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Friday, November 18, 2011

Eating the Alphabet ~ Lois Ehlert (1989, Scholastic Inc.)

Summary: This book goes through the entire alphabet and lists at least one fruit or vegetable for each.


My Review: I really liked this book. I used it to teach incoming Kindergarteners letter of the alphabet. Some of the letters had very obscure fruits and vegetables that were not available locally. We ate two different fruits or vegetables each day (cover two letters).
I did make a few exceptions when I knew that none of my students would eat what I brought in (ex. dates...we had doritos instead).


About the Author: Lois Ehlert is a famous children's writer and illustrator. Many of her books focus on nature or natural things on Earth. She was won numerous awards including the Caldecott Honor in 1989 and Publisher's Weekly Best book of the Year. She is also the author of the beloved Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.                   


Genre: Non-fiction
Theme/ Skill: Letter identification, letter sounds
Age Level: 0-7
Pre-Reading Activity: Sing the alphabet. Ask the children what fruits and vegetables they think they will find in the book. Write down their suggestions. 

Post-Reading Activity: Try some of the fruits and vegetables in the book. You could think of another topic that students could create an alphabet book for. Check the predictions that the children make as they go along.
 

2 comments:

  1. Perfect book for teaching Pre-Kindergartners or Kindergartners the alphabet! The illustrations look very colorful to grab the children's attention. I like your pre-reading activity. Great post-reading activity. While I completed hours in a Kindergarten room my Junior Year of college. The teacher brought all different kinds of vegetables in from her garden. The children were actually excited to try healthy things that they had never tried or heard of before. I think they would be enthusiastic about trying the vegetables and fruits that are actually in the book.

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  2. Thanks for the comment! I had fun this past summer exposing the kids to new foods and foods that they loved that were healthy. We ended up making a huge poster with pictures of everything that we had eaten during summer school. It was a lot of fun!

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