Share Jae Soo Liu’s beautifully illustrated Yellow Umbrella and accompanying music CD with your class. The story is perfect for discussing position words, for example: up the street, over the bridge, around the playground equipment, down the stairs, across the train tracks and into the schoolyard. 

 

It also can be used to inspire crafts, dramatic play and movement. Children can make their own umbrella craft, for a simple one visit Crafts Preschool Rocks.com.  Children can wear their umbrella and dance, draw or re-tell the story to the music. 

 

Have the children create books that contain pictures of their favorite things. They can use pictures of their family, magazine cut-outs of things they like, and drawings they have done. 

 

For babies and toddlers, photos of the people, places and things in their life work best. These books are not only comforting; they make strong connections between the world and books.

 

John S. Goodall’s wordless books are filled with drama and joy. Share his Shrewbettina’s Birthday with your class. This book is perfect for discussing characters, sequencing and action. It could easily be turned into a puppet show. Also, recreating Shrewbettina’s party (snack time and dancing) is easy and fun. 

 

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