Goldilocks and The Three Bears

Title: Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Genre: Traditional Literature
Author: Janet Stevens
Awards: N/A
Age Group: 4 to 6-years-old

Teacher Evaluation: As a teacher, I would use this book in a kindergarten or first-grade classroom. I think children would benefit from hearing this book as a read aloud due to the use of sizes and opposites throughout the text. I also believe that children could possibly get the message of wandering off alone and the dangers of doing so. Students could also do an activity using their family or favorite animals to tell the story using various opposites and sizes.

Summary: The story begins by introducing the reader to a family of 3 bears. Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear all are three different sizes. Papa Bear is the biggest, Mama Bear is the middle, and Baby Bear is the smallest bear. Due to their size, they all have different sized things. Each bear has their own size bowl, chair, and bed. One day, the bears couldn't eat their breakfast right away because it was too hot so they decided to take a walk in the forest until it cooled down. While the bears were out, a girl named Goldilocks came across their cottage and smelled their breakfast. Goldilocks didn't see anyone in the cottage so she decided to go inside. Goldilocks made her way through each of the bear's breakfast until she found the one that was just right for her. After she finished eating she decides to go sit down for a bit, so again she tries each chair until she finds the one that is just right. Goldilocks begins rocking back and forth in the chair, then it breaks. Feeling sore, Goldilocks goes upstairs and tries each bed until she finds the right one to fall asleep in. The three bears return to their cottage to notice someone has been eating their breakfast, sitting in their chairs - Baby Bears chair was broken, and that someone was sleeping in their beds. Baby Bear then realizes that someone is still sleeping in his bed, Goldilocks. Goldilocks wakes up to the three bears standing over her then she jumps up and runs away, saying she will never wander the woods alone again.

This Old Man

Title: This Old Man
Genre: Poetry
Author: Carol Jones (Illustrated By)
Awards: N/A
Age Group: 3 to 6-year olds

Teacher Evaluation: I would definitely use this in a early childhood to kindergarten classrooms. This illustrated version of the nursery rhyme This Old Man will aid children in counting and phonological awareness. I think this book could be read for several purposes as a stated it could help with counting and phonological awareness. I would first read the book just for the students to hear the way the book goes and then read it a second time inviting students to sing along.

Summary: This nursery rhyme is about an old man playing the nick nack. The song goes on with the count the old man playing going all the way up to ten. The song rhymes each count with the object the old man plays on. The song ends when the old man reaches 10 counts and play on a hen.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Title: Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Genre: Poetry
Author: Robert Frost
Awards: N/A
Age Group: 6 to 9-years old

Teacher Evaluation: I would use this in a second-grade classroom. I think the language and illustrations would be great for this grade level. The book will also help students with recognizing different rhyme schemes.

Summary: The poem is about a man who stops to watch the snow fill up the woods. The poem gives a description of the snowy woods. How deep, dark, and peaceful the woods are. The pictures are excellent illustrations of how the snow changed the woods. It describes how the man's horse thinks the man has made a mistake because they stopped in the middle of nowhere, far from everything.  The poem ends with the man talking about keeping promises he made and how he has to ride for miles before he gets to sleep.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Title: The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Genre: Poetry
Author: Meredith Johnson (pictured by)
Awards: N/A
Age Group: 3 to 5-years old

Teacher Evaluation: I would use this book in an early childhood to kindergarten classrooms because of the illustrations, rhythm, and repetition. This book could help students become more oral due to the repetition. The rhymes will help with phonological awareness and vocabulary of the young children. It is also very engaging since it allows for students to fill in parts of the nursery rhyme.

Summary: In this classic nursery rhyme, a spider is climbing up a waterspout as it begins to rain. The rain causes the spider to get washed away when the sun comes back out. the nursery rhyme then ends with the spider going back up the water spout.

The Little Ant

Title: The Little Ant
Genre: Traditional Literature
Author: Shirleyann Costigan
Awards: N/A
Age Group: 5 to 7-year olds

Teacher Evaluation: I would use this folktale from New Mexico in class because there is a chance I could be teaching in a dual-language class. There are not many Spanish words used in the story besides one, but it could help build on vocabulary for dual language students. The beginning of the book also shows students how these stories were originally passed on orally by generations.

Summary: The story of the little ant is about a small ant that gets stuck far from home due to a small rain shower. The ant tries to get the sun to come up to dry the rain, but the sun cannot because the cloud is blocking the sun. The little ant tries to get the cloud to move but the cloud explains it needs the wind to push it out the way. The wind doesn't want to help the little ant, so she comes up with a clever plan to get the wind to help. The little ant sings a lullaby to put the wind to sleep then tickles its nose with a feather. The wind sneezes pushing the cloud out the way of the sun and the little ant can finally get back home.

I'm Still Here In the Bathtub

Title: I'm Still Here in the Bathtub

Genre: Poetry

Author: Alan Katz

Awards: 2007 Young Hoosier Book Award (nominee)

Age Group: 4 to 7-year olds

Teacher Evaluation: As a teacher, I would use this book of poems in order to develop early childhood students' phonological awareness. The rhymes in the book will help students develop their phonological awareness as well as the sing-songy type language used. Since the book offers multiple texts, I would certainly choose some of the texts over others depending on what I feel will relate to my class or be more interesting to my students. This book could also be used as a "brain break" because the texts included could have dances added to them, therefore students are able to get their "wiggles" out.

Summary: This book consists of 14 different texts written in the tune of popular nursery rhymes. Although the range of topics in the book is wide, they all take classic nursery rhyme tunes and make them more relatable to children. My favorite one in the book is called "I-T-C-H-Y" which is about uncomfortable clothing but in the tune of "B-I-N-G-O". I like this one because I think it would be relatable to students and also it would be familiar to them because of the tune so hopefully, they would be able to chime in and repeat the poem. 

Johnny Appleseed

Title: Johnny Appleseed
Genre: Traditional Literature
Author: Steven Kellogg
Awards: N/A
Age Group: 6 to 8-year olds

Teacher Evaluation: I would use this in a second-grade classroom because I believe the story is a good example of a tall tale. I believe the exaggeration told about Johnny Appleseed's story will give students something to remember tall tales by.

Summary: The story of Johnny Appleseed is a folktale, but fits under the subcategory of a tall tale. The story starts by giving a background of John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) and where he came from. John loved to be in the forest and the story talks about how he carried apple seeds in his pouch as he traveled the Pennsylvania forest. The story details how people began calling John, Johnny Appleseed because of how he began clearing out space to plant his apple trees for incoming pioneers. Johnny continued to plant apple trees and care for them until he became 70 years old and it got hard. Throughout the story, there are major exaggerations of what supposedly happened to Johnny Appleseed such as, a rattlesnake not being able to break through his skin, him keeping a wolf as a pet, and even seeing him after he had passed away. There are also some historical points in the story talking about wars at the time.