Fostering the Love of Writing

As a teacher I know that teaching writing can often times be one of the most difficult tasks for teachers.  Today I found a book that I would love to share with students in the early elementary grades (K-2): How to Bake a Book by Ella Burfoot.

cover

This book is about a little girl who sets out to bake herself a book.  She mixes words and rolls in characters and in the end has herself a delicious book.

 

I could see reading this book before a creative writing unit in class.  It’s funny and a little bit silly.  It also might just be the way to get more hesitant writers thinking about the ingredients that go into making a great story.  Writing a good story can sometimes be difficult for petites, where to start, how to start, but when you break it down into pieces like a recipe it seems a lot less daunting.

 

I think that this book would be perfect for kindergarteners and first graders, this is such a fun book, with such fabulous vocabulary boosting words.  This book is sure to get a giggle from your petites and I’m sure will inspire some creative writing from your students.

A whole class idea that I have been thinking would be so much fun to engage kids and get them thinking about writing would be able to do a whole class or smaller group activity.  In this activity, each student would have a piece to the story, whether it’s a word, character,  image of setting  and have a large bowl with a spoon and put it all together as a class.  It would be so much fun to work on this as a whole group and see what the kids come up with then share their book with the class and their families.

How would you use How to Bake a Book in your classroom?

 

 

 

Spring Books for Petites

 

Happy first day of spring!  Hooray it’s finally here.  I’ve chosen some of our favorite books about spring for you to share with your petites.

And Then It's Spring

And Then It’s Spring (Booklist Editor’s Choice. Books for Youth (Awards)) this book is gorgeous.  I love everything about it.  The story is all about how being patient for spring to finally arrive.  They plant seeds and wait and wait till they grow.  Erin E. Stead does such a lovely job with the illustrations.

Planting a Rainbow

Planting a Rainbow – you cannot go wrong with this vibrant classic.  My girls love looking at all of the flowers and even have chosen to plant some of the plants from this book in their garden.  Perfect book for budding gardeners.

Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms – I just had the chance to read this book and it is so sweet.  I love the illustrations that Tiphanie Beeke has created, they are so lovely.  Fletcher is a lovely little fox who loves everything about spring even the unexpected surprises.

The Little Duck The Little Duck (Pictureback(R)) – this is a book that is a classic, I am sure you might remember having these adorable books when you were a child.

Board Books

Bear Wants MOre

Bear Wants More (The Bear Books) – I am a huge fan of all of the Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman bear books they are wonderfully illustrated and written.

It's Spring

It’s Spring! is such a fun book about a charming little rabbit that is thrilled spring has finally arrived.

Baby Loves Spring

Baby Loves Spring!: A Karen Katz Lift-the-Flap Book (Karen Katz Lift-the-Flap Books) my kids love the lift the flap books, especially these cute ones.

It’s all about the Paci

When my oldest was 2 years old we took her to the dentist and to say I got scolded is an understatement.  I was told that pacifiers were the worst and that by allowing my petite to suck on one whenever she wanted I was basically ensuring she would need braces in her future.  What?  But they give them away at the hospital, how could they be so bad?  Well apparently they can cause teeth to shift and well you guessed it, future issues.  So after getting scolded we decided that it was probably time for her to give up her paci.

Petite

This was not as easy as I hoped it would be, I wanted to share our struggles and overall triumph with you all just in case there are some of you our there struggling with this same dilemma.  Let me first start by saying, I think that as parents we all do the best that we can especially when it comes to our newborns.  We do what we need to to stay sane, to get babies to sleep or stop crying.  I am in no way judging – just wanting to share how we got our petite to kick her paci habit.

After the scolding from the dentist (who we no longer see by the way) we decided to wean her off of it, we decided to only let her have the paci when she was taking naps or going to bed – not all the time, no exception.  She used a snuggly when she slept before and we heavily reinforced it and made sure we always had it for naps and bedtime making it a more prominent part of our nighttime routine.  A few days later we took away the paci at nighttime.  I would love to tell you it wasn’t a big deal that she didn’t fuss or ask for it or cry.  But let’s be honest, it was sort of a disaster.  Over the next few days she would ask for it at night and we would just say we are all done with the paci and hand her the snuggly.  It worked, she was rather sneaky though and would pull paci’s out of places, she had a secret stash in her carseat and it seemed like every time I would turn around driving she would have one in her mouth.

We also used some really cute board books with her to talk about her paci.

No more pacifier as a piggy

No More Pacifier for Piggy! (Ducky and Piggy) this book was a total lifesaver, piggy and ducky are so cute.  Piggy always has a paci and when Ducky wants to play a new game with him peekaboo it is hard because when he tries to play the paci falls in the dirt.  In the end the friends are able to find a solution to their problem.  Hooray.  My petite loved this book.

