Howdy! Well, another Monday has come and gone!! 4 more Mondays for me!!! Again, not that I’m counting! Today we had our annual field trip to the zoo! I can’t wait to share our day with you but you will have to wait til tomorrow!
But, here is a kindergarten smorgasboard public service announcement: Teacher tip #2874: Never celebrate a successful field trip until all children have returned home. After our zoo trip we were at recess. T minus 40 minutes until dismissal. BAM. Girl on monkey bars. Girl down. Girl with broken arm. Yep. 16 kids at the zoo with wild animals=0 injuries. Girl and monkey bars and we sustain an injury. And that is how our day ended.
So today I have two things to share with you! I was contacted by a publisher to see if I would be interested in reviewing a new set of books. Well, DUH! We’ve been using these books in our class so I want to share our experience with you! The books are called Issy Books and the cool thing (which my monsters love) is the illustrations are done by the author’s 5 year old granddaughter! Super cool and a great way to get the monsters even more into the stories!
I love the illustrations and the stories. The books use sight words and grade level appropriate vocabulary so my students were able to read the books and build their reading skills. The illustrations were also important in helping them understand what they were reading. And the characters are animals! Who doesn’t love animals?! And it has been a perfect tie in to our study of animals and our zoo trip! Definitely check these books out for your guided reading groups! They get the kindergarten smorgasboard stamp of approval!
Click the picture to learn more about these books!
I also recently received a new Joy Cowley book featuring everyone’s friend, Mrs. Wishy Washy! The story is called Mrs. Wishy-Washy and the Big Wash!
This story was so fun that the monsters were cracking up as I read it. Let me just say that animals in a car wash=hilarious! I loved that we made great text to self connections about bath time and how much we hate bath time (just like the animals in the story!) This book is great for sequencing (thinking maps=flowmaps!) and for problem solving! This would make a great tie in with a writing prompt where students write about a problem they had and how they solved the problem! Another kindergarten smorgasboard stamp of approval!
Now, how would you like to win 90 books for your classroom library or for someone who’s you think deserves them?! Be sure to enter the Joy Cowley Classroom Giveaway! Nominate a classroom to win 90 books!
Here’s the cool part! The publisher is letting me do a mini giveaway! 1 person will win a Joy Cowley big book! That’s right! A big book! And we all love big books. I love big books and I cannot lie! Everybody sing it with me….no?! OK! Back to the give away. Leave me a comment (WITH YOUR EMAIL!) and tell me your least favorite chore and I will pick a winner using that random generator thingy.
And if you want to check out the new Mrs. Wishy-Washy, visit these links:
And you get a discount! 20% off (expires 6/30/13) in the Hameray Publishing store! Just use the code ZJCC13
Disclaimer: I received these books for free by agreeing to do a review of the books. These are my opinions and have not been influenced (um, have you met me?! Am I ever influenced?! I just say what pops into my mind! Scary, huh?!) by the company or the free products!
