on November 13, 2013
This week at Iowa Tech Chicks Kathy Kaldenberg presented on Infographics. Using some Flannel Friday numbers from social media and Amy’s map post, I made a quick infographic about Flannel Friday using an easel.ly template. Enjoy!
on November 1, 2013
This year for picture book month I am going to read a picture book set in Africa each day. I will be striving for a mix of folklore, picture book biographies and picture books with modern settings.
November 1 (Kenya): For You Are a Kenyan Child by Kelly Cunnane, art by Ana Juan. A boy who should be tending his grandfather’s cattle experiences manages an adventurous day filled with explorations.
November 2 (unnamed country): Next Stop– Zanzibar Road! by Niki Daly. Another day in the life tale, this one filled with rhythmic language and focused on the adventures of the elephant Mama Jumbo and her “flippy-floppy„ flappy-slippy, this-way-that-way pompom” hat.
November 3 (Ethiopia) - Yuvi’s Candy Tree by Lesley Simpson, illustrations by Janice Lee Porter. A fictional story based on the true story of Yuvi Tashome’s escape from Ethiopia to Israel through Sudan as part of Operation Moses.
November 4 (Tanzania) — Elizabeti’s Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen, illustrated by Christy Hale. Elizabeti loves and cares for her new doll just like Mama cares for her new baby brother. A CLEL Silver Bell Award Book for Play: Early Literacy Activities Sheet
November 5 (Sudan) — My Name is Sangoel by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed, illustrated by Catherine Stock — When Sangoel moves from the refugee camp to America, he finds an innovative way to make his name clear to his new classmates. Teacher’s Guide from Karen Lynn Williams.
November 6 (Maasai tale) — The Lonely Lioness and the Ostrich Chicks retold by Verna Aardema, illustrated by Yumi Heo. An ostrich mother struggles to regain her chicks from a lonely lioness who wants to be their mother.
November 7 (Botswana) — Honey, Honey, Lion by Jan Brett. Honeybird and honey badger usually work together to get honey, but one day honey badger greedily eats all the honey. A mistake he will not repeat! Companion Name the Botswana Animals activity by Jan Brett.
November 8 (West Africa) — The Sticky Doll Trap by Jessica Souhami. A trickster tale featuring lazy rabbit, a hard-earned (by the other animals) water hole and a big bush of thorns.
November 9 (Ethiopia) — The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela by Christina Kessler, illustrated by Leonard Jenkins. Determined to become a beekeeper, a girl named Almaz successfully takes on village tradition, tall trees and determined ants.
November 10 (West Africa) — Anna Hibiscus’ Song by Atinuke, illustrations by Lauren Tobia. Anna Hibiscus’ happiness grows and grows as her family shares how they express happiness and, especially, when she find the expression just right for her. Author interview at Playing by the Book.
November 11 (South Africa) — Desmond and the Very Mean Word by Desmond Tutu, illustrated by A. J. Ford. Archbishop Tutu teaches about forgiveness by sharing a hurtful incident from his youth.
November 12 (Liberia) — Head, Body, Legs retold by Won-Ldy Paye & Margaret H. Lippert, illustrated by Julie Paschkis. A creation and cooperation story ending in a tasty treat.
November 13 — Hot Hippo by Mwenye Hadithi and Adrienne Kennaway. A pourquoi tale explaining hippos’ home in water while resisting eating the fish.
November 14 (West Africa) - The Hunterman and the Crocodile by Baba Wague Diakite. A hunter is taught the importance of living in harmony with nature in this version of folktale, The Ungrateful Serpent Returned to Captivity.
November 15 — Here is the African Savanna by Madeleine Dunphy, illustrated by Tom Leonard. A cumulative tale introducing children to the animals and ecosystem of the African savanna.
November 16 (Ghana) — The Spider Weaver by Margaret Musgrove, illustrated by Julia Cairns. An origin legend of the beautiful kente cloth woven in Ghana.
November 17 (Nigeria) — A Triangle for Adaora: An African Book of Shapes by Ifeoma Onyfulu. Children are introduced to African culture as little Adaora learns her shapes and her cousin finds her a triangle.
November 18 (West Africa) — Zomo the Rabbit by Gerald McDermott. Another trickster tale. This one recounts how Rabbit gains both wisdom and, inadvertently, speed.
