ReedALOUD: A Perfect Day

My kindergarten students and I recently read A Perfect Day by Lane Smith. 

"Cat is lounging among the daffodils. Dog is sitting in the wading pool, deep in the cool water. Chickadee is eating fresh seed from the bird feeder. Squirrel is munching on his very own corncob. Today is a perfect day in Bert's backyard."

At least that's how the day begins. 

I knew my students would love this book. 

We've been exploring books about spring amidst this very non-spring-like spring. (It snowed on the first day of spring!) I was sure that by yesterday the sun would be out and we'd be feeling those warm rays and able to shed hats, gloves, and winter jackets. Not so. It was 35 degrees yesterday. It was very grey and occasionally very wet. So...not A Perfect Day, unless 35 degree rainy weather is your perfect day.

Even though the weather did not cooperate, we pushed on with reading the book and thinking about days that are perfect, a day they they really enjoyed where they were, who they were with, or what they were doing.

This clever and beautiful book captured their attention and hearts. They fell in love with the animals, especially the bird. Lane's mixed-media art is richly textured and engaging. The dog's fur looks as if you could pet it. Lane effectively brings the reader in close and then steps back to give a broader view. 

All along, there's Bert helping to create these perfect days...

and then along comes bear.

"Bear crushes the daffodils, drinks the pool water, and happily gobbles up the birdseed and corncob."

The story shifts and the cat, dog, bird and squirrel's perfect day become the bear's perfect day. 

This perspective within the art and the narrative is fabulous. It WAS a perfect day for those who are looking out on the bear having a perfect day enjoying the things they love.

Along with talking about perspective, I wanted to give the students an opportunity to think about a perfect day and then to think about how that perfect day was no longer perfect. What happened to change it? What could happen to change it? 

How did it go from: "It was a perfect day," to "It WAS a perfect day."

I gave a short example of going to the park and then getting ice cream. It was a perfect day, the sun was shining, the park was full of my friends, we played for hours and then went to get ice cream. I went to take a lick of my ice cream and the scoops fell off the cone onto the sidewalk. It WAS a perfect day.

Before reading the book, the students had shared examples of their perfect days: being at a park, inside reading on the couch, ice skating on a pond, skiing down a mountain, going to the beach, playing board games or doing a puzzle, building blocks or legos, playing a video game, etc.

We went back to these earlier examples and talked about how they might change. How a younger sibling could come toddling onto the scene during the great castle construction and accidentally knock it over. How it could rain and send people home from a park. 

Here are some of their perfect days and how they became a thing of the past....

The Year in Books that Grew Minds and Hearts

Looking back over the last twelve months of books that my students and I have read together, there are those stories which stand out for the conversations they inspired -- conversations that grow hearts and minds. These are the books that my students still talk about and still ask for, books that get referenced in conversations. These are the books whose influence can be seen in how the students look at and think about the world around them and their place in it.

Here are the top fifteen from this year:

15. It Takes a Village




14. Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya*

13. A Poem for Peter

12. Smoot


11. Give Me Back My Book!

10. Each Kindness


9. The Only Fish in the Sea


8. Little Fox in the Forest

7. We're All Wonders


6. Come With Me


5. Why Am I Me?


4. Book of Mistakes

3. Her Right Foot


2. Wolf in the Snow*

1. After the Fall


There are many books that the students and I read each year that I don't have the time to blog about. These books would rise to the top regardless because of the conversations they engendered.

*Some blog posts never got posted, but will soon! 

It wasn't NIGHT, but it was NOISY: Mac Barnett and Brian Biggs make a stop on their NOISY NIGHT book tour

Why the passion for creating a cityscape? 

My students were preparing for a visit from Mac Barnett and Brian Biggs, who are on tour for their new book, Noisy Night. 

My library was one very fun and very noisy place! Have a look and listen:

Prior to their visit, my students watched the book trailer for Noisy Night. It was #booklove at first viewing.

Speaking with their elbow partners, the students shared the sounds of things that make their nights noisy and then contributed their voices to the following book connection activities that were available to students:

Table One: create a cityscape 

Table Two: decorate pajamas (from a template I created)

Table Three: create speech bubbles of sounds heard at night

Table Four: draw pictures of sounds heard at night

I taught this lesson with all the kindergarten and first grade students. By the end of two days, I had one NOISY NIGHT bulletin board and one NOISY NIGHT window decoration.

Here are a few more images of the students' work:

Did this preparation help get the children excited for the visit? You bet! 

Did Mac and Brian really need any help getting the children excited during the visit? Not really. 

Thanks for visiting, Mac and Brian!