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How to Count to 1

Dear Reader,

This Blog is designed for the parents, grandparents and caregivers of young children.  Each post will highlight a great book that all children should hear, with tips to enrich beginning reading skills.  You will also find fun recipes that go along with each story.  Enjoy reading and cooking with the children in your life.

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

How to Count to 1              By:  Caspar Salmon            Illustrated by:  Matt Hunt

Ages:  Toddler through Kindergarten

 

 

This fun book stresses to “only count to 1”, but there are many opportunities to count higher.  Children will also need to interact with the book and visually locate items to count.  The text is delightful and the illustrations are colorful and perfect for the story.

 

 

 

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Patty’s Top 10 Posted Read Alouds

Dear Reader,

What are my top 10 books from the ones that we have highlighted in our books and Blog?  That’s a difficult question.  I like all of the books for various reasons.  Some of them I enjoy because of the beautiful language; others for their outstanding illustrations; some because they can be used to reinforce the many values that we teach our children; and still others because they are just fun stories to share with a child snuggled close to you.  So with those thoughts floating through my mind, I have decided on my personal top 10 books:

Book #10 

 

 

 

Click, Clack, Moo:  Cows That Type is a humorous story about cows negotiating with the farmer for blankets to keep them warm.

 

 

 

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Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear!

Dear Reader,

This Blog is designed for the parents, grandparents and caregivers of young children.  Each post will highlight a great book that all children should hear, with tips to enrich beginning reading skills.  You will also find fun recipes that go along with each story.  Enjoy reading and cooking with the children in your life!

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear!             By:  Don and Audrey Wood

Ages:  Toddlers through First Grade

 

The little Mouse and the big hungry Bear are back in this delightful Christmas story.  You may remember them from a previous book that we posted called The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear.  In this Christmas tale, the little Mouse has a lot of presents and he seems to have forgotten about the big hungry Bear, who loves presents.  This is an amazing story about the importance of giving and sharing with others.  The illustrations add so much to this delightful Christmas book.

 

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ONE is a Feast for Mouse, A Thanksgiving Tale

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

ONE is a Feast for Mouse, A Thanksgiving Tale           By:  Judy Cox          Illustrated by:  Jeffrey Ebbeler

Ages:  Preschool through Second Grade

 

This very descriptive tale is about a little mouse who also wants to celebrate in the Thanksgiving feast.  Even though he knows that just ONE thing would be enough, he gets a little greedy as he travels across the table of leftovers.  When the cat appears, everything is changed.  This is a great book for vocabulary, comprehension and memory development.

 

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Room on the Broom

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Room on the Broom            By:  Julia Donaldson             Illustrated by:  Axel Scheffler

Ages:  Toddlers through First Grade

Room on the Broom is one of our favorite Halloween stories.  The book is done in rhyming text and tells a great story about a very nice witch and the many friends that she makes along the way.  In the end, her friends save the day.  Children will enjoy the colorful illustrations.  This book also provides the opportunity to review rhyming words.

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The Hallo-Wiener

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

The Hallo-Wiener           By:  Dav Pilkey

Ages:  Preschool through Second Grade

This is a Halloween story that has been around awhile, but is a great read-a-loud for the season.  In this classic story, Oscar, a wiener dog, gets made fun of by his friends.  It even gets worse when his mother buys a hot dog bun for Oscar to wear on Halloween.  In the end, Oscar saves the day and becomes the hero.  This is a great story to foster comprehension as well as vocabulary development.

 

 

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Scary, Scary Halloween

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Scary, Scary Halloween          By:  Eve Bunting          Illustrated by:  Jan Brett

Ages:  Preschool through First Grade

 

It’s that time of year when apples, candy corn and pumpkins can be found everywhere.  It’s time for Halloween and this is a book that can’t be missed.  In this story, it is Halloween night and there are green eyes hiding, as ghosts, witches and goblins roam the streets.  It will be fun for children to see all of the costumes and guess who is hiding in the night.  This is a great book to expand vocabulary, but more importantly, it is just a fun Halloween story.

 

 

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What Will Grow?

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

What Will Grow?           By:  Jennifer Ward           Illustrated by:  Susie Ghahremani

Ages:  Toddlers through Kindergarten

 

I had the opportunity to meet, Jennifer Ward, the author of this lovely book.  She has written many books, but selected this one for us to highlight.  What Will Grow? is a rhyming flip book that shows what happens when you plant different seeds.  The story and beautiful illustrations take us through the growing season with the end result being a garden.  This amazing book is a walk through nature.  Children will enjoy the flip pages and the rhyming text.

 

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Leaf Man

Dear Reader,

This Blog is designed for the parents, grandparents and caregivers of young children.  Each post will highlight a great book that all children should hear, with tips to enrich beginning reading skills.  You will also find fun recipes that go along with each story.  Enjoy reading and cooking with the children in your life.

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Leaf Man              By:  Lois Ehlert

Ages:  Toddlers through First Grade

 

This beautiful book is a wonderful way to bring in the fall season.  The illustrations and colors are a perfect expression of autumn.  This story is about the Leaf Man and the places that the wind takes him.  Children will love looking at the pictures and finding what is hidden.  The child can read the repetitive text along with the reader.   It also gives the reader the opportunity to present directions such as north, south, etc.  Most importantly, this book is just fun.

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Mrs. Wishy-Washy’s Farm

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Mrs. Wishy-Washy’s Farm           By:  Joy Cowley          Illustrated by:  Elizabeth Fuller

Ages:  Toddlers through First Grade

 

The Mrs. Wishy-Washy books are among our favorites and Mrs. Wishy-Washy’s Farm is one of the best.  In this story, the cow, pig and duck get really tired of being scrubbed in the tub and run away to the city.  They soon realize that the farm is a great place and that being scrubbed by Mrs. Wishy-Washy isn’t such a bad thing.  This book is not only a good story, but is also done in rhyming text with some repetition, which is great for early literacy development.

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