4th March Pancake Day

I love celebrating Pancake Day at school! The students love telling me about making pancakes, their favourite toppings and size. I have Kindergarten and preschool classes on Tuesdays so I always start with Christina Rossetti's poem Mix a Pancake. I have a very old poster of it, but there are plenty online if you don't know it. We do the actions and pretend to make pancakes and then we sit down for a feast and a chat about the pancakes we made. Good fun. Then I read a book. With the kindergarten classes I usually read my favourite pancake book, Princess Priscilla. I love the main character, the language, the repetition and the circular plot. Wiith the preschool classes I read a different book.

My library has a multitude of pancake books to display and I like to put out some recipe/cooking books with pancakes in the index as well,  as the students like to borrow cook books. Below is a collection of stories to look for:

 

13th February Pancake Day

  Pancake Day is coming!

I am always excited when my Kindergarten classes actually have a lesson on Pancake Day and next week they will! I will read them my favourite pancake book Princess Priscilla  by Stacey Apeitos (see my earlier blog for a plot precis) and we will share Christina Rossetti's poem and add some actions.

Of course there are other books I could be reading and I know that Princess Priscilla might not be easy to find.  I also really like Mr Wolf's Pancakes by Jan Fearnley, Mama Panya's Pancakes  by Mary and Rich Chamberlain and The Elephant and the Bad Baby by Elfrida Vipont where at the end of the story all the characters go back to the baby's house where his mother feeds them all pancakes.

Whatever you choose to read, enjoy it with young children and feel inspired to make some pancakes!

There's a Pinterest page with other suitable titles here.

16th February Chris Powling (1943)

Chris Powling is a British author who is quite prolific, but the majority of his books are not for my early childhood clientele. His 'Harry' series, while old now, are worth fishing out. Look for Hiccup Harry; Harry With Spots; and Harry the Superhero. Two Powling titles I refer to quite often though are children's biographies of Roald Dahl and Dick King Smith. They are particularly useful when doing an author study.

Yesterday was Galileo's birthday and I forgot to mention a favourite book by Peter Sis called Starry Messenger. The subtitle; A book depicting the life of a famous scientist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, physicist Galileo Galilei. This book appeals to a very wide audience. Young children will look at the illustrations and read the straight text while adults and older children can read all the added script and diagrams. It is an amazing book and no wonder it was a Caldecott honour book.

Today is Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day! This is always a fun day to celebrate with a class of children even if you don't cook pancakes. There are so many wonderful picture story books about pancakes. My favourite is an Australian title Princess Priscilla by Stacey Apeitos and Beth Norling. The library's copy is in such a bad way, but I cannot discard it as the book is out of print. Why? It is a modern fairytale with a particuarly enterprising non-stereotyped princess who defeats the dragon using pancakes and a skateboard!