Let's Play!

Playing is one of the literacy skills that Every Child Ready to Read, 2nd edition emphasizes.  Duh!  Kids love playing.  (So do grown-ups, for that matter).  I think, though, that I'll use this blog as an opportunity to recognize innovative books where reading them is a form of playing.

Last night, I read In My World by Lois Ehlert with my daughter.  Cutouts of various parts of nature layer over each other to yield an image that looks like Earth.  I think the moths were D's favorite part.  (Naming all of the different elements ties into the former version of Every Child Ready to Read's "vocabulary" focus).  It puts a message about environmentalism into a preschooler-friendly format.  Moreover, the clever shape overlays are just fun.

Another Lois Ehlert book was a huge hit when I took it with me on fall storytime outreach.  It is called Leaf Man.  The illustrations are all made from collages of different leaves and acorns, and the end-papers identify what types of foilage they are.  I used how many animals the tale mentions for the children to join me in making animal sounds (which ties into "phonological awareness" from ECRR version 1).  Again, the creative way of seeing ordinary objects in a unique was is fun.

Alphabet Antics

Aunt Linda, of blessed memory, loved ABC books.  She had a bookshelf specifically to house her collection.  However, not all alphabet books are created the same.  I want to introduce my daughter to a couple of my favorite ABC books.  In addition to our nightly singing of the alphabet song (with a stuffed animal pointing to the specified letters on a wall-poster), this will help her become more prepared to read and write on her own.

She enjoyed when I read Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate/ Illustrated by Ashley Wolff to her.  I want to check out more in that series.  The fact that each kindergarten student is an animal whose name and animal type begin with a different letter of the alphabet is great.  I also like the other early literacy aspects of the kindergarten room set-up (shapes in the blocks, numbers on the wall, etc).  The other book that I have put on request for her is Matthew ABC by Peter Catalanotto.  In this book, every child has the name "Matthew" and a quirk that starts with some letter of the alphabet, with all 26 being represented.  It is cute, and I know she'll meet kids who get differentiated by their last initial.

*If you have ABC books that are particularly awesome for you, please feel free to share in a comment.