Past+Whole+Class+Activities_Kindergarten

Kindergarten students visit the library once each week with their whole class to hear a story or participate in a learning activity and then check out one book. To enhance and encourage your child's literacy and information research skills, see the additional activities below to expand upon each week's lesson.


 * March || [[image:greeneggs.jpeg width="232" height="320" align="center"]] || March 2nd marks Dr. Seuss' birthday and we'll be celebrating his wonderful books in the LRC throughout the month of March! Listed below you'll find a selection of Dr. Seuss' books that students may hear during story time, in their classroom, or may be available for checkout during their whole class visit to the Library.

//Green Eggs and Ham // //The Cat in the Hat // //Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog? // //Fox in Sox // //Hop in Pop // //One Fish, Two Fish // || //**Cowboy and Octopus **//by Jon Scieszka  //** Dog & Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories **// by Laura Vaccaro Seeger  //** Fred Stays with Me **// by Nancy Coffelt  //** Help Me, Mr. Mutt!: Expert Answers for Dogs with People Problems **// by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel  //** Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale **// by Carmen Agra Deedy //**Oh, Theodore!: Guinea Pig Poems**// by Susan Katz <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> //** Rhyming Dust Bunnies **// by Jan Thomas <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> //** Splat the Cat **// by Rob Scotton <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">//**The Squeaky Door**// by Margaret Read MacDonald <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> //** Too Many Toys **// by David Shannon <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">//**Your Pal, Mo Willems Presents Leonardo the Terrible Monster**// by Mo Willems <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">//**When Dinosaurs Came with Everything**// by Elise Broach. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">January and February || [[image:whendinosaurs.jpg width="238" height="319"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 27px;">Throughout the months of January and February, students in kindergarten and first grade will hear selections from the 2010-2011 Monarch Award Nominees. At the end of February, students will vote on their favorite book, have their votes submitted to the 2010-2011 Illinois Monarch Award committee, and find out what children throughout the state of Illinois have chosen as their favorite. For more information regarding the Monarch Award, see the following link: Monarch Award. The following books represent a selection of Monarch Award nominees children will experience:
 * December 10-17 || [[image:max.jpg width="244" height="194" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Kindergarten students will conclude their study of author and illustrator Rosemary Wells this week. ||
 * December 3-7 || [[image:morris.jpg width="165" height="200" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Kindergarten students will continue their study of author and illustrator Rosemary Wells this week. ||
 * November 29-December 3 || [[image:noisynora.jpg width="189" height="240" align="center"]] || Scholastic Book Fair in the LRC! Browse and shop for books during our regularly scheduled LRC time. NO #2 Library Visits this week. ||
 * November 22-26 ||  || No classes due to Parent/Teacher conferences and Thanksgiving. ||
 * November 15-19 || [[image:bunnymoney.jpg width="240" height="198" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Kindergarten students will watch a short video presentation introducing the Scholastic Book Fair. Following the video, students will continue their study of Rosemary Wells. ||
 * November 8-12 || [[image:yoko.jpg width="196" height="200" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Kindergarten students will continue their study of author and illustrator Rosemary Wells this week. ||
 * November 1-5 || [[image:timothy.jpg width="153" height="200" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Kindergarten students will watch a short video introducing the Character Counts Fundraising Project for the Dominican Republic. Following the video, students will begin their study of author and illustrator Rosemary Wells. ||
 * October 25-29 || [[image:ehlert_boo.jpg width="160" height="142" align="center"]] || This week kindergarten students will conclude their author/illustrator study of Lois Ehlert by listening to Ehert's newst book, **//Boo to You!//** Try some of these Halloween favorites, old and new, at home with your child:**//Moonlight, the Halloween Cat//** by Cynthia Rylant; **//Where's My Mummy//** by Carolyn Crimi; **//Room on the Broom//** by Julia Donaldson;**//Clifford's Halloween//** by Norman Bridwell; **//The Berenstain Bears' Trick or Treat//** by Stan & Jan Berenstain; **//Maisy's Halloween//** by Lucy Cousins; **//Big Pumpkin//** by Erica Silverman; and **//What a Scare, Jesse Bear//** by Nancy White Carlstrom. ||
 * October 18-22 || [[image:pieinthesky.png width="175" height="175" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Kindergarten students continue their author/illustrator study of Lois Ehlert by listening to //**Pie in the Sky**//. Do pies grow on trees? Join a father and child as they watch over their backyard cherry tree--and all the colorful living things surrounding it--throughout the seasons. At the end of the summer, they harvest the cherries together and make a delicious pie for the whole family to enjoy. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Introduce other books by Lois Ehlert to your child to enhance our study together. A few suggestions include: **//Lots of Spots, Circus, Crocodile Smile,//** //**Leaf Man, Nuts to You!, Waiting for Wings, Color Zoo, Color Farm, Planting a Rainbow, Growing a Vegetable Soup, Eating the Alphabet, Fish Eyes, Top Cat,**// and many others! ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">October 11-15 || [[image:leafman_cover.jpg align="center"]] || This week kindergarten students continue their author/illustrator study of Lois Ehlert by listening to //**Leaf Man**//. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Fall has come, the wind is gusting, and Leaf Man is on the move. Is he drifting east, over the marsh and ducks and geese? Or is he heading west, above the orchards, prairie meadows, and spotted cows? No one's quite sure, but this much is certain: A Leaf Man's got to go where the wind blows. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">With illustrations made from actual fall leaves and die-cut pages on every spread that reveal gorgeous landscape vistas, Lois Ehlert's //**Leaf Man**// is a playful, whimsical, and evocative book that celebrates the natural world. Encourage your children's love of the natural world by investigating fall leaves, autumn colors, and local parks and nature preserves. Read **//Leaf Man//** again to your child at home and encourage him/her to find all of the creatures created by Ehlert's leaf collages. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">October 4-8 || [[image:redleaf.jpg align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">This week kindergarten students began their author/illustrator study of Lois Ehlert by listening to //**Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf**//. This superbly written and illustrated book tells the story of a sugar maple tree and the child who planted it. As they grow up together, the child watches the tree through all the seasons. Ehlert uses watercolor collage, leaf-shaped die cuts, and pieces of actual seeds, fabric, wood, and roots in this rich introduction to the life of a tree. Introduce other books by Lois Ehlert to your child to enhance our study together. A few suggestions include the following: //**Leaf Man, Nuts to You!, Waiting for Wings, Color Zoo, Color Farm, Planting a Rainbow, Growing a Vegetable Soup, Eating the Alphabet, Fish Eyes, Top Cat,**// and many others! ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">September 27-October 1 || [[image:wild-about-books-451.jpg width="150" height="200" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Due to first grade MAP testing in the LRC, most students did not have a regularly scheduled whole class visit to the library. A few classes, however, were able to visit the library and hear the wonderful story, //**Wild About Books**// by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown. This delightful story, told in Dr. Seuss-style rhymes, reveals a menagerie of animals eager to read when the accidental, but serendipitous day arrived that Molly McGrew drove her bookmobile into the zoo. ||
 * September 20-24 || [[image:shelfelf.jpg height="160" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">This week, Kindergarten students listen to //**The Shelf Elf**// by Jackie Mims Hopkins and illustrated by Rebecca Thornburgh. Skoob, our resident shelf elf, teaches us about taking good care of our books, using shelf markers to browse for books, and other good library manners. ||
 * September 13-17 || [[image:goldisocks.jpg height="197" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">This week, Kindergarten students heard //**Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians**// by Jackie Mims Hopkins and illustrated by John Manders. //**Goldie Socks**// is a twist on the old favorite many children know, //**Goldie Locks and the Three Bears**//. In our new story, //**Goldie Socks**// visits the home of a book loving bear family where she finds a book that is "just right." Our story encourages emerging readers to find a "just right" or "good fit" book. Encourage your child's reading habits by continuing to read to them and assisting them in finding books that challenge but do not discourage their early reading skills--help them find "just right" books. What's the best way to find "just right" books? Talk to your child's teacher, your child's school library information specialist, and your public librarian. All of these folks would love to help find great books to encourage and develop your child's reading skills. ||
 * September 6-10 || [[image:librarylion.jpeg height="200" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Students whose regularly scheduled classes visited the LRC on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday of this week heard the story //**Library Lion**// by Michelle Knudsen and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. //**Library Lion**// is the delightful story of a lion who begins visiting the local library but runs into trouble as he tries to both obey the rules and help his librarian friend. Books that affectionately describe the delight of the library expand a child's world and encourage them to read and enjoy all that a library has to offer. More library adventure books include //**Library Mouse**// by Daniel Kirk; //**Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library**// by Vicki Myron; //**D.W.'s Library Card**// by Marc Brown; and //**Wild About Books**// by Judy Sierra. Share one of these books with your child today! ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">August 30-September 3 || [[image:librarydoors.jpg height="180" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">During their very first visit to the Library Resource Center, Kindergarten students heard the story, //**The Library Doors**//. What a surprise to find out that the book is sung to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus"! Kindergarten students checked out their very first book of the school year. They may have chosen a story or a nonfiction book about animals, dinosaurs, trucks, or even a book of poetry. Together, read the book that your child brought home with him or her. You will enjoy sharing the book together and may even learn something new about an exotic animal or dump trucks! Please remember to help your child return his/her books each week. ||