1st February National Serpent Day

It is National Serpent Day. What is a serpent? A snake, so it is Snake Day! Some websites say it is Snake Day on the 16th July so you can celebrate again then. There are lots of words for 'snake' that children recognise, like adder, asp, python, cobra and boa constrictor. What ever name they have many of the boys I teach are fascinated by them and snake books are well borrowed. In fact, at the moment the display shelves of the library are saturated with reptile books in three sections: snakes and lizards, crocodiles and alligators and turtles and tortoises. The library has only been open for two days and already quite a few snake and crocodile books have gone.

Some of my favourite snake books are:
• Crictor by Tomi Ungerer. This is old but still in print and very humorous.
• Snake Supper  by Alan Durant and Ant Parker really makes my preschoolers laugh.
• Python by Christopher Cheng and Mark Jackson is one of those wonderful Walker books that has a story alongside factual information in a different font.
• I (Don't) Like Snakes by Nicola Davies and Luciano Lozano is also part of that Nature Storybook series.
• Akimbo and the Snakes by Alexander McCall Smith is a short novel in the Akimbo series set in the game reserves of Africa.
There's more titles on my pinterest page here.

24th January Peanut Butter Day

It's Peanut Butter Day. Peanut butter isn't as popular now as it was when I was a child and every child had a peanut butter or vegemite sandwich for lunch. In fact at the school I teach at you cannot have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch as we have so many children who are allergic to peanut products. So today you may not be able to eat peanut butter, but you can read and enjoy this book, Peanut Butter and Cupcake! by Terry Border. Here Peanut Butter goes in search of a friend...


"But sometimes friends are hard to come by, especially when Hamburger has to walk his (hot) dogs, Cupcake is too busy building castles in her sprinkle box, and Egg laughs so hard he starts to crack up! Does Peanut Butter have a soulmate? Young readers will know the answer long before Peanut Butter does and laugh along with each mismatched pairing.
In a story that pairs silliness with poignancy, and friendship with anthropomorphic food, Terry Border, the photography mastermind behind the Bent Objects project, makes a triumphant entrance into the children's book world. Complete with a rhyming refrain, this is sure to be a favorite family read-aloud--and laugh-aloud."

21st January Hugging Day

Everyone needs a hug sometimes! We shouldn't need a day to get a hug, but it is good too, to have an excuse, so make sure today you give someone a hug. Want to have a hugging reading fest? All the books about Douglas starting with  Hugless Douglas are a good place to start. My library has a big plush Douglas sitting in a reading corner for my students to hug and to read to. Look at the end papers in the first book and have fun acting out all those hugs. Then read Hug Me by Simona Ciraola and talk about how it would feel to be Felipe (a cactus) and not be hugged. Or read The Runaway Hug by Nick Bland and talk about passing on your hug.

19th January Popcorn Day

It's Popcorn Day. Get out the popcorn machine and eat popcorn while you read any of the books below. Compare the procedure you undertook to get popcorn with the ones in the two expository texts or share a story. The Popcorn Dragon by Jane Thayer is an oldie but a goodie and Frank Asch's title has been reissued in a new cover. Look in the library as there's bound to be other titles as well!

18th January Winnie-the-Pooh Day

• January 18th has become known as Winnie the Pooh Day because author A.A. Milne was born on this day in 1882, and it was he and his son Christopher who created this loveable and wise character and introduced him to generations of readers.
• Interestingly, just this week though, a book about the history behind the bear that inspired the fiction was named as the Caldecott Medal winner. This book, Finding Winnie is written by Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Australian-born Sophie Blackall. (See Sophie's blog for a four part discussion of the illustrating of this book)
• Lindsay Mattick is the great-granddaughter of Harry Colebourn, a vet who rescued a baby bear in Canada in 1914. He named the bear Winnie after his hometown, Winnipeg. He took the bear to Europe when he went off to war. Eventually, Winnie ends up in the London Zoo and there he makes a new friend, Christopher Robin, the son of author Alan Alexander Milne. Lindsay's website tells you Harry's story in more detail and has a wealth of information about the making of this book and her family history.
• Last year American author Sally M. Walker also published a book about the real bear that inspired the stories of Winnie-the-Pooh. Putting these two books and the film A Bear Named Winnie together as a precursor to or a follow up to some fun reading the original stories would make an enjoyable unit of work.
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• I need no excuse whatsoever to revel in the wonderful language, humour and languidness of Pooh.
•  "If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together… there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart… I'll always be with you."
• And as school rolls around next week I know this will be me...
•  "When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish."

