Storytime: I Love Bugs

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Today we read I Love Bugs

 

This is an adorable story with many uncommon words that are great vocabulary builders. Words like creepy, squirmy, dangling, spiny, swipey, frily, and clitter-clatter are numerous throughout the story. These are wonderful words that enhance a child's ability to describe objects and/or people in his/her environment. A great book to read to help children build a collection of adjectives that can later be used....in their writing insha'Allaah! And the story has a funny ending too. I think that was my favourite part of the book *smile*.

When teaching writing to students, prior to our Writing Workshops, I like to read books like these. Before reading the story, I invite children to listen for words that describe things and/or people. While reading the story, I also pause and point out how the author used a combination of words to really help the reader "see" the object or person, and know more about him/her/it, even if there is an illustration provided. After we finish the story, I take a few minutes to discuss with students how those words helped them enjoy and understand the story.

Sometimes, we even have a bulletin board reserved especially for words like these that students can refer to when they are writing independently. Or if I have already had my students make miniature, personal dictionaries, we take those out and add descriptive words like those found in this story.

An extension to this read-aloud could be inviting students to make their own bugs and then write a story describing their bug to the class (encourage them to use some of the adjectives they heard in this story *smile*). Students can also make books about bugs which they illustrate and write. Using adjectives from this story, students can produce funny, witty stories to share with their classmates, family and friends insha'Allaah.

Storytime: One, Some, Many

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Today we read One Some Many by Marthe Jocelyn

This is a vibrant book that presents the mathematical concept of quantity to children.

The Director of the Curriculum Materials Centre in the Faculty of Education at the Memorial University of Newfoundland recommends this book with reservations for the following reasons: "Unfortunately, this is an overly ambitious list of mathematical elements to include in a graphic concept book, especially one with such a limited text. As a counting book, it is disappointing that there are no numbers and that the sequence of counting is interrupted by the integration of the other concepts. Also, the elegant, stylized illustrations have the potential to cause confusion when young children are counting objects. For example, daisies with coloured centers and large overlapping petals are used to represent "two, a few, [and] a few is more than two." In all cases, the petals are not attached to the centers, and, if children count the petals rather than the centers, they will not get the correct information. A similar problem occurs with the number ten as Slaughter has chosen rectangles in a building to illustrate the number. There are ten rectangles for windows, but also another (although differently coloured) rectangle for the door, and the building itself is a rectangle. Young children may not be able to discriminate between those that represent the number and those that do not. Another problem is that the illustrations will not assist in understanding the difference between “some” and “few” as three pears are depicted for “some” and later three sailboats for “few.”

She says she "would only recommend it [the book] for children at the upper end of the suggested age range who already know the concepts and are beginning to read on their own. Even then, an adult may need to note that the two interrogative sentences should have capitals and that the plural form of the verb is generally used when adding numbers, rather than "two and three is five.”

With that in mind, the book was only used for an art experience and not much emphasis was placed on the concept of quantity.

The review of 'One, Some, Many' is Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association

This book is recommended for children in Preschool - Kindergarten

Storytime: In the Snow

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Today we read In the Snow by Sharon Denslow

Winter is almost here insha'Allaah! It's a great time to start reading about snow insha'Allaah. This book, In the Snow, is a delightful story about a child who puts seeds out for the animals during the winter. Throughout the story, children see the animals that are awake during the winter months.

The illustrations are soft and vibrant at the same time. The background features a pristine snowy world punctuated by brightly coloured birds and squirrels of varying shades of brown. A very nice contrast!

The rhyme (the story itself) is short and is not traditional so children may not initially realize that the story rhymes. By varying your reading, you can help children to hear this insha'Allaah.

After reading the story, you may wish to plan for ways you can put seeds out for animals this winter too insha'Allaah.

Children 2-6 years old may enjoy this book insha'Allaah.

Storytime: This is me and where I am

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Today we read This is me and where I am by Joanne Fitzgerald.

