How Extraordinary! A Review of An Extraordinary Egg

Could this book get any cuter?

An Extraordinary Egg, written and illustrated by Leo Lionni, tells the tale of friendly frogs who find an egg. What happens when the egg hatches... It must be a chicken of course.

Your little ones will squeal with delight as the baby alligator follows his new froggie friends around and as the frogs keep referring to it as a chicken.

A really good conversation about making mistakes is a perfect complement to this tale. Kids need to know that it's okay to make mistakes. Stop and ask your kiddos a question that they can not answer with a simple yes or no.

1. Why do you think the frogs believe the baby alligator is a chicken?
2. What kinds of animals are born from eggs?

Here's an egg-celent link tha'll take you to activities and facts about animals that are born from eggs!

Happy Reading,
Ellen

Jump for Joy for First Day Jitters

*Spoiler Alert

Anyone who has read First Day Jitters will get a kick out of the suspense it so masterfully builds. You will also get a kick watching your young children have no idea where the story is going.
 Oh, the kids can so relate. They totally get being nervous the first day of school.  They have no idea that the story is talking about ... the TEACHER! Join in with the kiddos as the chuckling and knee slapping that will ensue when you read the last page and the punchline is given.

Written by Julie Danneberg and cleverly illustrated by Judy Love, you'll notice the perfect comedy of each page as our main character's, "Sarah's" face is covered in some way. It kind of reminds me of "Wilson"the character Earl Hindman played on the sitcom Home Improvement in the 90's.

I'm dating myself here.

Anyway, back to the book.

There are a plethora of activities on the web to do using this book.
But you're a busy parent or a busy teacher who could use a shortcut to them.  That's why you came to this blog. I have the luxury of working in a position where part of it is to give teachers resources for kids using books. Lucky ME!

Here's a direct link to a freebie First Day Jitters PDF.  Also, another printable full of discussion questions and activities for your kiddos.

Hey,  if you get a chance to try these activities, let me know how it goes by commenting below.

Happy Reading,
Elle

The Start of a New School Year

If you have a child the start of a new school year means that your child's teacher will be sharing with the class a ton of new children's picture books. And why wouldn't they? Picture books are great! They teach moral lessons, they're entertaining and funny, and they are often accompanied with art gallery worthy illustrations. Yes... picture books are where it's at! The fun that is... Now I know what you're thinking: "But Elle, there are so many picture books. How do I know which ones to read with my child?

Never fear! I'm here to help you navigate through some of the best kids lit out there. You and your child (or class) are sure to get discussion ideas and activities. So read on!

In this blog, I am going to shed light on some wonderful children's literature ( or kids lit as I like to call it). I should be posting a review once a week.  Sometimes I will focus on picture books and other times chapter books for young readers (2nd -5th grade). Just to start this off right here are  the 2015-2016 Kindergarten and First Grade Picture Books that you can begin reading with your children. This list is perfectly aligned with the school year. Also, Barnes and Nobles ISBN is on the second document, in case you would like to make a few purchases.

Happy Reading
Elle