November 19 (Nigeria) — Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile by Won-Ldy Paye & Margaret H. Lippert, illustrated by Julie Paschkis. Mrs. Chicken escapes from the hungry crocodile by convincing her that they are sisters.
November 20 (Cameroon) — Sense Pass King retold by Katrin Tchana, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. The story of a clever girl, with more sense than the king of the seven villages.
November 21 (Nigeria) — Master Man told by Aaron Shepard, illustrated by David Wisniewski. A Hausa tall tale of battling strong men in graphic novel form.
November 22 ( Malawi) — The Mean Hyena retold by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Michael Bryant. Tortoise paints the animals’ colourful coats, but, out of revenge, destroys the coat of Hyena.
November 23 (West Africa) — The Leopard’s Drum: An Asante Tale by Jessica Souhami. Slow turtle uses his wits to bring Nyame, the Sky God, the leopard’s drum that the larger and faster animals could not.
November 24 (Somalia) — The Lion’s Share retold by Said Salah Ahmed, illustrated by Kelly Dupre. A fable about the misuse of power by a lion after hunting a camel with the help of many animals.
November 25 (Massai, Tanzania) — We All Went on Safari: A Counting Journey through Tanzania by Laurie Krebs, illustrated by Julie Cairns. Maasai children go searching for animals while teaching the readers how to count in Swahili.
November 26 (Ila, Zambia) — Beautiful Blackbird by Ashley Bryan. Blackbird, voted the most beautiful bird in the fores, shares his colour and wisdom with the other birds.
November 27 (Morocco) — My Father’s Shop by Satomi Ichikawa. Through play, Mustafa helps his father’s carpet shop.
November 28 — Hippo Goes Bananas! by Marjorie Dennis Murray, illustrated by Kevin O’Malley. Word play fills this energetic story of a hippo with a toothache.
November 29 (Egypt) — Voyage to the Pharos by Sarah Gauch, illustrated by Roger Roth. A young boy accompanies a merchant ship to the great city of Alexandria and the Pharos Lighthouse.
November 30 (Somalia, Kenya) — Muktar and the Camels by Janet Graber, illustrated by Scott Mack. An orphan refugee is able to fulfill a dream thanks to a camel bookmobile.
on October 17, 2013
Firstly, many thanks to Beth, Erin and this week’s Flannel Friday host Amy for creating flannelboards for the children in Serinane, Ditshegwane and Francistown, Botswana as well as Patty for providing money for books. Amy even packaged hers in flannelboard boxes (see below) with books and storytime sparks — superb! Through your generosity, each school received multiple complete storytime kits each containing 3–4 books, 2–3 flannelboards and a storytime starter sheet.
Through Pam Shelton of the Botswana Book Project, I connected with Peace Corps volunteer Kate Slisz who welcomed my friend Helen (a former preschool and elementary teacher) and I into her home and the school in Serinane last week. Fellow Peace Corps volunteer Jessica Ruggiero from the (relatively) nearby village of Ditshegwane also joined us to receive storytime kits for the primary school there.
Serinane is a village of about 800 people 90 kilometres north of Gaborone, Botswana. The Serinane Primary School has 271 students in Grades 1–7. The school was built in 2009 and is an impressive complex with multiple buildings, a nice recreation area, kitchen, teacher housing and class sizes in the low 20s. Pass rates are low across the country (averaging less than 35%!) and the school leadership is justifiably proud that its classes have been steadily improving in the annual tests and besting the national average pass rate. Last year over 70% of Standard 7s in Serinane passed.
We sat in on a reading lesson with Mma Keletso’s Standard 3 class where the children learned relevant vocabulary and read a passage about camels. English is rarely spoken at home in Serinane, but a necessity to succeed in school and the kids did a great job. After the reading lesson, we each read stories and shared flannelboards with 3 classes of Standards 1–3 (there are two classrooms for each of these grade levels). There has been a recent push in Botswana to have more interactive learning so the teachers appreciated us sharing flannelboards such as Little Mouse, Where Does It Go? and It’s a Pig! In a school system where corporal punishment is still quite common, encouraging children to guess freely is also a huge step. When we met with the teachers after, Mma Ntlhe (Standard 2) remarked on how helpful the visual aids were for reinforcing story elements and vocabulary. And rhyme always makes an impression, Kate reported that the Standard 2s were walking around the playground chanting “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” the next day. Many thanks to Head Teacher Mma Monthusi for allowing us to visit Serinane Primary School. Thank you so much, Kate, Jess and the staff at Serinane Primary School for the warm welcome!
