Ring-O Project

1. Ring-O Project Education 356 By: Tara Spradley Theme: Animals

2. Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? By: Amazon.com The gentle rhyming and gorgeous, tissue-paper collage illustrations in this classic picture book make it a dog-eared favorite on many children's bookshelves. On each page, we meet a new animal who nudges us onward to discover which creature will show up next: "Blue Horse, Blue Horse, What do you see? I see a green frog looking at me." This pattern is repeated over and over, until the pre-reader can chime in with the reader, easily predicting the next rhyme. One thing readers might not predict, however, is just what kinds of funny characters will make an appearance at the denouement! Children on the verge of reading learn best with plenty of identifiable images and rhythmic repetition. Eric Carle's good-humored style and colorful, bold illustrations

3. Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? By Eric Carle Activity: Do a walk through with the book having the students identify the title page, the cover and back cover of the story discussing what is on it. Have the students give examples of plants and animals that they predict the Bear on the cover of the story might see before reading the story. Standards: Science: K.4.1 Give examples of plants and animals Language arts: K.1.1 Concepts about print: Identify the front cover, back cover and title page of the book. Multiple Intelligence: Logical-Mathematical Predicting (Predicting what the Bear will see)

4. Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? Activity: Read the story aloud to the students have them say the rhyming parts of the story with the instructor while reading it aloud. After reading the story map out with the students what they saw in the story have them order the animals in which the bear saw them, and have them county them so they get practice counting with animals in the story. Standards: Math Standard: K.1.6Count, recognize, represent, name and order a number of objects. (up to 10) Language Arts standard: K.1.10 Say rhyming words in response to an oral prompt. Multiple Intelligence: Visual-Spatial mapping stories (Mapping out the order of the animals the bear saw)

5. Giraffes Can’t Dance By: Amazon Gerald the giraffe doesn't really have delusions of grandeur. He just wants to dance. But his knees are crooked and his legs are thin, and all the other animals mock him when he approaches the dance floor at the annual Jungle Dance. "Hey, look at clumsy Gerald," they sneer. "Oh, Gerald, you're so weird." Poor Gerald slinks away as the chimps cha-cha, rhinos rock 'n' roll, and warthogs waltz. But an encouraging word from an unlikely source shows this glum giraffe that those who are different "just need a different song," and soon he is prancing and sashaying and boogying to moon music (with a cricket accompanist). In the vein of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Gerald's fickle "friends" quickly decide he's worthy of their attention again. With this rhyming, poignant (in a cartoonish way) tale, Giles Andreae, author of Rumble in the Jungle, and numerous other picture books, shows insecure young readers that everyone can be wonderful, even those that march to the beat of a different cricket. The rhymes are somewhat awkward, but the bold, bright watercolors by Guy Parker-Rees will invite readers to kick up their heels and find their own internal harmony.

6. Giraffes Can’t Dance By Giles Andreae Activity: Read the story aloud to the students, after each page have the students discuss out loud predicting what they think is going to happen on the next page After the story discuss the way the giraffe was moving in the story, discuss how all animals move, fast, slow, up in the air, down on the ground have the students brainstorm all of the ways they have been animals move like or not like the giraffe in the story. Standards: Science Standard: K.3.2 Investigate that things move in different ways, such as fast, slow, ect. Language arts standard: K.2.2 Use pictures and content to aid comprehension and to draw conclusions or make predictions about story content. Multiple Intelligence: Interpersonal-Brainstorming (How animals they have seen move)

7. Giraffes Can’t Dance Activity: Have the students remember what they Giraffe in the story was trying to do, dance by asking them questions such as who, what and where. Have them discuss how the Giraffe danced similar to them and how he danced differently than them. Once they have completely recalled the story, have the students get up out of their seats and spread out around the room. Play various songs for them and have them get up and dance around the room, dancing to the beat of their own drum like the Giraffe in the story. Standards: Science Standard: K.6.1 Describe an object by saying how it is similar to or different from another object. Language Arts Standard: K.3.5 Understand what is heard by responding to questions (who, what, where) Multiply Intelligences: Bodily-Kinesthetic Dancing

8. The Rainbow Fish If you read this very popular book just before bed, and the light is still on in the hallway, you can make the rainbow scales glitter on the page, and realize why the Rainbow Fish was so proud of his beautiful decoration. Sometimes, though, being too proud of outside beauty can blind a fish, or a child (or even, heaven forbid, a parent) to the beauty people hold inside. That's the lesson of this simple tale, imported from Switzerland. It's a useful one for future sneaker and designer clothing shoppers, for rainbow fish--and for quieter, plainer minnows, too.

9. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister Activity: Read the story aloud to the students After reading the story have the students discuss the way the animal in the story socializes and how important it was to the fish to have friends. Have them think about animals they have seen or observed and how the animal communicated with what was around it. Discuss what it would be like to give away something important to you so that other people would like you like the fish did in the story. Have the students tell to the class what materialistic thing they would give up to keep their friends and family liking them Standards: Science standard K.4.2 Observe plants and animals, describing how they are alike and how they are different in the way they look and in the things they do. Language arts standard: K.7.2 Share information and ideas, speaking in complete, coherent sentences. Multiple Intelligences: Verbal-Linguistic Speaking/Listening

10. The Rainbow Fish Activity: Give the students a blank piece of paper. Have them draw an animal on the paper that represents them or an animal that they have had an experience with. Give them construction paper, crayons, glue and glitter so that they can make their animal colorful and cool looking like the rainbow fish in the story. After they have had time to create their own “rainbow animal” have them describe to the class what their animal is and why they chose it. Standards: Science Standard: K.2.2 Draw pictures and write words to describe objects and experiences. Language Arts Standard K.5.1 Draw pictures and write words for a specific reason. Multiple Intelligences: Verbal-Linguistic Presenting

11. The Very Hungry Caterpillar By Amazon: "In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf." So begins Eric Carle's modern classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. More than 12 million copies of this book have been sold in its original, full-sized edition, and the beloved tale of science and gluttony has been translated into 20 languages. This five-by-four-inch miniature edition is truly tiny, with tiny type, but it is a nice size for small hands to hold and flip through the pictures. Despite its diminished state, the book is complete in every detail, following the ravenous caterpillar's path as he eats his way through one apple (and the pages of the book itself) on Monday, two pears on Tuesday, three plums on Wednesday, and so on, through cherry pie and sausage--until he is really fat and has a stomachache. And no doubt you know what happens next! Kids love butterfly metamorphosis stories, and this popular favorite teaches counting and the days of the week, too. A fun gift package for caterpillar fans. (Baby to preschool) --Karin Snelson

12. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle Activity: Before reading the Very Hungry Caterpillar ask the students what some of their favorite books are. Have a discussion about favorite books they have had read to them or they have tried to read themselves. This conversation will engage the students in books and reading before hearing the story. While reading the story have the students count the amount of fruit the caterpillar eats each day out loud as the story is being read. Also have them count the number of days of the week that are mentioned with the story. Standards: Language Arts: K.3.4 Identify favorite books and stories Science Standard: K.2.1 Use whole numbers up to 10 in counting, identifying, sorting and describing objects and experiences. Multiple Intelligences: Intrapersonal-Personal Response (Favorite books and stories)

13. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activity: -Have the students talk about the main character in the story, have them talk about what he was and what he was doing. Also have them discuss the setting of the story, where they think the caterpillar was and why the cater pillar was eating, and finally what the caterpillar turned into. This gives them practice identifying main characters and settings. -Give the students construction paper, glue, scissors and crayons. Tell them they are going to create their own long caterpillar and butterfly however, they can only use the basic shapes they have been learning in math. (Square, circles, triangle, rectangle, ect.) Play background music while the children work so that they feel relaxed when creating their project and putting thought into it. When they are finished have them describe to the class what shapes they used to create their caterpillar. Standards: Science Standard K.5.1 Use shapes-such as circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles—to describe different objects. Language Arts standard K.3.3 Identify characters, setting and important events in a story. Multiple Intelligences: Musical, playing background music.

14. A Color of His Own By Amazon Every animal has a color of its own. "Parrots are green, elephants are gray, pigs are pink." But chameleons change color wherever they go. "On lemons they are yellow. In the heather they are purple." One chameleon is not pleased with his changeable appearance. He thinks, "If I remain on a leaf, I shall be green forever, and so I too will have a color of my own." Of course, what he doesn't take into account is the changes wrought by autumn, and soon the green chameleon is yellow, then red, and then tumbled to the ground for the long black winter night. It isn't until he befriends another older, wiser chameleon that our hero begins to find inner peace, even as his outer surface is transformed again and again.

15. A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni Activity: Read the story A Color of His Own out loud to the students Take the students on a nature walk ask them what they see when they are outside, allow them to ask questions about nature and what is around them. Have them find objects and animals that have a specific color unlike the main character in the story. When the students get back from their nature walk have them create their own story/version of A Color of His Own. They can use the objects or animals they saw on their walk to be the color they turn in their story. Have the students create the story and the teacher write it out for them so as a class it can be read out loud when it is finished. Standards: Science Standard K.1.1 Raise questions about the natural world. Language Arts Standard K.4.2 Tell a story that the teacher or some other person will write. Multiple Intelligences: Naturalistic (A nature walk)

16. A Color of His Own Activity: As a class have the students go through the pictures of the stories and tell each of the colors that the Chameleon turns. After the students have stated each color divide them into groups and give each group a color as their group name. (Use colors that can be represented by other animals) In their groups the students need to chose another animal that is the color of their group name. They will be drawing and painting a picture of that animal and writing a journal that is a few sentences long that describe the animal they chose, and why they chose it. Standards: Language Arts Standard K.1.20 Identify and sort common words in basic categories. Science Standard K.2.2 Draw pictures and write words to describe objects and experiences. Multiple Intelligence: Verbal-Linguistic writing journals