The words for Week 9 are from the picture book, The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth and Barbara McClintock. It turns out that my son has “Text Talk” at school and this is the source of all the SAT Vocabulary Words for Kindergarteners. They read a picture book and then talk about the “big words.” Picture books are great sources for not only gorgeous artwork, a complete story with a beginning, middle and end in about 36 pages, but rich language!! Did I mention that I LOVE picture books?!
The Children’s Choice Book Awards is the only national children’s book awards program where winning titles are selected by young readers of all ages. The good news here is that there is a very high probability that your child will like these books too! The children (and teens) have spoken! These are their favorite books for 2011!
A transition to a new grade or school, not matter how small, is difficult for children. It’s helpful to visit the new school as often as possible. Play with kids that will be at the same school if you can. And read, read, read to your child books about starting school. The familiarity of routines and activities of the new school will take a lot of the anxiety away. So, while my youngest has been visiting his elementary school for 5 years so far, we’ll take it one step at a time and read these books over and over to ensure a smooth landing in September. And a few playdates with new friends is also on the books!
This Top 10 list of African American Picture Books is different for me, because rather than list the books from favorite to most favorite as I usually do, I chose instead to list the books in historical chronology such that each book touches on a significant period or event of African American history in the United States. If you read all 10 (and please use your library for this!), you and your child will get a sense of history through picture books. Because each picture books tells its own powerful story, I am hoping you and your child will get images and vignettes that will linger in your mind.
This is the list for Week 5:
adorable: The baby was so adorable that everyone wanted to hug him.
enormous: An elephant is an enormous animal.
resist: I could not resist eating the cookies because they smelled so good.
lonely: The little girl sitting by herself on the swings seemed very lonely.
annoyed: I was annoyed when my brother talked to me while I was in the middle of playing a memory game.
gregarious: Tonya was very gregarious and was always inviting friends over to play.
What is great about these award winning books is that many are discounted at Amazon now. It was also fun to read posts by experts A Fuse #8 Production and Amanda Stuckmeyer, a former Newbery judge, predicting winners for many of these awards. And they were dead on. The Newbery winner was the biggest surprise for me as I’d never heard of the book or author nor did it pop up in any mock Newbery contests. I’m excited to chase down these books and read them. I love it when good books are screened for me, keeps the riff raff out of my house! What books have you read and what books from this list are on your list to read, either for yourself or your child?
Kindergarteners do have the ability to understand and really enjoy learning big, fancy words. It makes them feel like big kids. It was fun also to see his big sisters chomping at the bit to define “his” words.