Last year we went through the alphabet choosing a different theme for each letter, reading books and doing other fun crafts and activities based on that letter. For A, our theme was Apple and now that Charlotte’s in Kindergarten…what do you know, Apple is the word for the letter “A” again. So I checked out some of our favorites from last year, and found a new favorite as well…
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. I loved this book! When the market is closed the only thing left to do is go around the world to gather all the ingredients needed to make an apple pie–all the way from Sri Lanka to get cinnamon from the bark of the native kurundu tree, to Vermont for apples. There’s also a recipe for apple pie at the end of the book.
And of course, we made an apple pie too! I think it has to be the ugliest apple pie I’ve ever seen…but it was yummy! My super secret apple pie recipe can be found…on the back of the Trader Joe’s Pie Crust box.
Enjoy!
. This book features children from all different countries and tells a little bit about where they live, what school is like for them, their families, what they like to do, what they eat, and basically just how they live.
This book features holidays from different countries around the world.
. This book has a word for each letter of the alphabet, such as H is for helping, K is for kindness, and P is for polite. There are questions to discuss for each concept as well as Bible verses.
by Catherine Ipcizade. This is an informative book about zebras, and perfect for preschoolers. I’ve found that many of the more informative books are little too advanced (and boring) for preschoolers, but this one was perfect. Also full of great photographs.
by Melissa Stewart. Another informative book about zebras…a little more advanced than the first. I enjoyed learning some new things…did you know no two zebras have the same stripe pattern?
by Sarah L. Schuette. This book is written in both Spanish and English and is filled with descriptions of yellow things all around us. It’s a simple, fun book and great for learning all about the color yellow!
by Leo Lionni. Little Blue and Little Yellow are best friends and have all kinds of fun together. One day when they hug each other they turn into green! This is a good book to teach about mixing colors.
by Carin Berger. I really enjoyed this story of the little yellow leaf who just wasn’t ready to let go yet, despite the fact that all the other leaves had fallen from the tree. When the little yellow leaf realizes there’s one other leaf that hasn’t yet made the leap yet, they decide to do it together. A sweet story. This book would also be great for learning about Fall.
by Eve Bunting. In this story a boy and his father stand on a cliff watching whales go by and wondering all about them and imagining what the whales are saying as they swim by. We enjoyed this book with fun pictures of orcas and a good mix of story and information.
by David Lucas. This is a fun book about a whale that washes up on top of a young boy’s town! The whale thinks he’s done for but the town bands together to figure out how to get him back in the ocean, and then the whale enlists the help of his ocean friends to help repair the town.
by Jonathan London. This book tells the story of a baby sperm whale’s birth and young life. It has wonderful illustrations and lots of information presented in a poetic way. There’s also a reader’s guide at the end of the book with great before, during, and after discussion questions.
by Lloyd Moss. This book wasn’t necessarily just about violins, but more about all the instruments in an orchestra. We enjoyed this book, and it would also be great to use when learning about music or musical instruments. It’s also a Caldecott Honor Book.
by David McPhail. We really loved this story of mole, who hears someone playing the violin and decides he wants to make beautiful music too. He practices and practices in his underground home, all the while never knowing the effect his beautiful music is having on others.
by Gail Gibbons. This was a great book that teaches all about the different types of vegetables as well as how to grow them, and the different ways they make their way to our table.
by Fay Robinson. Another informative book all about different types of vegetables and the different ways to eat them. I learned some new things too!
by Lois Ehlert is another fun book we’ve enjoyed in the past, although our library didn’t have it in this week. But, it goes from A-Z with all different fruits and vegetables.
by Jae-Soo Liu. I loved this beautifully illustrated wordless book. It comes with a CD of music written to accompany the illustrations, which I thought was so fun and unique. Charlotte enjoyed this one too and it’s fun to make up your own story to go with the pictures also.
by Jan Brett takes place in the Cloud Forest in Costa Rica, where all kinds of animals find themselves gathered in an umbrella, with not quite enough room. We enjoyed this book and it would also be a great one for studying Costa Rica, or animals of the rain forest.
book we learned about being unselfish:
by Cathryn Falwell. This was a fun counting book with turtles. I like the fun, rhyming text of this book and the beautiful illustrations. At the end the author explains how she made her illustrations and how to make leaf prints, which would be a fun activity to do with the kids.
by Cathryn Falwell. Another book by Cathryn Falwell about all sorts of critters down by the pond, but it had turtles in it as well, so we went with it. This book has descriptions of different kinds of creatures at the end so it would also be a great book for a nature themed unit.
by Dr. Seuss. We love Dr. Seuss around here! This one is about Yertle, the King of the turtles, who’s quest to rule a bigger kingdom ends with him in the mud…a good lesson in humility.
by Kate Banks. This is a book of words and pictures so your child can read along with you. Charlotte had a lot of fun with this one and enjoyed saying the words every time we came to a picture box. The story is about a turtle who is afraid to cross the river because of the hippopotamus and the various things he tries to get across.
by Bob Barner. This book actually covered a lot more about planets than stars, but I really liked it. The illustrations are super colorful and the information is presented in a fun, rhyming way. This is a more basic one than some of the others we read this week, so it’s good for younger readers too.
by Steve Tomecek. This book is packed full of information about stars…I learned a lot. It was presented in an interesting way for kids, but would probably work best for older preschoolers just because it has so much information in it. Of course, you can always just skim it and pull out the parts your child is most interested in.
by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. This is another book packed with information. Minna and her friends have all kinds of questions about stars so they visit the Star Space at the Children’s Museum and explore while learning all about stars.
by Jerry Pinkney. This is a book I would love to own. The illustrations are beautiful and I love the writing as well. Definitely check this one out!
by Mary Hoffman. So, this wasn’t necessarily a book about Russia, but a retelling of a Russian folktale, “The Wise Little Girl”. I like introducing Charlotte to folktales from other cultures, and always love stories with a smart heroine.