The child in this story describes his place on Earth, by beginning with the entire world (the Earth), and then moving in closer and focusing on his country, his city, his neighbourhood, until he reaches his blanket on his bed. He then makes the trip all over again, ending up at his place on the Earth. The short and simple sentences introduce each place and the predictable pattern will encourage children to follow along or chorus read the story. The illustrations are light and encourage exploration. Children may enjoy looking at the details in each picture and discovering all of the things that commonly make a neighbourhood a neighbourhood, a city a city, a house a house, etc.

The text level is written for children in preschool to grade 2 but toddlers may enjoy having the story read aloud insha'Allaah.

Storytime: Farm

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Today we read, Farm

 

This book is for children ages 4-8 but toddlers may very well enjoy paging through and appreciating the pencil and water colour illustrations. I like this book because the illustrations are loose and no facial features appear on the people at all alhamdulillaah.

The story begins in March and follows the ebb and flow of farm life, describing with surprising detail, what takes place on a farm, and ends in November. The story also shows and tells how children are involved in helping on a farm and how they help with necessary day to day tasks.

The text is very detailed and the story itself is a bit long (the book has 48 pages with a considerable amount of text on each page) so it may be a book that is read aloud over the course of several days, each day quickly reminding students/children what happened in the story the day before.

The book is beautifully illustrated and the story well written. This is a picture book that gives a uniquely detailed peek into life on the farm.

If you are studying farms or farm animals, along with these resources, this book may be a nice addition to your study.

Storytime: Anna's Book

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Today we read Anna's Book

 

This book is just right for toddlers and pre-schoolers as each page has only one or two very short sentences to compliment each illustration. Pre-school aged children who are beginning to read can easily read most of the text as this book is full of sight words such as: here, come, has, a, with, the, again, etc.

To make the book even more appealing, the child's name in the story can very easily be substituted with a Muslim girls' name to make the story more personal insha'Allaah.

What I especially like about this story is that for any parent/teacher who has had a child request a book be read again, and again, and again and again and...you see where this is going yes?...hehe, this story will be very familiar and it gives the listener (i.e. the child) an alternative when his/her mother cannot read to him/her: grab a favourite stuffed toy and read aloud to it insha'Allaah. Early training for the little ones to begin acquiring the joy of not only being read aloud to but reading aloud to others as well insha'Allaah!

There is another book by this same author, 'Anna Shares' but I would not recommend this book as it does not depict proper Islamic manners and it seems from the age of the children that they are too old to being playing together as the other character is a boy who is not the main character's brother...waalllaahu alim.

Using Props in Storytelling

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

During storytime, it is common that teachers, librarians, parents, etc. sometimes employ the use of props. If used correctly, props can serve to enhance a story and involve children in the story. The use of props in storytelling is yet another way to make learning multi-sensory and memorable. For storytime, we've been using a book that children are invited to assemble themselves and colour. We then read the book aloud with the enhancement of a simple prop.

Yesterday and today we read, 'It's Hajj!' with the use of a simple prop.
Here are a few of the pages from the book.

At this point in the story, toddlers hold up their hajji prop (below) and they move him forward as the teacher or parent reads, "Labayk Allahuma Labayk!"

Hajji prop

Right now, we are studying the letter Haa to tie in Hajj.

You can see some of the activities we've done for the letter Haa here insha'Allaah.

And when the story is done, each child can take his/her storybook and prop home to share with their family insha'Allaah.

