Ida’s Witness by Karl Beckstrand

Karl Beckstrand is a prolific author of children's books.  He has written 23 children's books and is always working on more.  Six of those books have been written in English and Spanish.  In previous posts, I've written about several of Karl Beckstrand's books:

  

🍎 Grow! How We Get Food from Our Garden,

🍎 Great Cape o' Colors, and

🍎 It Came from Under the Highchair.

Grow! taught us about the fruit, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers we can get from our gardens.  Great Cape taught us about color words in English and Spanish.  Highchair was a funny story about a food monster who lurks around the house.  In this post, we are going to take a look at Ida's Witness... a beautiful story about Karl Beckstrand's great-grandmother (affiliate link to Amazon).  Keep reading to learn about Ida, the amazing woman she was, and to find out how you can use Ida's Witness in your classroom.

Dorktales Storytime Podcast by Jonathan Cormur

Sometimes when it's really quiet in the classroom and the students are working on an art project or craftivity, I like to play soft music or an audiobook for them to listen to.  It's a fun way to break up the day and add some variety to our routines.  I recently learned about Dorktales Storytime Podcast by Jonathan Cormur when his people contacted me about hosting a sponsored post.  I listened to a couple of episodes from the podcast, enjoyed the ones I listened to, thought that they'd be something my students would enjoy listening to during those quiet times, and agreed to the sponsored post.  Keep reading to learn more about Dorktales Storytime Podcast and to see if it's something your students may enjoy too!

That's Not Fair! Why Must I Cut My Hair? by Paul M. Bowen

If you were to do a Google search for 'when natural hair violates dress code,' you would see article after article after article about Black students who either had to cut/style their hair to meet certain dress codes at school or face suspension.  Children as young as eight years old have been discriminated against because of how they wore their hair.  How is this fair?  It's not.  That's Not Fair! Why Must I Cut My Hair? by Paul M. Bowen (affiliate link to Amazon) is a lighthearted book that shines a light on this serious subject.  Its main character Marcus experiences discrimination from his teacher.  Keep reading to learn more about That's Not Fair! Why Must I Cut My Hair? and to find out if Marcus finds the inner strength to stand up for himself and what he believes in.

Soar by Hillary Daecher

Similar to the way people in real life change over time, characters in books change too.  When early readers practice their reading skills, they learn how to identify the main characters of a story and how to describe the characters' actions.  As their reading skills improve, students begin learning about character analysis and how characters change over time.  Soar by Hillary Daecher (affiliate link to Amazon) is the story of a hummingbird who is timid at the beginning of the story but has an experience that enables him to grow and become more confident.  What was that experience?  How did he change?  Keep reading to find out!

10+ Children's Books about Animal Poop

What is it about poop that fascinates children?  Is it because talking and joking about poop irks some adults and gets a rise out of them?  Is it because talking about poop is supposed to be kept as a hush-hush secret?  Or is it simply because children just think it's funny to talk about poop nonstop?  Whatever the reason, here are 10+ children's books about animal poop that will (hopefully) channel their fascination with poop into something scientific and meaningful.  Enjoy!

(affiliate links and book descriptions from Amazon)

Make a Wish on a Fish by Jennie Wiley

Rhyming words is one of the first skills children learn as early readers.   Being able to rhyme words teaches children about how language works, how to identify sounds within words, and can even help children in decoding the words they read.  Rhyming is sometimes a predictor of how well children will learn to read.  The more children listen to poetry and participate in activities like fingerplays, the easier it will be for them to connect and make sense of what they're reading.  Make a Wish on a Fish by Jennie Wiley (affiliate link to Amazon) is a book written as poetry and with lots of rhyming words.  Keep reading to learn more about Make a Wish on a Fish and how to use it in your reading lessons.

What's My Instrument? by Johnny Oddsocks

I need to lay something out there for everyone to see.  I am a HUGE advocate for keeping music education in our schools, so when the author Johnny Oddsocks asked if I would be willing to write a blog post about his book What's My Instrument? (affiliate link to Amazon), I quickly agreed.  In his book, Johnny Oddsocks tells the story of Marilyn the Mongoose who wants to start a band and introduces kids to a variety of musical instruments.  Keep reading to learn more about What's My Instrument? and how you can integrate it into your language arts or music lessons at school.