15th January Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968)

When I first started collecting biographies for the library I steered clear of those that were specifically related to American history because I didn't think my eight year olds would relate to these prominent people or be particularly interested in them. I did however buy one about Rosa Parks and not only were my readers interested in her but they were outraged at how she was treated. Two students wanted to read more about 'black people in America' so I went in search of other bibliographies. It was easy to find musicians and sportsmen, but I also bought one about Martin Luther King, Martin's Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport and Bryan Collier. This highly awarded book, is a portrait of strong man whose dream changed America and the world and it does seem that Australian eight year olds can see that and wonder at its ramifications. It would make the perfect read for today, Martin Luther King's birthdate.

14th January Shoe Buying Day

The PBS Calendar lists activities for parents to share with their children each day and today they are buying shoes. In Australia it is an activity that is on many parent-to-do lists as the new school year starts in two weeks. Remember that scene when Alexander is made to buy 'plain old white ones' when shopping for sneakers with his mother and brothers in Alexander's Terrible Horrible No-Good Very Bad Day.

I went searching for a Shoe Day as after all there does seem to be a day for everything else even 'socks', but besides Two Different Coloured Shoes Day on 3rd May and Sneakers Day on 9th October there wasn't a specific Shoe Day. So I'm instigating one, by saying there is a multitude of books, rhymes and songs which to explore when celebrating 'shoes'. And I have decided to start the term with my preschool classes doing that. I will have four or five lessons with each group so I think we will probably look at some aspect of shoes for each session. Usually we have a book, a rhyme or song and some activity.

They will all have new shoes and we will have plenty to look at, compare and discuss. We will see who has shoelaces, who has buckles and who has velcro. We will start with the book Whose Shoes? and find out how many different shoes there are and how many words we have for types of shoes. This video and song will help add to the list of shoes too.

We will have fun with Pete the Cat. He has two books which feature shoes... Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes and Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes . The children love to sing along with these which we can do courtesy of YouTube.

In each lesson with preschoolers I also like to introduce or revisit a nursery rhyme as they enjoy reciting them and don't know them like they used to. There are four that I can think of that feature shoes.
• 1 2 Buckle My Shoe
• There Was an Old Lady
• Cobbler Cobbler
• Diddle Diddle Dumpling My Son John

There are also a large number of songs complete with actions here.

While 'rhyme' is centre-most with preschoolers it will be fun to share books that are written in rhyme like
• What Can You Do With a Shoe?  by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers and Maurice Sendak. What a great question to discuss before even reading the book. Then look at the rhyme...
What can you do with a shoe? You can put it on your ear or wear it on your head or butter it like bread or use apple jam instead!
• Grandpa's Slippers by Joy Watson. This is part of a series of books about Grandpa and his clothing. They are written in rhyme and children and grandparents both laugh when these are read aloud.
• Shoes From Grandpa by Mem Fox and Patricia Mullins. This is a cumulative rhyme where family members describe the clothes they plan to give Jessie to go with the shoes from Grandpa.

Next dogs and shoes. Discuss what dogs do with shoes and then introduce these three books:
• One Two That's My Shoe! by Alison Murray
• Shoe Dog by Megan McDonald and Katherine Tillotson
• A Dog Wearing Shoes  by Sangmi Ko.
Each of these is humorous and likely to enthuse the children to talk.

And of course there's always fairytales. Here are five which feature shoes:
• Cinderella
• The Elves and the Shoemaker
• Puss in Boots
• The Twelve Dancing Princesses , and
• Red Shoes  by Hans Christian Andersen.

See the shoe possibilities really are endless!