Janessa+Ireland

This book ignites a child’s imagination by taking an everyday occurrence and making it magical. The author draws the audience in by a main character describing the town of Chewandswallow, a place where people never had to cook a meal for themselves. Instead of weather producing rain or snow, it produced food that came down from the sky. Besides the interesting narrative about a peculiar town, the illustrations in the story provide rich images that only make the reader want to continue on. When summarized correctly, this book would be appropriate for most early childhood classrooms. Besides focusing on weather, a teacher could this reading into other curricular activities and lessons. For starters, this book could be used for a lesson on the difference between fiction and nonfiction books. The topic of weather and how it never rains food on towns would be a valuable opportunity for a teacher to distinguish between real life situations and imagination. Throughout the book, different terrains are depicted such as forests, oceans and towns. This could be tied into a geography lesson about different locations on the Earth and what the look like. You could have the children brainstorm on what animals might live in those terrains. //It’s Winter!// (Glaser, 2003) gives great descriptions of how the winter season changes the landscape into an icy, snowy terrain. However, this book also compares the main character’s winter to what her grandparents are experiencing, whom live in another state where it is hot and sunny. Using rhythm and rhyming words, the book compares the main character’s ideas of winter fun to how animals spend their winter in a deep, sleepy hibernation. Another great feature about this book is the illustrations and the approached that the illustrator used which is by collaging. It gives a nice 3D effect, which makes the pictures pop. Lastly, the author of the story suggests to the readers’ winter activities that they can try themselves to have fun. A teacher could use this book for a geography lesson. One aspect that the book explains is how two different places can experience opposite weather at the same time. A teacher could describe how different regions around the world enjoy the winter weather in different ways and traditions other than what was explained in the book. //It’s Winter// (Lewison, 2004) describes the different ways winter impacts the environment. It included multiple animals that go into hibernation and the teacher could introduce a unit on hibernating animals. This could lead to a class discussion where the teacher would prompt students to remember the different animals that the story mentioned and have them research them to create a class book on hibernating animals. This could easily turn into a writing lesson, where students could work together to learn about hibernating animals and seasons. The reason for choosing this book is because it is incredibly child friendly in the fact that there are minimal words and bright, massive pictures. Any child can relate to the story because it is about a child who has fun on a rainy day by splashing in puddles and warming up to their favorite treat. The illustrations are big enough for any child to see detail and flow from one page to the next. The rhyming and repetition of words make it fun to read and enjoyable to hear. //Raindrop, Plop!// (Leswison, 2004) is great for teaching children about rainy weather because it depicts how it influences people’s lives in a positive way. For children whom have fear towards rains and storms, this can be a great way to give children insight how stormy weather can be enjoyable. This book can also describe to children who have never been exposed to clothing that is used for harsher weather. Likewise, the counting in the book can be a great way for teachers to incorporate number recognition and counting backwards. What I like best about the book is the rhyming words. You could tie this into a lesson with words that rhyme and have the children got through the book and identify all the rhyming words that were mentioned or even have them think of their own rhyming words. //Chilly Milly Moo// (Ross, 2011) is a humorous story about a cow that cannot make milk because it is too hot outside for her. Sadly, the farmer can’t have a cow that doesn’t milk and he threatened to kick Milly out of the barn. Luckily for Milly, the season changed to winter and suddenly she produced ice cream instead of milk! Young readers will enjoy reading this story because how the author presented the text in different ways. It makes the story more fun and enjoyable to read. The silliness of the story is accompanied by whimsical illustrations that cover the whole page. This book is great for a discussion on seasonal changes. Different seasons bring different temperatures and some people prefer hot weather and some like it cold, like Milly the cow. You could tie this discussion in by acknowledging the farmer’s frustration with Milly. For instance, students can learn how unexpected weather or temperatures can either help or hinder farmers with their crops and animals. If crops freeze over, then people go without food and the farmer cannot make money. Lastly, a teacher could incorporate this book into a literature lesson. For instance, you could have students’ identify main characters and events, as well as what the problem and solution was that they found in the story. Students could record their answers in a writing journal or by whole group discussion using different charts that would encourage brainstorming. What makes this book special for young readers living in Phoenix, Arizona, is that it depicts how children can have fun in snow and cold weather. It explains how children living in colder climates can get days off from school when a blizzard blows in. It talks about how children can make snowmen, snow angels and how they can try to catch snowflakes on their mittens and tongues. For children that have never seen snow before, this book would be a great tool to give them an idea on how to have fun in cold weather. As stated before, a teacher could use this book to show students how other children have fun in the snow. You could teach different winter activities that people do to have fun, such as ice skating and building snowmen. This makes it relevant to young readers in Phoenix, Arizona because they would appreciate how the children in the story want to get out of the classroom and play. Likewise, the teacher could talk about how snow affects travel for their parents and due to frost and black ice on roads. For a fun science experiment, you could demonstrate what frost and black ice looks like in a science lesson. This demonstration would reinforce how extreme cold affect people in their daily lives. A teacher could incorporate a writing lesson as well. Using a circle map, you could have the students brainstorm ways that they could have fun in the snow and then write their responses in their writing journals.
 * __Topic:__** Weather
 * __Children’s Fiction:__**
 * Barret,Judi.1978.Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 16 pages. Ironwood Library.**
 * Glaser, Linda. 2003. Its Winter! The Millbrook Press. 16 pages. Ironwood Library.**
 * Lewison, Cheyette Wendy. 2004. Raindrop, Plop!. Penguin Group. 16 pages. Ironwood Library.**
 * Ross, Fiona. 2011. Chilly Milly Moo. Candlewick Press. 15 pages. Ironwood Library.**
 * Rylant, Cynthia. 2008. Snow. Harcourt.16 pages. Ironwood Library.**

