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Christmas book 3 – The Jolly Christmas Postman (with lesson plans)

The Jolly Christmas Postman (The Jolly Postman) (Hardback)
By Janet and Allan Ahlberg, Illustrated by Janet Ahlberg

It's Christmas Eve and the Jolly Postman is delivering greetings to various fairy-tale characters - there's a card for Baby Bear, a game appropriately called 'Beware' for Red Riding Hood from Mr Wolf, a get-well jigsaw for hospitalized Humpty Dumpty and three more surprise envelopes containing letters, and cards.

A Genre Study of Letters With The Jolly Postman

Questions to ask before, during, and after reading

Activities

Language arts/Reading - Historical fiction

Library Letter Writing Unit Plan

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Christmas Book 2 – The Night before Christmas (with lesson plans)

The Night Before Christmas
by Clement C. Moore, Illustrated by Mary Engelbreit

The full text of the familiar poem is illustrated in Engelbreit's crisply decorated style. A large trim size (11" x 11") allows each highly embellished spread to hold a plethora of detail. Engelbreit's visions of sugarplums translate to a busy-bright patchwork of checks, plaids, paisleys and chintzes in this oversize volume. From the opening stanza's view of the non-stirring mouse's hole (a cracked teacup is his bed, a potholder his doormat, and a paintbrush is his broom) and throughout the verses, the artist adds lots of elves and ornamentation. The cast of rambunctious elves accompany an exceptionally jolly St. Nick as he leaves assorted old-fashioned candies and toys inside a home decorated in a spectrum of Engelbreit's trademark patterns and prints. Santa is not pictured as "dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot"; he's wearing a checked coat with fur trim and what appear to be leather bowling shoes. He does twinkle a lot, though. Kids -and adult fans of the artist -will enjoy poring over the copious details.

Activities:

Make a mini-book of the poem

Christmas Compare and Contrast- "The Mouse Before Christmas" vs. "The Night Before Christmas."

"Night Before Christmas"- "Students will learn about story writing, authors purpose, and the history of some of our Christmas traditions."

Visions of Christmas

Thought Audio

This big, multidisciplinary lesson called "Night Before Christmas" is on Writing and Much More

Literacy Development Activities

Reading activity

"Twas the Night Before Christmas": Retelling through thinking maps

Christmas Stockings

Lesson suggestions

Word sheets and Fill the blank

Similes and Metaphors

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The first of 12 Christmas Book for kids – released this year in Australia

The Little Drummer Boy
by Bruce Whatley

The Little Drummer BoyAnnie's grandfather carves the Little Drummer Boy from the leg of an old oak table as a Christmas gift for his small granddaughter. And throughout her life, Annie's favourite decoration travels the world with her and always hangs on the Christmas tree at her house, close to the top. Seasons and fashions come and go and Annie has children and grandchildren of her own - but the pair remain together, although as they age they both start to fade. But they put that down to being well loved.

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Trailer for Australian illustrator’s new book: All Through the Night

www.deanjones.com.au Australian illustrator brings us his new children's book "All Through The Night" which takes us on a magical journey of awe and wonder through the dreamland of a young boy and his favourite toy train on their way to the morning.

THE BOOK:

All Through the Night
by Dean Jones

Darkness is falling, and weary children everywhere are snuggling under their sheets. A small boy lays his head against his pillow and wakes to find himself rocking and rolling along through the night, onwards towards the morning. Soar with him beneath the stars in a magical journey on the midnight express.

Read more here => http://bit.ly/ecTAVO

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First Books and Early Language Development

Jo Burnell (in KBR) treats us to this amazing post on the correlation between early language development and choosing first books for your child. Jo is an experienced paediatric speech pathologist with a passion for books.

‘What’s the point of all this alliteration business, anyway, and why do we bother to make things rhyme?’

This comment by a fellow writer took me by surprise. I had no idea that the links between normal language development and our writing techniques were not common knowledge.

Matching your writing techniques to the developmental skills of your target age group is a key to winning children over. It’s what makes children’s eyes widen with delight and lures them back for more. When a toddler is working hard at combining two words, their favourite books inevitably model how this is done.

As a speech pathologist who has helped children with communication difficulties for more than twenty-five years, it’s hard to know where to begin. Instead of presenting a mini-thesis, I’ll try to summarise some key points about normal patterns of language development and link these landmarks to how we write for children.

more => http://bit.ly/e11I4e

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How do you Wokka wokka?

How do you wokka wokkaHow Do You Wokka-Wokka?

by Elizabeth Bluemle

Say "HEY!" to your neighbors and get your dance on! Jazzy rhythms, silly rhymes, and welcoming images are guaranteed to entice little readers.

Some days you wake up and you just gotta wokka. Wokka what? Wokka-wokka!

Get more information here (and the book)

If you are buying, you can buy direct from me, or find more information and compare prices at Amazon (It will probably depend on how much you pay for postage)



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Book Trailer for The Magician’s Elephant, by Kate DiCamillo

Trailer produced by Sangeeta Garg

Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo--author of The Tale of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane-- has crafted another exquisite novel for young readers. The Magician's Elephant tells the tale of Peter Augustus Duchene, a ten-year-old orphan who receives an unbelievable piece of information from the local fortuneteller. Peter learns that his fate is tied to an elephant that has inexplicably fallen from the sky when a magician's trick goes terribly wrong. Why did it happen? And, how can an elephant possibly change the course of Peter's life? This darkly atmospheric, yet hopeful tale, demonstrates that when the answers to life’s big questions are opaque or unforthcoming, all is not lost. DiCamillo's rhythmic writing, combined with Yoko Tanaka's mysterious black-and-white illustrations, enchants and calls out to our sincerest wishes and dreams

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Final day of Banned Books Week – last random Banned book – In the Night Kitchen

In the Night Kitchen
Written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak

Sendak's hero Mickey falls through the dark into the Night Kitchen where three fat bakers are making the morning cake. So begins an intoxicating dream fantasy, described by the artist himself as 'a fantasy ten feet deep in reality'.

I'm not sure why it was banned, but possibly for nudity. The little boy, Mickey, is naked for part of the book, just as many little children are at that age!

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Gleitzman’s “Now” makes the shortlist for the Guardian Kids Fiction prize

Now
By Morris Gleitzman

Morris Gleitzman's acclaimed story of friends Felix and Zelda in Nazi-occupied Poland has captured the hearts and minds of readers worldwide. In "Now", he delivers the final chapter, bringing this most moving of stories into the present day.

Check out this book here => http://bit.ly/a1TZ2i

See the rest of the shortlist, and information about the prize here => http://bit.ly/b3lY3k

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There’s a new Rascal from Paul Jennings

Rascal and the Bad Smell
Author: Paul Jennings
Illustrator: Bob Lea
Real books for beginners

Someone made a bad smell. But who?

Like a bloodhound on a case, Rascal puts his nose to the task of finding the culprit.

Read a Rascal story to your children and before long they'll read it to you.

You can buy the book here => http://bit.ly/dd083c