You will be thrilled to hear that both Kate and Jess started school libraries in their respective communities. It’s really exciting to hear how the children love their school libraries (less exciting is that the Serinane one is currently in storage pending renovations — it’s the freshly painted, but bare classroom in the middle set of pictures). Kudos to Kate and Jess, you are both great doing great work during your Peace Corps tenures!
This week’s Flannel Friday host is Amy at Catch the Possibilities. You can also find past and future roundups and lots more information about Flannel Friday at the Flannel Friday website. For a visual round-up of all postings, check out Flannel Friday on Pinterest.
on September 27, 2013
This week I’ve got a marine animals version of the five little monkeys teasing Mr. Crocodile to share.
Check out the pointy teeth my friend, Beth, embroidered for the shark. We made multiple sets of these flannelboards for the schools in Botswana.
Five Little Fish
Five little fishies swimming in the sea,
Teasing Mr. Shark,
“You can’t catch me!“
When along comes Mr. Shark
Aaaaaaannnnnndddddd SNAP!
Repeat until all the fish have been snapped up.
Finding Flannel Friday
This week’s Flannel Friday host is Agnela at ValleyStorytime. You can also find past and future roundups and lots more information about Flannel Friday at the Flannel Friday website. For a visual round-up of all postings, check out Flannel Friday on Pinterest.
on September 20, 2013
There are all sorts of great rhymes, songs and fingerplays based on African animals so I made sets to take to the schools I will be visiting in Botswana. The monkey is based on Mollie’s Five Little Monkeys set, the elephant from a cookie cutter and the others are freehand. As well as the rhymes below, the folktale The Crocodile and the Monkey is a good fit for some of the pieces. Also, Storytime Katie’s Master List is always a great place to look if you are looking for rhymes.
The Elephant Walks
The elephant walks like this and that. (Wobble from side to side.)
He’s very tall (Stretch arms up)
and very fat (Stretch arms out to sides)
He’s has no fingers (Hold up hands, making fists to hide fingers)
But he does have toes (Reach down and touch toes)
And, goodness gracious, what a nose! (Bend over and swing arms for trunk)
I’m a Giraffe
I’m a big tall giraffe stretching way up high (reach arms up)
A big tall giraffe, I almost reach the sky (stand on tiptoes)
I eat the leaves from the tallest tress (pretend to eat)
And when I run, I move with ease (pretend to run)
I’m a big tall giraffe stretching way up high (reach arms up)
Way…up…high! (reach on tiptoes)
Source: Perry Public Library
I Went to the Jungle One Day (Tune: London Bridge)
I went to the jungle on day,
jungle one day, jungle one day.
I saw a lion on the way
And this is what he said, “ROAR!”
(Other animals: elephant, monkey, etc.)
Source: Perry Public Library
Five Little Monkeys
Five little monkeys swinging from a tree,
Teasing Mr. Crocodile, “You can’t catch me!“
Along comes Mr. Crocodile, quiet as can be
Snaps that monkey right out of the tree.
Monkey See, Monkey Do
Monkey see, monkey do
Little monkey at the zoo
Monkey, monkey in the tree
Can you ________ like me?
(jump around, swing your arms, scratch an itch, eat a banana, screech)
Credit: Perry Public Library
One Little Lion
Rhyme from ABC Literacy Storytimes: Storytimes to Promote Literacy and Learning by Marilyn Lohnes
One little lion, roaring at the zoo,
Called for another: ROAR!
Then there were two.
Two little lions, underneath a tree,
Called for another: ROAR! ROAR!
Then there were three.
Three little lions, who heard a distant roar,
Called for another: ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
Then there were four.
Four little lions, happy and alive,
called for another: ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
Then there were five.
Five little lions.
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
Ran off to play
And then there were no more.
This week’s Flannel Friday host is Sarah at Miss Sarah’s Storytime. You can also find past and future roundups and lots more information about Flannel Friday at the Flannel Friday website. For a visual round-up of all postings, check out Flannel Friday on Pinterest.