Bea

Bea Gives Up Her Pacifier: The book that makes children WANT to move on from pacifiers! this is a really cute book about Bea who doesn’t want to give up her paci, her parents convince her to give it to a paci fairy!  How cute is that?  I am in love with this idea.

Good luck to all those who are eradicating pacifiers,
Erin

 

Hip Hop it’s Books about Bunnies

Hip Hop, it’s books all about bunnies.  We used to live in the cutest little yellow house, this house was near a green space and because of this we had the cutest wild bunnies that would play in our yard.  One spring we had a few little babies that would come and just sit for hours – they provided hours of delightful entertainment.  So here is a list of our favorite books about bunnies.

The Spectacular Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Spectacular Tale of Peter Rabbit

These updated tales written by the brilliantly talented Emma Thompson are true to Peter Rabbit character but without the stern and somewhat terrifying consequences.

The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Little Rabbit

The Little Rabbit

This updated cover may look familiar to you, Judy Dunn and Phoebe Dunn created a whole series of these books that were wildly popular in the 80s.  Popular for a reason these books and photos are great and petites love them.  Also it is always fun to have a little blast from the past.

Board Books:

Pat the Bunny

Pat the Bunny (Touch and Feel Book)

This is another classic that has been loved by so many petites all over.  This is a touch and feel book – which is great for little ones.

I love you, Honey Bunny

I Love You, Honey Bunny (Earesistables)

This is another incredibly sweet book with fun little soft ears for petites to play with.

Hop! Hop!

 Hop! Hop! (Leslie Patricelli board books)

Okay so not exactly a bunny, but adorable nonetheless.  All about fun Easter activities, petites will love the bright colors.

I am a buny

I Am a Bunny (A Golden Sturdy Book)

How about this classic bunny book illustrated by Richard Scarry?  My girls love this book, their Papa bought it for them a while ago and it is one of our favorites.

Now, I am sure that there are so many wonderful bunny books that I am missing.  Which ones are your petites favorites?

Ireland: Favorites Edition

In 2011 my family and I went to Ireland for a few weeks, it was one of the most amazing trips we have ever taken.  We literally talk about it all the time and dream about when we will get to go back.  For St. Patrick’s Day this year I wanted to share some of my favorite Irish things.

Favorite Saying

quote

Favorite Hot Drink because of course Jameson is my favorite cold drink.

Barry's

Barry’s Tea Gold Blend 80 Count 2-pack – delicious tea that is served at tea time all over Ireland.

Favorite Shop

Oasis

Oasis the cutest clothing shop ever, they are all over Ireland, but lucky for you they ship everywhere, most likely to your door!

Favorite Places

Ireland

This is where we went, it was an amazing tour of Ireland.  Read all about our favorite places here.

Favorite Children’s Books

Fiona's LuckKing Puck

Fiona’s Luck |  King Puck

Favorite Crafts

 rainbow-chain-craft-for-kidsThis amazing craft that is so much fun from Crafty Morning.

leprechaun-handprint-craft-545x1024Okay so this is just a snippet of my favorite things, here are some of my other posts all about Ireland.

Best Bookshops Ireland

Erin Go Bragh Trip Planning

Erin Go Bragh Trip Planning

Sláinte,

Erin

 

The Perfect Egg…Just in Time For Easter

Here at my house we eat a lot of eggs, a few years ago I decided I wanted to get some chickens, because it would much so much cheaper than buying the huge amount of eggs at the big box stores.  Well, my poultry dreams haven’t exactly come true, but they have certainly been reignited.  I had the opportunity to spend some time pouring over the new book The Perfect Egg: A Fresh Take on Recipes for Morning, Noon, and Night by Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park who you may know from their foodie blog Spoon Fork Bacon.  Where they share their amazing recipes and gorgeous food photography,  I swear these stunning foodie pictures could make you gain some weight just by looking at them.

Cover

Just last week they released their second cookbook, The Perfect Egg.  This book is packed with some incredibly gorgeous photographs, I was in love when I opened the cover and saw the pictures.  After all, my least favorite part about cooking magazines and cookbooks is when the recipes do not have pictures.  I want to see what it should look like.  So I can drool over the potential meals I now have the instructions to make.  I think it is pretty safe to say the more pictures the better, and you my friend are in luck, because Jenny has taken some artful photos.

I love how this book is all about eggs, but eggs morning, noon and night.  Some of my favorite things about this book, Egg 101: Basics – there are 17 pages dedicated to cooking techniques, sauces and condiments, pasta doughs, and breads.

The recipe that literally had me getting giddy and running to the cupboards to see if I had everything on hand – Hawaiian Sweet Rolls.  The girls love these rolls and seriously we always have them on hand, so to be able to make them is amazing.

