The school's spring book festival began today with bubbling enthusiasm from all the students who got to visit on the first day. I was privileged to meet with all the kindergarten classes to share highlights from the inventory with them. One afternoon student asked, "Are you going to talk about the same things with us as you did with the morning kids?" To be honest, I did not. There were so many interesting things to share that I kept selecting different titles for each of the six groups. Gathered in front of me on the floor, their eyes followed every book and movement. I love that books have that power!
Some of my favorites from the day:
Poem Runs by Douglas Florian - especially the illustration for "Catcher", which makes it seem like the catcher's mid-section is a big catcher's mitt
Stuck by Oliver Jeffers - in which Floyd gets his kite stuck in a tree and attempts to release it by throwing other things at it, all of which get stuck
Bird Talk by Lita Judge - with all the birds singing in spring, it is the perfect book to make us think about what all the songs might mean
Here Come the Girl Scouts! by Shana Corey - about the life of Juliette Gordon Low
I miss being in a classroom. I found the same level of enthusiasm for books with my former high school students, even though sometimes it took awhile to get below the "cool" surface facade. I often used children's books to illustrate important literary terms. For a high school teacher, I sure do own many books normally intended for elementary kids.
ReplyDeletea dazzling array of new books! is there anything more exciting?
ReplyDeleteYou and I would have been excellent, collaborative colleagues, Kate. I LOVE using children's literature to teach other things (or introduce topics). Like you, I used them when I taught middle school and high school as well!
ReplyDeleteI love STUCK and HERE COME THE GIRL SCOUTS! Both are gems. And how did I not know that you taught middle school and high school, Julie? Did that information slip out of my brain?
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to hear that you used picture books with your high school students, Kate. Good picture books can work on so many different levels; it's a shame more people don't realize this.