April 2007 Children’s Books by the Month

Fold Me a Poem
by Kristine O'Connell George, illustrated by Lauren Stringer
The rhythmic words of these animal poems are brought to life with the origami animals used in the illustrations.

ACTIVITY
ANIMAL ORIGAMI
The colorful, imaginative pages of this book make a perfect jumping-off point for creating the setting for a zoo menagerie. After reading the book, pass out colorful scrapbook paper and teach students the art of origami using one of the origami animals in the book. Divide into small groups and let your students select an origami animal from the book and research the habitat of that animal. Using paper of different textures, prints and weights, students can design a stage set for their animal and use it as a backdrop for a skit, complete with origami animal(s). Based on the size of your origami animals, a shoebox or printer paper box will be a good fit for your habitat diorama.

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich
written and illustrated by Adam Rex
Monsters have problems, too, as this whimsical book of tales about well-known creatures tells – with a twist.

ACTIVITY
MONSTER COOKBOOK
Publish a Monster Cookbook for Kids and include chapters on Sandwiches (in honor of Frankenstein and the Earl of Sandwich), Cookie Recipes in all different shapes using decorative art ideas and Spinach – and other Green Vegetables – for the Phantom of the Opera. Add lunch sack designs and creations to honor the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Have a Brown Bag Lunch day; everyone can put his or her cafeteria lunch in a specially decorated bag and take it outside – or on a field trip – for a meal treat. Once all the recipes are gathered and your students have finished their last "monster cookie art" project, then it's time to publish your recipe book, prepare advertising posters and sell your books for a young entrepreneur project for economics. Or, have a Monster Bash at your next Family Night or PTA/PTO and serve your monster cookie masterpieces. Your nutrition lessons and economics unit will never be the same.

Once Around the Sun
by Bobbi Katz, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
A dozen memorable poems, about the months of the year, reveal recognizable clues for each of the months and seasons of the calendar year.

ACTIVITY
CALENDAR WRITINGS
Good writing involves the senses. Select a poem and ask students to think of as many pictures as they can while the poem is read aloud. Next, ask students to sketch as many scenes as they can think of for the calendar month the poem was about. Encourage them to add detail to their sketches to fill in the "setting" of the scene(s).When the drawings are done, go back and add conversation bubbles filled with words to describe sounds, smells, textures and tastes that tell about the scene(s).Write a paragraph using your descriptive details. The illustrated story will make a good cover for your homework folder for take-home activities and parent communications.

Yellow Elephant: A Bright Bestiary
by Julie Larios, illustrated by Julie Paschkis
This bright menagerie of poems paints the animal world with surprising colors.

ACTIVITY
ANIMAL CAMOUFLAGE
Discuss the poem "Green Frog" and how the frog in the poem changes colors when we look at him through the blue water of the pond. What if your students put on "magic color glasses" (make a pair from cardboard and add colored cellophane) and looked at the world through rainbow colors? Draw or use a digital camera to take pictures of familiar objects, in different light, to create a rainbow color book. Take your rainbow color book into the science curriculum and do a nature hunt, looking for camouflaged insects and animals in the schoolyard. What colors do they use to hide in their habitats?

comets, stars, the moon, and mars
written and illustrated by Douglas Florian
Descriptive poems make learning about the solar system and our wide-open galaxy of stars great fun.

ACTIVITY
PLANET MATH
Teach students a mnemonic to help them learn the order of the planets: My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas (Mercury,Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto). Once the order is known, it is a simple task to create math word problems using facts about the planets. Each problem has to have an ordinal number (first, second, third, etc.) to place a planet in the correct location. Example: If the planet Mars is the first planet in my solar system pictures, what is the fourth planet from Mars? How many miles is it from Mars to the fourth planet from Mars?

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To see the March 2007 Children's Books by the Month click here.

To see the February 2007 Children's Books by the Month click here.

To see the January 2007 Children's Books by the Month click here.

To see the December2006 Children's Books by the Month click here.

To see the November 2006 Children's Books by the Month click here.

To see the October 2006 Children's Books by the Month click here.

To see the September 2006 Children's Books by the Month click here.

To see the August 2006 Children's Books by the Month click here.