Another favorite for me is that this book is not what you would expect, yes there are traditional egg recipes, but they have a twist to them.  For example, quiche; there are nine variations to their standard recipe, and not taking up nine pages of the book, but just one!  Same with Fritatta, there are also nine variations you can choose from.

These are unique and delicious, so much so that you should not look at this book if you are hungry, I was incredibly disappointed when I got only 40 pages in and was running to the kitchen to see if I had the ingredients to make Huevos Rancheros because the picture well it’s delicious – to my dismay I did not.

Let’s talk about the snacks/afternoon portion of the book, again you will find classic recipes with more modern variations – eggs salad and deviled eggs (perfect when you consider you will be dying a ton of eggs in just a matter of weeks).  Another aspect to this book that is wonderful is that Teri Lyn and Jenny love to travel and there are recipes inspired by their travels throughout the book.  What I love even more is that this cookbook has a personal feel to it in that Teri Lyn and Jenny write little notes to you at the top of the recipes, much like you would tell a friend before you shared a new recipe with them about where you got it, what you were doing there and why you like it.  Which for me, makes it so much more fun and reminds me of their blog, which I love.

The only person who I suspect would not like this book is someone who doesn’t like eggs, and for you non-egg eater I suggest you try one of these recipes: Blackberry-Stuffed Croissant French Toast, Corn and Green Onion Fritters with a Bacon-Honey Drizzle, Spaetzle with Swedish Meatballs, Vanilla Bean Semifreddo Bars or Peaches ‘N’ Cream Cake.

Trust me when I say you will want to do two things really quickly – get yourself a chicken coop and stock it full of hens and get this book before Easter so you can make the most of the brightly colored deliciously delightful eggs.

Bon Appetit!

Erin

 

Note: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.  However, the thoughts and opinions about this book are my own.

Books about Easter for Petites

Since it is almost Easter I wanted to make a list of some of our favorite books and some that I would love to add to our collection of holiday books.  If you’re new to the blog, I have a special box where I store all of our holiday books and I only pull them out for the holidays and then they get put back to keep the petites excited for the special books.  Here are some of our favorite picture books.

Here comes the easter catHere Comes the Easter Cat

Pete the Cat

Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure

Happy Easter, Mouse!

Happy Easter, Mouse! (If You Give…)

Splat the Cat Splat the Cat: Where’s the Easter Bunny?

Of course we couldn’t forget books for the tinniest of petites.  Here are our picks for board books:

Ollie's Easter Eggs Ollie’s Easter Eggs board book (Gossie & Friends)

Where are baby's easter eggs

Where Are Baby’s Easter Eggs?: A Lift-the-Flap Book (Karen Katz Lift-the-Flap Books)

Owens Marshmallow Chick

Owen’s Marshmallow Chick

Duck and Goose
Duck & Goose, Here Comes the Easter Bunny!

Juna’s Jar

CoverJuna’s Jar by Jane Bahk with art by Felicia Hoshino copyright LEE & LOW Books January 2015.  Let me tell you why this book would be the perfect addition to your petites shelf.  First of all the illustrations are delightful, the story is so real and touching.  It is about a young girl named Juna, her family has a large jar of kimchi in their fridge and when the kimchi is all gone she sometimes get to keep the jar.  Do you know any petites who would like to keep a jar like this?  I certainly do.

Juna is also a girl who loves adventures especially ones with her best friend Hector.  They are perfect together looking at books and collecting things to put into the jar.  Sadly, one day Juna goes to get Hector for another adventure and learns that he has moved from his grandmother’s house to a new house far away.

Juna is devastated that she didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.  Her older brother, Minho, tries to cheer her up by buying her a fish to put into her special jar.  What is so unique and special is that this book has so perfectly captured what it is to be in a petites world to feel that unfairness and disappointment.  But more so in the beauty that is a child’s  imagination and dreams.

As Juna goes on these magical adventures inspired by whatever is in her special jar, she searches in her dreams for her dear friend Hector.  One night she is able to check in on Hector and realizes that he is happy and that he too has a special jar.  The story ends just as you hoped it would with Juna wishing of what to put into her jar when she unexpectedly meets a new friend and we can only assume the adventures continue.

Something that makes Juna’s Jar stand out from other books is that it is so relatable to so many families.  Many children live in apartments and many live with extended family of some sort this book honors that.  Another aspect that I believe is so crucial is that nature can be found anywhere – even in an urban setting.  This book also honors the fact that to have a wonderful time you don’t need a lot of “stuff”, you can be outside and explore your surroundings all you need is a pal and a jar.  This book is relatable to so many petites.  I truly believe that this book should be in all school libraries, because every petite deserves to have the opportunity to relate to the books that are available to read in their school libraries.  #WeNeedDiverseBooks

The one thing you will most likely need to do is find a jar because as soon as you read this story your petites will want to embark on their own adventures.