Here are a few tips to remember when using a prop with a story insha'Allaah:

1. Use props when you want to invite children to come up to where you are seated and use the prop during the story (at the appropriate time). You can also use props in circle time as well insha'Allaah.
2. Keep the prop hidden/out of sight until it is needed. You do not wish to have the children's attention on the prop instead of your voice *smile*.
3. Don't overuse props. With preschool and kindergarten children you want to encourage the use of their imagination. Using props too frequently may not permit this and you do not wish to encourage the children to rely upon someone else's interpretation of the story. Let their imaginations form the pictures in their heads as much as possible insha'Allaah.
4. When using props, make sure they are sturdy. When using props, some children can get quite excited masha'Allaah. You want your prop to be able to handle their excitement...*smile*.
5. Don't rely on your prop to tell the story, your voice and your excitement are what make a good story a great read aloud.
6. Enjoy insha'Allaah and have fun!

The Black Book of Colours: What an enterprising book!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

This book, The Black Book of Colors is a book that left me astonished.

The author, Menena Cottin and illustrator, Rosana Faria have produced a stunning book. The reason: the pages of the book are entirely black, the illustrations are (embossed) raised so the reader feels the illustrations instead of seeing them. Well, the reader does see them but not with their eyes, instead with their sense of touch. There is white text by which the sighted can tell the story, but atop each page is another astonishing delight: Braille. This is a book intended for children who are blind but it is also intended to give sighted children an experience into a world they may never have considered: the world of the blind. A bridge between two worlds...

This is a book that sparks awareness, builds compassion, and has empathy producing illustrations and text. A book I certainly will look forward to having a personal copy of insha'Allaah. I love the concept and I love the consideration for children whose world is, in a way, composed of one colour: black.

My mind raced as I considered what this could do for Muslim children who are blind. Imagine, your child/student can experience a book not only by one path of learning (i.e. hearing) but by touch as well. This is a book I would use in my classroom ( I am not a special education teacher so my classrooms do not have children whose special needs extend beyond ADHD or ADD). Some students are tactile learners, and this book speaks to the way that they learn best: by touching. Tactile learners are usually very adept at remembering things that their fingers have had a chance to manipulate or touch. I wonder how this story would impact a child who was not visually impaired but whose learning style was primarily tactile.

At present, I cannot visualize how I could read this book aloud to a class because the tactile experience of the book would be lost. I couldn't have an entire class trying to touch each page *smile*. But still, perhaps if I read to a struggling reader, one-on-one, and invited him/her to close his/her eyes and 'feel' the story as I read it aloud?

I think I will try reading the book that way myself insha'Allaah. No words, no sound, no sight...just touch...just touch... 

Allaah says in the Quran,

 "قُلْ هُوَ الَّذِي أَنشَأَكُمْ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ ۖ قَلِيلًا مَّا "

 { سورة الملك: آية 23}

Say it is He Who has created you, and endowed you with hearing (ears) and seeing (eyes), and hearts. Little thanks you give. {al-Mulk: ayah 23}

He, subhana wa ta'ala, also says,

 "وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَذَهَبَ بِسَمْعِهِمْ وَأَبْصَارِهِمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ"

{سورة البقرة}

And if Allaah willed, He could have taken away their hearing and their sight. Certainly, Allaah has power over all things. {al-Baqarah: ayah 20}

Subhana'Allaah...

Muslims children's picture books written in this same format? I hope that one day, this will be a reality insha'Allaah. Seerah, Stories of the Prophets, of the Sahaba, of the Great Scholars of Islaam...in Braille, with raised illustrations (no people of course)...imagine....imagine...

Storytime: Nuts to You!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Today we read Nuts to You! by Lois Ehlert

A very cute story (with a title that really caught my attention *smile*) about a little boy who spots a squirrel outside of his window. The little boy (who is never pictured so this is great to help children use their imagination) is confident that the squirrel wants to come inside and readers are taken along the squirrels trip as he (i.e. the squirrel) eventually....well, I won't ruin it for you...hehe.

The book is very simply worded and the rhyme is cute enough to catch the attention of very young toddlers. The story length is short which also makes it a great read aloud to babies, preschoolers and children all the way up to grade 2 insha'Allaah.

If you live in an area where squirrels are a part of your child's outside adventures, they might really enjoy this book....waallahu a'lam.