//How do you Know?// (Trotter, 2006) uses watercolor illustrations to depict how a foggy morning and day looks like in a rural area. The story explains how one morning, a little girl wakes up to find everything she sees engulfed by fog. Young readers who have never experience fog before will relate to the litter girl because she has never experienced fog herself. It then leads to how the little girl and her mother go out in the fog to find the barn, pond and other things that the child cannot see anymore. This book would be great for many literature lessons. A teacher could use this for a cause and effect lesson, as well as a problem and solution lesson. The teacher could incorporate writing with these lessons and use it for whole group or small group. You could also do a picture walk before the book and have children brainstorm what they think the story will be out and use a chart to record the student’s responses. Also, you could also tie this into a science lesson on what fog is and demonstrate what it looks like by doing an experiment. The teacher can also explain how fog can hinder moms and dads who drive because it impacts their visibility. You can refer back to the book and remind students on how the little girl could not see outside her window because the fog engulfed everything.
 * Trotter, Deborah W. 2006. How do You Know? Clarion Books. 15 pages. Ironwood Library.**

This book includes real life photos of tornados, how a tornado forms and the many neighborhoods that have been destroyed by a tornado. However, the author breaks the story down by making child friendly in the fact that they use a child’s perspective to narrate the story. The book begins by a young boy complaining to his mom that his soccer game was canceled due to a tornado warning. This book is very informational but it is also child friendly and interesting to read. The book explains all the scientific facts but also describes how tornadoes can impact human lives and the damage that come from them. It also stresses the importance of the Weather Service and how they help people escape storms. This book could be tied into another social studies strand for community helpers. You could emphasize the fact that police officers, fire fighters and doctors provide aide when it is needed the most, such as natural disasters. You could also teach the children what to do if they encounter a tornado. Likewise, you could turn this into a geography lesson and incorporate science themes such as weather and air pressure. You could explain that the central part of the United States has more tornados than any other part in the world. Then, the lesson could transition into another science about cold and warm fronts. Geography would be intertwined by having student examines maps and interpret how cold and warm air meet together and where it originates from. This book gives children a detailed look on how storm chasers work to gather data. This important data is used by meteorologists all across America to give better and faster warnings of when and where a tornado is about to touch down. It also breaks down the multiple tools the storm chasers use to measure different aspects of storms, such as wind speed and pressure. The most important aspect is that it talks about how to avoid major storms and what to do if you get caught in them. For each section of the book, it poses questions that children can ponder while researching each section. This book would be valuable in a community helpers theme. Children can learn about first responders and volunteers that help people in emergency situations. Also, the teacher could teach children emergency numbers that they can call if they find themselves in a time of crisis. The children would also learn about people who live in the central Unite States and how they combat fierce weather like tornadoes. As well as that, you could turn this into a geography lesson where students could and compare different storms that occur in various parts of the country. Lastly, you could This book contains beautiful illustrations done by Chad Wallace. Each illustration depicts various wildlife and environments that would entice young readers to read the book. Likewise, this book describes the delicate cycle of life with animals and how warmer weather can affect them. It also describes how humans are impacted by warmer weather and it gives different tips on how humans can help change it. The book introduces exotic animals found in different regions in the world, which would be new information to some students. //Earth Feeling the Heat// (Guiberson, 2009) could be used for civics and science lessons. For civics, you could create a lesson on how cleaning up your community can help impact the environment in a positive way. A teacher can stress the fact that being involved in your community by volunteering time to pick up playgrounds or other areas would in turn help plants and animals. To reinforce this, the teacher would do a lesson on climate and how climate changes influences animal populations and plant growth. The teacher can explain how climate changes also hinder humans due to loss of crops and water. Lastly, a teacher could definitely use this book for geography. This would be a great introduction to maps and continents because the book discusses plants and animals in different regions in the world. The main highlight of this book is that it covers how extreme weather to even frost, can have a impact on human living. The graphics show different types of storms, while next to it is an explanation of the picture. Likewise, it contains child friendly facts that it makes it more interesting and easier to understand complex weather topics. Lastly, the book gives tips to children on what no to do and what to do when a massive storm hits their town. This book could be used for an introduction to different types of weather. It could also be correlated into a geography theme because you could teach children the different types of weather and climate around the world. You could tie in a lesson about community helpers and give information about emergency crews that come out and help people during major storms. Likewise, you can explain how weather impacts farmers and how they can either help of hinder the growth of their crops. Lastly, you could tie this book into a science lesson and use experiments to demonstrate different weather occurrences to show children what they look and feel like.
 * __Children’s Non Fiction:__**
 * Brennan, Crotta Linda. 2015. Tell Me Why We Have Tornadoes?. Cherry Lake Publishing. 24. Ironwood Library.**
 * Gifford, Clive. 2009. Chasing the World’s Most Dangerous Storms. Capstone Press. 32. Ironwood Library.**
 * Guiberson, Brenda. 2009. Earth Feeling the Heat. Henry Holt and Company, LLC. 16. Ironwood Library.**
 * Mack, Lorrie. 2004. Weather. Dk Publishing. 48 pages. Ironwood Library.**