Tentacle Tuesday…All About the Octopus

Something rather interesting happened last week at the Seattle aquarium, Ink the new resident cephalopod was checking out his new habitat and in the process gave onlookers quite the show, it appeared as though he was going to come out of the habitat and get more acquainted with the aquarium patrons.  However, octopi are incredibly curious animals and like to explore by feeling around so maybe he wasn’t trying to make a break for it, but just checking out his new digs.

Ink is a new octopus at the aquarium because the other two were released back into the Puget Sound in February, these are the videos of Hazel & Franklin being released.  Classroom teachers, I am sure your students would love to watch these two videos, especially with the Darth Vader voices and all.

I wanted to share with you some really fun books that your petites might enjoy at all our cephalopod friends the octopus!

Walking Your Octopus

Walking Your Octopus: A Guidebook to the Domesticated Cephalopod

I am a huge fan of Brian Kesinger’s books.  They tell the tale of Victoria Psismall and her land octopus Otto.  These books are so unique, unlike any book I have ever seen before actually, even the shape of the book stands out and is unique.  Walking Your Octopus: A Guidebook to the Domesticated Cephalopod is so fun.  With thirty brilliantly illustrated panoramic pages you get to view the day to day life of Victoria and Otto as they do what any human and land octopus might do: biking, playing croquet, carving a pumpkin (a personal favorite of the petites) and dating.  Although this book is intended for children, it is for people who love art, comics, or octopuses.  I personally love the steam punk, Victorian era fashion.  There are also subtle references to Jules Verne which are always fun. My five year old loves the clothes Victoria wears as well as the silliness of Otto being a land octopus.  I would recommend these books for kids who are five and older.

Coloring with your octopus

Coloring With Your Octopus: A Coloring Book For Domesticated Cephalopods

Brian Kesinger came out with this coloring book in August, so if you love the book you can get one and color his amazing illustrations.

Traveling with your Octopus

Traveling With Your Octopus

Kesinger’s much anticipated second book released in February is sure to be a hit if you enjoyed the first book.  In this tale, Victoria and Otto as they travel the globe.  Sounds amazing right?

Since I declare today Tentacle Tuesday, I have to share with you this most amazing cake my incredibly talented friend Ally has made.  She makes these amazing (completely edible and delicious I might add) cakes just outside of Seattle.   This charming little fellow is made of:  Guinness chocolate cake with Baileys Swiss meringue butter cream. The tentacles are modeling chocolate and the octopus head is made of a cocoa peppermint rice crispy treat.  Isn’t this an amazing cake?  If you’re looking for an awesome incredibly unique custom cake let me know and I can put you in touch with her.

Cake 1

cake 2

Enjoy your Tentacle Tuesday!
Erin

 

How the Library (NOT the Prince) Saved Rapunzel

cover

How the Library (Not the Prince) Saved Rapunzel by Wendy Meddour and Rebecca Ashdown is a really fun spin on a classic tale.  I have written before about my 5 year olds love of all things princess before, well this book is exactly what I think a lot of parents have been hoping for – the answer to the helpless princess problem.

 

So this book has a really eye catching title, and lovely illustrations.  In the begging as you start reading you will meet the idle Rapunzel.  She had no where to go and nothing to prove so she sits in her 16th floor tower apartment block.  She is rather bored and apathetic to her constant slew of visitors.  She clearly looks dour and sad, she has no purpose and as you read you will see her shoulders slump and face become even more discontent.  Even the cats look pretty sad.

When the prince comes it is pretty hilarious, my petite didn’t think he looked like a prince at all.  I laughed out loud when he rolls up on his scooter.  But not even the prince can woo Rapunzel into letting down her hair.  When all of her visitors finally walk up the stairs to see Rapunzel the most amazing thing happens a letter is delivered and within it a purpose.  She has a new job at the library!

This is where the story takes a turn and is just wonderful she is uplifted and now has something to prove, her whole demeanor changes and she is completely rejuvenated, she braids her hair puts on her best clothes and goes to work in one of her favorite places…the library.

Books more important than looks

This books message is so important, Rapunzel realized that she didn’t like the girl she was waiting around for the prince and she did something about it, moving her forward.  However, it is what she did that I love so much, she changed her outlook and becomes inspired.  She learns everything she can from the distance to the moon, Scottish dancing, playing the bassoon, speaking four languages, playing chess, knitting and so many other things…all because of library books.

But don’t just sit and wait and stare…when there’s more to life than growing your hair!

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I am a sucker for books with a good message, even more so a book that promotes books!  This book just happens to be my personal trifecta of favorite things: love of books, a strong message about being smart, and a feisty redheaded petite!  I truly couldn’t ask for more.  But wait there is more…the illustrations Rebecca Ashdown has created are wonderfully diverse, I love this.  Yay for diverse children’s books.

If you like this post, you might also like:

The Princess in Black

The Princess in Black