Body Smart

A collection of 37 posts

Art

Celebrate all the BEAUTIFUL HANDS!

August is crazy-busy for teachers and parents of little learners, so grab this book for a quick-prep, interactive lesson: BEAUTIFUL HANDS by Kathryn Otoshi and Bret Baumgarten. The book begins with a question, “What will your beautiful hands do today?” which leads to more questions with inspiration-sparking answers: “Will they

Art

"Rah, Rah, Radishes" and Go, STEM!

Happy May, everyone! I had the pleasure of speaking at an early education conference where our theme was literacy and science. I brought stacks of books that tie into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) or STEAM (add Art) to share. Rather than just lecture all day, I led a session

Body Smart

Here Come the Humpbacks!

Happy March, everyone! This month I’m sharing a terrific informational picture book about humpback whales and a fabulous, free activity guide that will have your students up and moving as they process information. For those Nature Smart students who’re fighting the winter blahs, this kind of reading will

Body Smart

Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance

Here’s a treat for you this Halloween: a rhyming picture book that will delight your little monsters while you hit the CCSS of Fluency and Phonics & Word Recognition. Frank was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance by Keith Graves is simple, spooky, silly fun. Frank’s dancing delights

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You Can't Taste a Pickle With Your Ear

When it comes to Common Core State Standards, the one that I think is the most fun is Range of Reading. (I know, I know, all the CCSS are fun, but this one is the most fun!) Range of Reading: Informational Text means we want kids to “read and comprehend

Body Smart

Go Out and Play!

Go Out and Play! Favorite Outdoor Games from KaBOOM! is like a chocolate-covered peanut butter cup: it combines two good things to make something wonderful, and it is something I cannot resist. The peanut-butter-part: Go Out and Play! is a nonfiction book, so sharing it with your students hits that

Body Smart

Brothers at Bat

Because it is baseball season (go, Tigers!) and because I just found out that I get to go back to New Jersey in September to teach a seminar for preschool and kindergarten teachers, this week I’m featuring a book about baseball written by one of my favorite Jersey girls.

Body Smart

Body Actions

There seems to be a direct correlation between the amount of days left in a school year and the amount of time students are able to sit still and focus.  Now is the time to grab interesting, interactive, move-your-body books like Body Actions by Shelley Rotner and David A. White.

Art

Iggy Peck, Architect

Long have I loved Andrea Beaty’s picture book series about a bear named Ted (grab Doctor Ted, Firefighter Ted, and Artist Ted from your local library and prepare to be charmed.) Then, I saw sitting on the shelf by the Ted books this gem, just waiting to tie in

Art

Let's Talk About Race

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” – Maya Angelou. Next Monday we celebrate the birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. What better way to honor his dream of a nation where our children

Art

Monkey: a trickster tale from India

It’s January, and is it just me, or are your kids more wiggly than a troop of monkeys, too? Here’s a book to get your kids monkeying around in a good way, and you’ll be teaching the Common Core State Standard of  Key Ideas and Details. Monkey:

Art

Max's Castle

Let me make it easier for you this holiday season, because I know how it is. You want to buy a book for a child for the holidays, but you think they’d probably like a toy better, but you don’t want to give plastic junk, and yet do

Body Smart

"Brothers at Bat" is Notable!

After a solid month of all the members of my household taking turns being sick (seriously, we dubbed our home “Contagion Manor”), I was so glad to return to work and see some of my favorite books on the New York Times Notable Children’s Books of 2012 list. I

Art

Bones: Skeletons and How They Work

I could say, “here’s an informational book that will tickle your funny bone” or  “it’s so good it’s scary”, but Bones: Skeletons and How They Work by Steve Jenkins needs no rib-tickling tricks to get kids’ attention. For Halloween or health units, this book is thoroughly engaging.

Body Smart

Panda Kindergarten

It’s back-to-school time, even for pandas. Joanne Ryder and Dr. Katherine Feng have made the world’s cutest informational book, Panda Kindergarten. The photos of the baby pandas at the Wolong Nature Reserve in China are unbearably adorable.  Sixteen roly-poly panda cubs are learning the skills they will need

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I'm Not

Being friends with really cool people can sometimes lead me down the “compare and despair” spiral of gloom. My husband is an artist. I’m not. One of my friends is a belly dancer. I’m not. Another friend is an organic gardener. I grow weeds. *sigh* So when I

Body Smart

Go, Go, Grapes!

Hip, hip, hooray for April Pulley Sayre and Go, Go, Grapes! A Fruit Chant! How do you make healthy eating fun? With Sayre’s vibrant photos of fruits taken at her local farmer’s market paired with her contagious rhymes: “Nectarines, tangerines, hit the spot. Glum? Go plum. Or apricot!

Art

Just a Second: a different way to look at time

How many times do you think a hummingbird beats its wings in just one second? 10? 20? Steve Jenkins makes math irresistible  in Just a Second: a different way to look at time. In one second, a hummingbird beats its wings 50 times. In one minute, a grizzly bear can

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It's time to Bawk & Roll!

Elvis Poultry and his back-up chicks are back, so hop on this tour bus and get ready to Bawk & Roll! Tammi Sauer and Dan Santat made this follow-up book just as irresistible as their first tail-shaker, Chicken Dance. Marge and Lola are now officially back-up dancers for the King

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This Leap Year - Stick!

With a title like Stick, you might not think this book by Steve Breen will work for a Leap Year celebration, but it will! Stick is an independent young frog; he likes to do things on his own, thank you very much. He doesn’t want help from his mom

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The Piggy in the Puddle

“See the piggy, see the puddle, see the muddy little puddle. See the piggy in the middle of the muddy little puddle.” This classic tongue-twisting pig tale, The Piggy in the Puddle, by Charlotte Pomerantz and James Marshall is almost 40 years old, and it is still pure fun to

Body Smart

The Ballad of Valentine

“Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Valentine, I have written forty letters, but you’ve never read a line.” Alison Jackson and Tricia Tusa have me singing this Valentine’s Day. In their book, The Ballad of Valentine, a narrator tries most every way he can to

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Shades of People

Peach, coffee, cocoa, copper, tan, ivory, rose, almond. So many Shades of People in this gorgeous book by Shelley Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly! I can think of no better book to read to little ones in celebration of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I’ve tried reading

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Frosty the Snowman!

When I sing to my own ‘tweenage kids, they roll their eyes and beg me to stop. But when I sing to preschoolers and kindergartners, I get instant engagement. That’s why I love books that can be sung, like Frosty the Snowman written by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins

Body Smart

Elephants Can Paint, Too!

I’m trying to use more non-fiction in my storytimes, so when I found Elephants Can Paint, Too  by Katya Arnold, I felt like I’d hit the jackpot. Katya Arnold shows in amazing photos her two different painting classes, one for children and one for elephants. It’s so