive on repetition to learn and build upon their understanding. Along with that, the familiarity of a favorite book or toy can be very comforting and relaxing to a child.  I honestly only read a handful of books to Gorilla during his first 6+ months because we read the same books over and over again every day. As he got older, he would show signs of excitement when I would pull out the same stories and, more often than not, those same books held his attention longer than a brand new story. The funny thing is, some of these books are still among his favorites today!

In addition to the books already listed, some of those early favorite books included:

Peek-a-Who

Baby Touch and Feel Cuddly Animals
Note: One thing I like about this series of "touch and feel" books is that it uses real photographs, which help to promote more concrete connections between pictures and real life objects during the infant and toddler years. I like to use many board books from Priddy Books for that same reason.

Aloha Zoo

Touch, Explore, and Play with Books
It wasn't long before Gorilla wanted to reach out and touch the books we were reading. As his motor skills developed, this went from tapping and touching the pages, to turning the pages back and forth, to opening and closing the book. At this point, I was glad that we were using good quality board books so that I could let him explore the book without worrying about ripping pages. The only thing I didn't let him do was eat the book. If he started doing that, we would stop reading or I would find him something else to chew on while we read. :)

Sometimes I had to remind myself that it was okay to not finish or even read the actual story every time we sat down with a book. Turning to the same page 3 times or closing the book again and again is all part of his learning experience.  If he showed interest in a page by touching it, I would stop and find ways to talk more about that page. At times this meant that we weren't really sitting down to read at all, we were just playing and interacting with the book together- and that was great!

As Gorilla became more mobile and independent, I tried to be patient and let his natural interests lead the way in our reading time together, which is something I talk more about in the next post- reading with toddlers.

Teaching Piano: Grand Staff Games

I've been using this large staff and gemstone "notes" with some of my piano students.

I like how these clear gemstones make it really easy to see how the notes fit in with the lines and spaces. I usually just play simple one-on-one games with these, depending on what the student is learning.

For Valentine's Day this week, I used these heart gems instead and it was a fun change.

Here is one quick game that I played with a beginning student. I made a dice that has step and skip written on various sides. We each had a different color heart, and placed our hearts at the bottom of the staff. Then we raced to the top of the staff by rolling the dice, and moving up a step or a skip at a time.

 As we played, we explored different concepts such as what it means to move up the staff, what a skip looks like, what a step looks like, and the invisible line that is in between the two clefs.

On the Felt Board: Hearts

My little guy seems to be learning and using new words every day now. It is so fun! As I mentioned in this post, one of my favorite words lately is "haaaa-ut!" (heart) There have been a lot of hearts around with Valentine's Day coming up, and it has been fun to watch him recognize the shape in different contexts.  After using these felt hearts in the preschool, I brought them up so he could play with them too.

I used the 5 big hearts to act out this finger play (found here) with my preschool students:

5 little valentines waiting in the store,

(Name) bought one and then there were four.

4 little valentines for you and me,

(Name) bought one and then there were three.

3 little valentines wondering what to do,

(Name) bought one and then there were two.

2 little valentines thinking up some fun,

(Name) bought one and then there was one.

1 little valentine said buy me and run!

(Name) bought one and then there was none. 

Book Love: Penguin and Pinecone

I thought Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon was a perfect story for us as we've been discussing friendship, kindness, and love for Valentine's Day coming up.

It is a sweet story that in many ways mirrors young children's curiosity and imagination, as well as their ability to love and give whole-heartedly.

Read-Aloud Tip: I gathered up some pine cones for my class to hold and explore during the read-aloud, much in the same way Penguin does in the story. As the story went along, we also acted out some of the activities that Penguin and Pinecone do together.

Connection Activity - Craft: After the story, I helped the students to make their own friends out of the pine cones they chose. I used hot glue to put eyes and a heart on each one. Then one student suggested we make a scarf, like Penguin did in the book. So we also used yarn to make a little scarf.

The kids were pretty excited about their new pine cone friends. :)

Connection Activity - Social-Emotional Thinking: Later in the day, we revisited the story and the concept of friendship. Penguin did many things to give kindness and love to his new friend Pinecone. We talked about ways that we can be a kind and loving friend, and then each student drew a picture and told me something they could do.

Frozen Hearts Sensory Play

I used two bread pans and a bunch of foam and plastic hearts that I found at the Dollar Tree to create this icy cold sensory bin.

I placed the objects in the pan with water, and stuck it in the freezer. The foam hearts floated to the top of the pan and the plastic hearts sank to the bottom of the pan, which would work for this activity, but I wanted more of a layered feel. So after that first part had frozen, I added another layer of water and objects. I suppose you could do that with even smaller layers than I did if you have the time, and want the objects to be evenly dispersed throughout the pan.

My little guy loves hearts right now, and insisted on exploring the ice block while I was setting up for class.
"Ha-ut!" he says.

It was very easy to get the ice block out of the pan. I just ran the bottom of the pan under some water, and within a few seconds it cracked and I was able to slide it right out into the sensory bin.

I made two for my class to explore, and provided some spray/squeeze bottles filled with warm water and paintbrushes as possible excavation tools. I encouraged them to think of other ways they could melt the ice and release the frozen hearts, and some students brought objects from other parts of the room to try out as well.

The bin was open for about an hour or so, and the students kept coming back to it in between other activities. The blocks were only about half melted when center time was over, and so we put them back in the freezer to use again next time.

On a side note, the larger foam hearts in the bin were just there for added play as it filled up with water. We ended up sticking the wet hearts to some glass surfaces near the bin, just for fun.