Certainly, other types of animal flash cards could be used. An even better idea might be to have hand puppet or stuffed animal examples of the animals in the book to pass around for the children to look at. During their break, they could play with the toys as an added refresher for the animal concepts that they learned during the classroom and field trip sessions. Besides providing an excellent review, it would be a seamless method of integrating the reading with field trip sessions and prop and toy purchases. This type of activity will give the teacher indicators of the students' abilities as a class and individuals prior to beginning the reading unit. It might be wise to do the field trip as the follow-up idea to the book with Brett's work as preparatory for that activity.
Annotated Bibliography
1. Brett, J. (1989). The mitten. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
Baba knits some white mittens for her grandson and warns Nicki that a white mitten is harder to find if he loses it in the snow. Nicki loses the mitten in the snow anyway. A group of animals including a mole, a rabbit, a hedgehog, an owl, a badger, a fox, a bear a mouse climb in for shelter. The mouse tickles the bier's who sneezes and throws out all of the mitten's tenants all at once. Nicki finds his mitten and takes it home to his bewildered Baba who can not figure out why it is so stretched out.
2. Brett, J. (2010). The easter egg. New York, NY: Putnam Juvenile.
Little Hoppi the Easter Bunny is trying to decide which egg to make. First he thinks of copying one type of egg that is being made by other bunnies. However, he then decides to make an egg that is right for him. In this way, he not have to win the contest. Rather, he just takes pride in his work. Next, he unselfishly sits on a mother robin's dropped, unbroken egg so that she can sit on the two that are still in the nest. These types of messages make up the entire book and does not contain any explicit religious references surrounding Easter, so it is appropriate for a multicultural...
Brett, J. (2008). Gingerbread friends. New York, NY: Putnam Juvenile.
In the Gingerbread Baby, little Mattie made the Gingerbread Baby a house he can live in. Unfortunately, the Gingerbread Baby is very lonely and needs a good friend. The Gingerbread Baby is looking for a friend to live in the little house Mattie made for him. Along his journey, he comes to realize that not all of the cookies want to be his friend. Sometimes its just good to be home which is always a safe place to be.
4. Brett, J. (2007). The three snow bears. New York, NY: Putnam Juvenile.
In the book, Aloo-ki looks up from her fishing and sees her sled dogs floating off on floating ice. Racing after them she happens upon an igloo. Curiously, she enters and finds no one at home because the polar bear family who lives in the igloo is out for a walk while breakfast is cooling off. Aloo-ki eats some of their soup, tries on their boots and finally crawls into the smallest bed like Goldilocks for a nap. Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear see the dogs adrift and they swim out to rescue them. Finally, they return home to find Aloo-ki asleep in Baby Bear's bed.
5. Brett, J. (2004). The umbrella. New York, NY: Putnam Juvenile.
In the book, young Carlos wants to spot certain kinds of animals in a nearby rain forest. He is disappointed when no living animals appear. After this, he drops his umbrella which is made from leaves and climbs a tree for a better look. During this time, one by one all of the rain forest's creatures settle into Carlos' umbrella. The animals argue over the available space until the weight of a hummingbird tips the whole umbrella over. The book follows a story line similar to The Mitten.
Works Cited
Brett, J. (1989). The mitten. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
Ibid, Board book edition.
The full-day early learning -- kindergarten program. (2010). Retrieved from www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/../kindergarten_english_june3.pdf.
