Nursery
Illustrations – Show children different nursery rhyme books and compare and
contrast the illustrations. How
are they alike? How are they
different?
*You can also
find lots of different types of illustrations through google images.
E-books vs.
Paper Books – Download a book on an electronic reader. Read the book in the traditional paper
version as well as the electronic version. Invite children to compare and contrast. Vote on which one they like best.
Folk Tales –
Check out several variations of familiar folk tales from the library. Read two or three versions and then
have the children compare how they are alike and how they are different. Use a Venn diagram to record their
comments on the board.
Clifford,
Amelia, Nancy, Junie B., Arthur, George….- Choose several adventures of
children’s favorite characters.
After reading the books, invite the children to reflect on how they are
alike and how they are different.
Graph the books to determine their favorite.
I Know an Old Lady - I know an old lady, too! She ate a fly, a pie, a bat, some snow, a chick, and many other things that you can compare and contrast.
I Know an Old Lady - I know an old lady, too! She ate a fly, a pie, a bat, some snow, a chick, and many other things that you can compare and contrast.
Scat the Cat
– Here’s one of my all time favorite stories. You can cut cats out of felt and use them on the flannel board
or you can make stick puppets to use as you tell the story. You’ll need a black, blue, red, yellow,
and green cat. Hold up the puppets
at the appropriate place in the story.
Once
there was a little black cat.
(Hold up the file folder showing the black cat.) He was a magic cat because he could
change his colors (snap fingers) just like that. All he had to say was:
CHORUS:
I’m
Scat the Cat. I’m sassy and
fat. (Children join in on the
chorus.)
And
I can change my colors (snap) just like that!
One
day Scat decided he was tired of being black. He wanted to be a new color so he said: CHORUS. And he changed blue!
Scat went down to the pond to look at himself in the water. Unfortunately, he fell in and he
couldn’t swim. Timmy Turtle came
along and helped Scat get back on shore.
Scat decided he didn’t want to be blue any
more, so he said: CHORUS. And he
changed red. He went walking down
the street and everybody started laughing at him. “Whoever heard of a red cat!” they said.
Scat decided he didn’t want to be red any
more, so he said: CHORUS. And he
changed yellow. Scat went walking
in the woods and who did he run into but his cousin Leo the lion. “Grrrrrr!” roared Leo. “I’m the only cat who can be yellow.”
Scat decided he better not be yellow any
more and he quickly said: CHORUS.
Scat wanted to play with his brothers and sisters in the grass. He tried to play with them, but he was
green like the grass and they couldn’t see him.
Scat decided he didn’t want to be blue, or
red, or yellow, or green, so he said:
CHORUS. Scat knew
that being himself was the best thing to be. And do you know what?
Being yourself is the best thing you can be, too. Because there’s nobody else exactly
like you. And I like you just the
way you are!
*Use this story
to discuss Scat’s adventures and the sequence of events. This story also provides a perfect time
to identify rhyming words. Write
all the words that rhyme (Scat, cat, fat, that) on the board. How are the words alike? How are they different?