We Love Eric Carle

This post originally appeared on my other blog. I'm slowly working to consolidate the blogs. I have added some updates to the original post! 

Eric Carle books and merchandise have infiltrated our home, and I love it! I've always loved his work. I loved using The Tiny Seed when I taught second grade. I loved doing Eric Carle inspired art projects, and I really thought about doing Pottery Barn Kid's Very Hungry Caterpillar bedding in Caroline's nursery.

I thought I'd share a few favorite Eric Carle items with you!

First of all, I have LOVED The World of Eric Carle and Gymboree line. Here is Caroline sporting her Caterpillar pajamas from winter of 2014. She had mismatched pants in the first pic, but you can see the cute polka dots in the second pic! (Update, Gymboree does not have an Eric Carle line anymore, but I wish they would make more!!!)

Caroline loves this Caterpillar neck pillow.

I found this awesome Eric Carle alphabet canvas at Target. I can't find it on their website right now, but the link above is for the same one at Walmart. I have the "girl" version, but there are other cute versions out there.

So, my genius mom took an early childhood teaching ideal/principle I learned in school and applied it to Caroline's room. In the classroom it is recommended to have many literacy items such as the alphabet or a word wall down on the child's level. I had never thought to hang a canvas like this so low in a bedroom, but it totally works. As you can see below, Caroline at 18 months was already enjoying it! :-) Now, we can actually discuss the letters/animals and use a pointer to tap the peacock, letter o, etc etc. This canvas would be an awesome piece to hang down low in a hallway, playroom, behind a door, etc. (Thanks, mom!!!)

Finally, of course we LOVE to read  many many Eric Carle books! One of our current favorites is From Head to Toe. It is awesome for teaching certain actions + body parts! It is also a great book for working on verb-words with your toddler.

It is also fun to read this book with your toddler/preschooler in front of a mirror so they can watch themselves do the actions!

What are some of your favorite Eric Carle books and Products?

"A Great Man is Never Really Gone"- Looking at Lincoln

Today I wanted to do a little review of a neat little biography of Abraham Lincoln called Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman. President Lincoln died on April 15, 1865 (assassinated April 14th) So, if for some reason you didn't cover Lincoln during February, this would be a grew time to honor him and enjoy a great biography!

Looking at Lincoln

Age Range: Most likely 1st-3rd grade...But, this would be a great book to use with English Language Learners grades 4-6. The book covers major concepts of his life with great picture supports. 

Fun Features: This book is great for younger readers because it is full of fun and light-hearted facts about Lincoln such as he hid notes in his hat, he always had an apple on his desk, and he loved vanilla cake. The book also features really stunning illustrations. It is my absolute favorite part of the book. These illustrations could lead to great discussions about why the author chose specific colors, etc.

I loved the art so much that I ripped it up to hand an illustration on the wall. The side-by-side frames on the top right feature a beautiful illustration of the cherry blossoms in D.C.. I know it is hard to tell here, but the pinks and magentas are very vivid and beautiful. 

Educational Features: This book would make for a super strong social studies and ELAR lesson. You could discuss features of a biography and author's purpose.

Other: This book does attribute the Civil War to the issue of slavery. We know that it is not that simple, but for our youngest learners, this is a place to start. Think about your objective with this book- your objective probably isn't for students to understand the causes of the Civil War, but rather to understand Lincoln's contributions to the country. This book can do the latter. 

Also, the author describes having a sort of emotional experience from staring at Lincoln's face, and feeling like she could stare at it "forever." That is not a concept I connect with, however I was very very captivated with the Lincoln Memorial when I had a chance to see it in person. I know the power of it, and the end of the book features the memorial. It would be great to show your students or kids photographs of the memorial. 

Strong Vocabulary Words: stern, inaugurated, democracy, abolished, wretched

Stockings, Poetry, and Happy Thoughts

Last week, we worked on our persuasive letters to Santa. OHMYWORD, they were hilarious!!

While trying to persuade Santa to stop by his house, one of my kids wrote "Santa, those cookies you eat are so so filled with calories...This year, I will leave you a salad, an apple and a good ole yoga mat..." So creative!!



Then, I let the kids create their own stockings and glitter them. Yep. Glitter. They aren't perfect, but the kids designed them all by themselves, and they sure cheer up the hallway!



We have also been working with "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." If you teach 3rd on up in Texas, you've probably seen that poetry can be added to the new STAAR starting in 3rd grade. They need to know all these type of features. "Twas the Night Before Christmas" was a really fun way to incorporate some of our poetry elements! We also practice reading/rereading the poem for fluency practice. The kids loved it.



We also illustrated our favorite stanzas and analyzed those. Very fun!





Okay blog friends, send me some prayers and happy thoughts: Tomorrow I present for my Master's Degree!!! I'm nervous, but I'm very excited to finish! Here I go!

Reflection Art

Oh blog friends, life has been CRAZY! I have neglected this little blog due to me putting together my Master's Portfolio/Presentation. I am almost finished, and will present in three weeks. I have so have many posts to catch up on! We have been doing many fun things lately; similes and metaphors, visualizing lessons, history, etc. But for today, I will show you a little art lesson that my kids did recently. I thought it was neat, because it really made them think outside the box as they put together a design. My E.A. taught this lesson, so I'm not sure where exactly it came from, but here is how we did it!

First, fold a piece of paper in half and write your name on the fold. It works best if your name is in cursive. It also works best to use a pastel or go over it multiple times to help with the next step...



Fold the paper in half and rub on it, so that the crayon/pastel transfers to the other side, making the reflection! Then, you can go over it to make it bold.



Then, encourage the kids to create a design, creature, monster with their name reflection. If you want the lesson to really really focus on reflection you could have them incorporate that into their coloring. Or, you could simply let them have at it. However, we tried really hard to have them color it reflectively. Super cute!



I thought they turned out super cute!!



I think they all look like cute little monsters!



Happy Friday!!