I love the first day of spring. It's my anniversary, and When the winter has been particularly dreary, the Vernal Equinox reminds me that summer will be right around the corner.
A great story for the first day of spring is Pancakes For Supper by Anne Isaac's, with fantastic illustrations from Mark Teague.. It's early spring and the sap is running. Poor Toby has been bounced off the wagon and is lost in the woods, where wild animals want to eat her up. She manages to trade various items of her new clothing for her freedom. Ultimately, the animals argue over which one looks the best in the finery. They chase each other around a tree so fiercely that they melt. The maple tree wakes and the maple sap begins to run. Toby is able to get all her new clothes back and the family enjoys a big pancake supper with maple syrup.
This story is a cute retelling of Little Black Sambo, a story that has been exiled from most library shelves long ago, due to its racial insensitivity. Isaac's version is well-told, and more suitable. It is especially appealing to my audience, since the animals involved are all Montana residents. It has all the elements I love in a read-aloud story: repeating phrases, embedded songs, and lots of different characters for me to make up voices for!
I plan to have my kindergartners make animal spinners as a special story-time prize to take home. They will cut out the animal "wheel" and glue it to the top of an old CD that I have prepared ahead of time. Making a spinning toy from an old CD and a penny is a trick I learned from this wonderful website from India. They will love playing with their spinning animals!
No comments:
Post a Comment