Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes



Link to my Facebook page where I have posted links to activities and resources related to this fun children's book, Pete the Cate I Love My White Shoes. 

This is a cute and simple book that can be used with preschoolers.  There are two prominent goals I have pulled from this book:
1. Teaching colors and associations of colors to specific    
     objects.
2. Teaching children not to get upset about little problems.

So tomorrow in the preschool group we will read this book in circle time.  There is an audio cd with my book that plays the song or the song can be downloaded from the Harper Collins link.  Youtube video.

The boys have come a long with sitting in circle time.  Participation is another issue but I hope such a fun song will get them singing along and perhaps stomping their feet as we sing.  I have found loads of games and printables online as well (see links).

During circle time we will use the flannel board cutouts to keep the little ones engaged.  The cutouts are a set of colored shoes to add at the appropriate times during the reading of the story (matching the items that Pete the Cat steps in changing the color of his shoes).  Then we will sing the song.

While still in circle time, we will introduce the concept of seasons and will discuss what Pete might wear on his feet each season: Winter = Warm Boots / Spring = Rain Boots / Summer = Sandals / Fall = Sneakers.

We will break to Art time where we will assemble a mini book of the story and color the shoes on each page the color associated with the items in the picture (strawberries = red).  This will exercise their association of colors to constant objects and their matching and naming skills.  The children can take this mini book home in order to practice the story with parents and reinforce the concepts as well as just having fun reading time.

Play time will include a game of "pin the shoe on Pete". 

Links to these games and more can be found here (look in the comments boxes for specific links).

I have discovered some other Pete books that I plan on adding to my library:

6-6-12 Update

We repeated this book today with the pre-k group.  Our most reluctant child readily engaged in dancing and singing the song.  It was a success.

Today's art activity involved using pre-cut blue construction paper shapes to assemble into Pete the Cat and glue onto a yellow sheet of paper.  Of course, they then chose the color shoes they wanted for their Pete the cat.  The project required:
  • 1 large oval = Pete's body
  • 1 medium circle = head
  • 2 small triangles = ears
  • 4 small rectangles = legs
  • 1 long curled piece = tail
  • 4 shoes

Rocking in My School Shoes:  Youtube Reading

Four Groovy Buttons:  Youtube preview clip

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood

In Audrey Wood's book Quick as a Cricket, a boy uses similes comparing himself to a variety of animals.  This is a fun book well suited for working on similes, word associations, opposites, adjectives, and figurative language.  Each animal is paired with a descriptive word: Quick as a cricket, busy as a bee, gentle as a lamb.  Nicely enough, many of these are also common idioms or figures of speech.  Here is a list of the adjectives and the animals in the book:
Small / large                               Sad / happy                         Nice / mean
Cold / hot                                   Weak / strong                      Loud / quiet
Tough / gentle                             Brave / shy                         Wild / tame
Lazy / busy                                 Quick / slow

Lizard / bee / monkey / poodle / tiger / lamb / shrimp / rhino / clam / lion / buffalo
cat / fox / frog / shark / bunny / lark / basset / whale / ant / cricket / snail

Watch a Youtube video of this book.

Activities: 
1.  Read through the book discussing the vocabulary as needed. Classify types of animals: pets, wild, tame, ocean, bugs, etc.  (It is always fun to print photos for sorting.  I will try to upload my boardmaker pages that go with this story later.)
2.  Print the printables found at this link to kidzclub.com.  Discuss which adjective goes with each animal and why.  This will help the student begin to understand word associations and how to interpret figurative language.
3.  Brainstorm other animals or adjectives that might go together and why.
4.  Act out some of the words: Dramatic play / experiential learning.
5.  Cut out the word boxes found in the printable link at kidsclub.com and match opposites.
6.  Think of new associations: "What could we say about a snake? A porcupine?..." or "What other animal is quick?"
7.  Have the students make up a book that illustrates some of their own qualities.
 
 
                         

More Resources: