Moose Madness – If You Give a Moose a Muffin

If You Give a Moose a Muffin
By Laura Numeroff
Illustrated by Felicia Bond
Laptime: Toddler – Kindergarten
Story Circle: Preschool – Early Elementary

We have had a very snowy winter, and because the mountains and hills around us are still covered in snow the moose have moved down into the valleys. Occasionally we get moose in our yard. They nonchalantly lope across the grass until they reach the forest behind the house and disappear. Not really much trouble at all. But we have friends who have had a moose haunt their front steps making it impossible to leave the house by the front door. I just hope that they don’t give that moose a muffin!

If You Give a Moose a Muffin is a darling story about an unexpected house guest - a moose. In this story a rather large and hungry moose comes to visit. The young boy wants to be a good host, so he offers the moose a muffin. The problem – “If you give a moose a muffin he’ll want some jam to go with it”, and one thing will lead to another until your house is overrun with moose mayhem including a colorful sock puppet production. But just look at that charming moose......... how could anyone refuse to give him a muffin?

Laptime and Story Circle Activities

Make Muffins – Here is a great Muffin recipe with the jam already baked inside!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup cooking oil

In a mixing bowl combine dry ingredients. In a liquid measuring cup combine the milk and the oil add the egg and beat with a fork until the egg is mixed in. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the liquid into the well. Stir just until moist ( there will be lumps). Spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray or grease each cup well. Fill each cup about 1/3 full with batter. Add 1 tsp of your favorite jam to each cup then cover the jam with more batter so that the cups are about 2/3 full.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove muffins from pan and allow to cool so that the jam doesn’t burn any mouths.
This recipe makes a dozen so if you have a larger class double the recipe.
Check out Tips for successful cooking in the classroom.

Make Sock Puppets
This is a great activity to recycle all of those single socks whose mates have been sucked into the black hole of your dryer.
You will need:

• One sock per child
• White glue
• Q tips
• Small paper plates
• Scissors
• Fabric scraps
• Googly eyes (optional)
• Yarn

1. Give each child a sock and a small plate with a little puddle of glue and a Q tip.
2. Explain that too much glue will make their puppet soggy.
3. Then have them practice using their Q tip to get a dab of glue and put that dab onto a dry area of the paper plate. That is how much glue they should use.
4. Next have the children put the sock on their hands so that the toe can be opened and shut like a mouth.
5. Talk about where the eyes should go, and the hair and the tongue.
6. Talk about what else they might want on their puppets. Will the puppet be an animal? A person? A monster?
7. Allow the children to be as creative as they would like with the materials to make their puppets.
8. To avoid frustration be there to help cut a shape or a hard piece of yarn but always encourage them to do most of it themselves.

When the puppets are complete and dry, put on a puppet show.

Ideas for puppet stages:

• Cut a hole out of the center of an old sheet and hang it with clothespins on a string strung across a corner of the room
• A big old box with a rectangle cut out makes a great stage for two people.
• The frame of an old TV set (the kind of TVs before flatscreens)

I hope that these activities are helpful. Add to the fun and tell us what you would do to help your children enjoy If You Give a Moose a Muffin.

Sal Grows Up - One Morning in Maine

One Morning in Main
By Robert McCloskey
Laptime: preschool - early elementary
Story Circle: Kindergarten - early elementary

Remember little Sal toddling after her mother in Blueberries for Sal? In One Morning in Maine, Sal has grown up to be a big girl who has lost her first tooth. In my children's kindergarten and first grade classes there was always a Lost Tooth Chart. It was usually a big tooth on a bulletin board decorated with pictures of classmates who had lost a tooth; each big smile showing a gap in a different place. It was an honor to have your picture posted on the tooth. I always looked at the pictures with the bittersweet sense of wonder that our babies were growing up. The first lost tooth truly is a rite of passage from babyhood to being a big girl or boy.
In One Morning in Maine, Sal looses her tooth while digging for clams with her father. It disappears right into the mud. Sal shows what a grown up girl she is becoming in the way that she handles the disappointment of the lost tooth, the way that she cares for her little sister, and in the way that she imaginatively solves the problem of not being able to put the tooth under her pillow to get her secret wish. The illustrations in this Caldecott Honor Book give insight into life in Maine in 1952 and make you want to be there to enjoy the wind and the waves , the gulls and the clam chowder.

Laptime Activities

1. Start a Lost Tooth scrapbook. Fill it with gapped grins from various family members. Don't forget to include pictures of parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents when they lost their first teeth.
2. Make clam chowder for lunch. Have an ice cream cone for dessert.
   

Story Circle Activities

1. In the story Sal discusses with her father which animals have teeth and which ones don't. Make a large collage with one side covered in pictures of animals that have teeth and the other side covered in pictures of birds and animals that don't have teeth. You will need: Large sheet of butcher paper with a line drawn down the middle and the words - Teeth and No Teeth - written on each half. Pictures of animals, birds, fish, reptiles, etc., scissors, glue stick. Take some time before class to pull the pictures from magazines of different animals and birds. Try to find enough pictures with teeth and without so that your collage will have good balance and everyone will have a picture to cut out. Put all of the pictures out on a table and have each child cut around one picture. When all of the pictures have been cut out, put them in a basket. One at a time ask each child to pick a picture out of the basket and ask the class if it is has teeth or no teeth. Then rub glue stick on the back of the picture and have the child put it on the butcher paper on the correct side.
2. Clam Chowder for snack time. Buy a good canned version of clam chowder and heat it up in a crock pot. Spoon it into small hot/cold cups. Be sure and serve it with lots of crackers just in case some kids don't like the chowder.

Berries, Berries, Berries! - Jamberry

Before we get to Jamberry I would like to introduce you to someone. My daughter works for a wonderfully inventive woman named Heather. She is the founder and owner of the on-line store, Mom 4 Life. Heather's site is listed in the sidebar under Friends. Be sure and give her a visit.
Here is some interesting info on Heather and Mom 4 Life:

“Mom 4 Life.com is a unique website specializing in products that are 100% mom invented. Started by a mom of two in 2003, Heather Ledeboer has grown Mom 4 Life at a breathtaking speed. Her website now offers over 900 products. Ledeboer is passionate about being a mom and has built her business around her children’s sleep schedule and hired employees when Mom 4 Life experiences growth spurts in order to allow her to be a stay at home mom (her original goal when starting her business). Desiring to help other moms in business, Heather searches out products that are new, unique to the market and (most importantly) comprised from the handiwork of a mother. Knowing how difficult it can be to take a new product and get it in front of the target audience, Mom 4 Life steps in to do just that successfully marketing products by moms (over 250 of them), for moms. Not only passionate about helping moms in business, Heather also seeks to help moms in need. Mom 4 Life donates 10% of its proceeds to local pregnancy centers. Heather believes that it when you are blessed, you are called to be a blessing to others. Helping moms is the way that she feels compelled to fulfill that calling.”

Jamberry
by Bruce Degan
Laptime: toddler - Kindergarten
Story time: toddler - Kindergarten

While I was writing my last post about Blueberries For Sal by Robert McCloskey the opening line from Jamberry kept running through my heard, "One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry". I read Jamberry so many time to my children that I can still recite most of it from memory.
A berry loving bear invites a boy to go berry picking with him. They go for a canoe ride and discover a berry adventure around every turn until they end up "buried in berries".
This is a great laptime read for toddlers and younger preschoolers because the rhythms are bouncy and fun and the illustrations are full of berrylicious things to look at. I especially like the way that Bruce Degan foreshadows the next section by adding a character or an item from the next berry discovery to the current page. Linger over the illustrations, there are so many yummy things to see.

I hope that you will enjoy these activities and leave your own activity idea in the comments section.

Laptime and Story Circle Activities
I combined the laptime and story circle activities because I would use these activities in both areas.

1. Toast Jamboree! - All you need is a toaster (preferably one that stays cool on the outside), bread, plastic knives for spreading, and jams made out of the berries listed in the story. Toast slices of bread and cut into fourths. Let the children spread a different jam on each slice. Be sure and discuss the different colors and tastes of the jams.
2. "Dancing in Meadows of Strawberry Jam" - In the middle of the book the bear and the boy meet up with some ponies and sheep and have a dance. For a fun movement activity, give the children berry colored scarves or streamers, put on some music and dance. Choose instrumental music that is lively, perhaps something Celtic or this is a good chance to introduce your favorite piece of danceable classical music . Whenever you do this kind of movement activity be sure that you have enough room for the kids to spread out. Set the guidelines about where they dance - move in a circle, move across the room, stay in place. Also set the guidelines for when the dancing starts and stops. For example, when the music starts, dance and when the music stops, freeze.

Another McCloskey Favorite - Blueberries For Sal

Blueberries For Sal
By Robert McCloskey
Laptime:preschool - early elementary
Story Circle:preschool - early elementary

We have a few blueberry bushes in our back yard. After you plant the bush you have to wait a whole year before they will bear fruit and then you have to wait another year before there is enough fruit to even put on your cereal. So when I read about Little Sal and her mother picking blueberries on Blueberry Hill, it makes my mouth water. Imagine, a whole hill of blueberry bushes.
This Caldecott Honor book is one of Robert McCloskey's best loved books. It is the story of Little Sal and her mother who go blueberry picking on Blueberry Hill. Little Bear and his mother also go to Blueberry Hill to eat berries. Find out what happens when Little Sal and Little Bear have a mother mix-up.

I hope that you will enjoy these activities and leave your own activity idea in the comments section.

Laptime and Story Circle cooking activities
You're going to be hungry after you read this book and your mouth is going to be watering for blueberries. Of course you can be like Little Sal and gobble blueberries all by themselves or you can make blueberry pancakes or blueberry muffins. It's easy to find blueberries in the freezer section of your grocery store and they are often less expensive then buying them fresh. Here are two good and easy recipes. Be sure and check the sidebar for Tips for Successful Classroom Cooking.
Blueberry Pancakes
1 cup flour
1 Tbl sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk (plus a little more if needed)
As many blueberries as you can fit in a pancake.
In one mixing bowl stir together dry ingredients. In another bowl stir together wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just blended and slightly lumpy.
At this point you can stir the blueberries into the batter or add the blueberries to each individual pancake ( I like this way best because I can make sure that there are enough blueberries in every bite.)
Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto a hot buttery griddle or frying pan. If you are adding the berries to each pancake, add them now. When the pancake turns bubbly and looks solid around the edges turn it over and and cook the other side.

Blueberry muffins
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pan or line with cupcake liners.
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
3/4 cup blueberries
In a mixing bowl combine dry ingredients. Make a well in the center. Combine egg, milk and oil and pour into well. Stir just until moist. Gently stir in the blueberries. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full and sprinkle a little sugar on top of each muffin. Bake for 20 min. or until golden brown.

Of course if cooking is too time consuming make some toast and put blueberry jam on top.

Story Circle Activities

1. Blueberry Count: On page 8 and 9 there is a wonderful opportunity to do a little math. Give each child real blueberries or pretend blueberries (paper circles, marbles, playdough berries) and count the berries with Sal.
2. Bears! I live in bear country so I feel that I must tell my children that it's not a good idea to follow a great big mama bear. Follow up this book with a some books about real bears or check out this site to get some great bear info, http://www.bears.org/

Let's eat! - The Seven Silly Eaters

The Seven Silly Eaters
by Mary Ann Hoberman
Illustrated by Marla Frazee
Laptime: preschool - early elementary
Story Circle: preschool - early elementary

As parents we all know the stress of trying to get our children to eat foods that they don't like or trying to coax them to try new foods. In The Seven Silly Eaters Mary Ann Hoberman captures family food frustrations in comic reality. The story starts with one little Peters baby who will drink only warm milk. Mrs. Peters indulges this whim with a smile. As each new child comes into the family Mrs. Peters realizes that she has seven silly eaters, each with their own favorite food: applesauce, fresh bread, fried eggs, oatmeal (with no lumps!), pink lemonade. She is run to a frazzle trying to keep up with the different food demands and finally, "Mrs. Peters was a wreck." The children decide to help their mother out by making her a special breakfast in bed, "A breakfast made of all the foods that keep them in such happy moods." The result is an episode of wonderfully chaotic cooking.
Mary Ann Hoberman is a critically acclaimed poet and author. This story is written in rhyme and the wonderful rhythms and expressive words make reading aloud effortless. Illustrator Marla Frazee captures the Peters family perfectly. Each child is as unique as their favorite food and Mr. and Mrs. Peters look like people that I would like to know living in a home that I would like to visit.
Though I put preschool - early elementary for the age range. I have successfully read this book to upper elementary kids.
I hope that you will enjoy these activities and leave your own activity idea in the comments section.

Laptime Activities:
1.Have a Peters Family Picnic - Plan a picnic and serve all of the Peters family's favorite foods:Milk, applesauce, Oatmeal (cookies), fresh bread, eggs (hard boiled), lemonade and finish with a "pink and plump and perfect cake".
2.Cook together - In the story Mrs. Peters did all of the cooking, but this is an important life skill for our children to learn. When children cook they learn reading skills - following a recipe, math skills - measuring and fractions, nutrition and how to follow directions. Don't forget to have them help in the set up and the clean up.

Story Circle Activities:
The laptime activities work in the classroom as well. Plan a Peters Family Picnic with your class. If you are allowed to cook in your classroom make some of the dishes with the children's help. If you are not allowed to cook you can buy everything that you need prepackaged.
Below are two recipes that work well in the classroom. See Fun Places to Visit in the sidebar for tips on cooking with children. Remember: Wash hands, Wash hands, Wash hands and use gloves if your school requires it.
Apple Sauce
1 small apple for each child
1 1/2 cups water for every 6 apples or use apple juice
Cinnamon and sugar to taste
Set up a table with vegetable peelers and the apples and one teacher to supervise. Send the children in small groups to the table. Meanwhile have the other children do other activities or play at different centers. When each child finishes their apple they may take the apple to another teacher who will core it and cut it and place it in a crock pot with the water or juice.
Cook the apples until tender then let each child mash the apples 3 times with a masher or until they have the consistency of apple sauce. Sprinkle with Cinnamon and sugar and serve.
If you start this first thing in the morning you should have applesauce with your afternoon snack.
Lemonade
You will need:
For every 4 lemons - dissolve 1/2 cup of sugar in 1/2 cup of hot water. So if you have a class of 12 children you will need 12 lemons, 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of hot water.
1 large plastic pitcher
bowl for dissolving sugar in hot water
spoon for stirring
ice
Teacher prep: cut each lemon in half.
Allow each child to use a hand juicer and squeeze the juice from their lemon, then pour the juice through a strainer into a pitcher. When all of the lemons are juiced, add the hot sugar water and stir. Add approximately 4 - 6 cups cold water (start with 4 and taste to see if you need more). Add ice and stir to chill. Serve.

Hanukkah Storytime - Eight Wild Nights

Eight Wild Nights
Written by Brian P. Cleary Illustrated by David Udovic
Laptime: preschool - early elementary
Story Circle: preschool - early elementary

When I was in elementary school I had a friend who was Jewish. Every year he and his family celebrated Hanukkah and I was always a little jealous. What fun to have eight days of celebrating! Eight Wild Nights is a colorful and crazy depiction of what I imagined the Hanakkah celebration to be like.
This is the story of one family as they prepare for and then entertain an invasion of relatives and neighbors, including pets, for the eight nights of Hanukkah. Brian Cleary, a best selling poet, rhymes his way through the celebration with a rhythm that is a joy to read aloud. David Udovic's colorful illustrations give the eye something to discover in every corner of the page. I especially love the expressions on the faces of the various family members. This is a wonderful book to introduce the Hanukkah celebration to your children.

Laptime Activities:

1. Make Latkes and applesauce. For an easy recipe check out Haperschildren.com http://www.harperchildrens.com/hch/seasonal/holidays/hanukkah/recipe.asp.
2. Make a Dreidel: This site, http://www.billybear4kids.com/holidays/hanukkah/pattern.htm, has a pattern and game instructions that you can print out.

Story Circle Activities:

1. Make a Dreidel: See #2 in Laptime Activities
2. Family Show and Tell: This book really emphasizes family. Plan a family show and tell with you class. For a quick activity, go around the circle and ask the children to tell you about a favorite family member. Teacher prompts may include - What is the person's name? Do they live in your house? What is your favorite thing about this person? What is the funniest thing that you remember this person doing? For a show and tell that takes more preparation, ask each child to bring in a picture or an object that reminds them of a favorite family member.
3. If you have Hanakkah celebrators in your class, invite one of their parents or grandparents to class to tell how their family celebrates.