The Deep Cold River Story written by Tabatha Southey and illustrated by Sue Savor Picture book about a flood and problem solving
Imagine a deep, cold river running through a small community. One day, for no apparent reason, the river overflows its banks and floods the entire town. Many possible solutions to the unrelenting flooding are proposed but it takes a little girl to solve the problem and save the town.
The Deep Cold River Story features a positive message about bedtime stories and offers a great opportunity for children to propose their own creative solutions to the flooding problem.
A charming story featuring a young heroine and appealing illustrations, The Deep Cold River Story is 28 pages and will be enjoyed by children aged 3 to 6.
Tina and the Penguin – Written by Heather Dyer and illustrated by Mireille Levert
Picture book published by Kids Can Press
A thoroughly delightful picture book about a young girl and her very special penguin friend!
When Tina’s class from school visits the zoo, she finds herself helping a homesick penguin to escape an enclosure. Tina disguises her new feathered friend and they board the school bus together. When she takes the penguin home, Tina discovers that caring for her rather unusual houseguest is no simple matter. Mom wonders about the fishy smell and the feathers floating through the air in Tina’s bedroom and, wanting to ensure her new friend’s comfort, Tina discovers that sharing an ice water bath and sleeping with the window open is tough to take.
Distinctive, eye-catching and colourful illustrations make Tina and the Penguin a great book to share with a group.
Recommended for children aged 5 to 8, Tina and the Penguin would be a nice addition to a classroom zoo or penguin theme. The story also lends itself to making predictions.
Big Bear Hug written and illustrated by Nicholas Oldland Fable Picture book published by Kids Can Press
Author – illustrator Nicholas Oldland introduces a happy, affectionate bear who shares his love by wandering through forests and hugging flora and fauna, large and small. One day the friendly bear is shocked to find a man with a menacing ax strolling through the forest. The man is planning to chop down one of the oldest and finest trees in the woods. Despite his anger, the bear resists an urge to attack and gives the startled man an enormous “bear” hug.
This simply told fable features distinctive, bold illustrations and a loving message. Big Bear Hug will be thoroughly enjoyed by children three and up.
I’d Know You Anywhere – written by Hazel Hutchins and illustrated by Ruth Ohi
Picture book about a child’s relationship with his father published by Annick Press Ltd
This story is especially suitable for a Dad’s Day at preschool or for celebrating Father’s Day. Young Jeremy attempts to hide amongst the toys in his bedroom. Daddy finds Jeremy and reassures him that he would know him anywhere and in any form. The father-son game continues as Jeremy imagines wonderful hiding places and disguises. He could disguise himself and hide near a creek or in the ocean or up in the sky…
If I became a sheep
upon a mountainside,
one of many thousand sheep,
a woolly, moving tide-
If I became a sheep,
would you know me then?
Daddy reassures his son that no matter where Jeremy might hide, he would find him.
Reminiscent of The Runaway Bunny, I’d Know You Anywhere concludes with Daddy and Jeremy disguising themselves and sneeking up on mom.
Ruth Ohi’s illustrations do a lovely job of depicting the playful relationship between father and son.
The story is best suited to very young children, aged two and up.
This delightfully illustrated picture book reminds us that even very small creatures can help to solve big problems. A young lamb is missing from the barnyard and her mama is frantic. A small and very determined mouse offers to help find Lamb. She travels far and wide while using her ingenuity and size to reunite a very grateful Mama Sheep with her lamb.
This is a favourite read aloud in my Getting Ready to Read program. Young children enjoy carefully examining the illustrations to help find Lamb. They cheer for Mouse as she enlists the help of other creatures in her quest. Very well suited to a farm theme or an examination of social responsibility.
Did you know Storytime Standouts offers more than two hundred early childhood literacy downloads? You may be interested in our farm downloads to go along with Good to Be Small.
Five Little Farmers
Use Five Little Farmers as a fingerplay or a felt board story in preschool, homeschool or kindergarten.
Preschoolers will love counting the sailboats, harbor seals, sandcastles and magnificent orca whales. Written and illustrated by residents of British Columbia, the gentle rhymes and striking illustrations encourage closer examination of a beautiful day at the seaside.
Storytime Standouts shares Spork, a picture book about diversity and individuality written by Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault Picture book about family diversity published by Kids Can Press
“Spork was neither spoon nor fork…but a bit of both.” Offering a refreshing and original celebration of individuality, Spork is a thoughtful yet fun look at a youngster who doesn’t look quite like mum or dad. In Spork’s kitchen abode, there are forks, knives and spoons – they each know their places and ‘mixing’ is quite rare. Sparkling illustrations and clever writing encourage the reader to feel empathy for a different sort of kitchen utensil who aspires to be spoonish or forkish but can’t quite manage either.
When The Messy One is plunked in a nearby highchair one day, needing something a little different, there is no better tool for the task at hand.
Very good fun, will be enjoyed by utensils of every colour, size and shape, aged four and up.
Spork is one of Kirkus Reviews’ 2010 Best Children’s Books
You may also be interested in our page titled “Diversity.” We highlight picture books and chapter books that celebrate and inform readers about human diversity including learning disabilities, physical disabilities, allergies, single parent families, interracial families, same sex parents, aging, death and more.
Use these squirrel theme materials to celebrate Squirrel Appreciation Day January 21st! We think they are perfect for preschool, kindergarten and home use
A number of years ago, my father-in-law was frustrated by some pesky critters in his beautiful garden. Stellar jays were not the only visitors who liked the peanuts he offered, not surprisingly the neighbourhood squirrels were also attracted by the treats. Unfortunately, the squirrels were much less appreciated as guests than the jays – the squirrels dared to dig up his daffodil bulbs! We were sympathetic about the destruction of his flower beds, but we couldn’t resist celebrating Squirrel Appreciation Day with him once we heard about it.
Since January 21st is fast-approaching, I put together some squirrel theme preschool materials for anyone who’d like to join in the fun. These resources will be useful when planning a squirrel theme circle time for preschool or kindergarten.
Let’s begin with some squirrel-theme picture books for preschool and kindergarten:
Will and Squill written and illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark
Will and Squillis the story of two very unlikely friends. Will and Squill meet as infants and, although discouraged by their parents, they persist in playing, swimming and swinging together. All is well until Will’s family aquires a kitten and Squill reacts badly to the intrusion into their friendship. Thankfully, it is not long before, Will discovers that a kitten is not nearly as good a companion as Squill and the two mismatched friends are reunited. Well-suited for read aloud, will be enjoyed by children aged four and up.
Matthew and the Midnight Hospital written by Allen Morgan and illustrated by Michael Martchenko
The Flying Flingallees are the stars of the show in Matthew and the Midnight Hospital. When Matthew decides to put together a circus act, he hopes to enlist the help of some neighbourhood creatures. At the end of a performance for his mom, he scrapes his knee and needs some first aid. Just as the bandaid is applied to his knee, a young squirrel in a tree above misses his branch and falls to the ground. Matthew and his mom are both concerned for the animal. They make the injured squirrel comfortable for the night. Matthew worries about the squirrel’s well-being and is thinking about him as he drifts off to sleep. Shortly after midnight, he discovers that the injured squirrel is to be taken to hospital in an ambulance. Unlike any hospital I’ve ever visited, the midnight hospital offers the perfect antidote and soon Danny and Matthew are flying high. Also well-suited for read aloud, this is part of Matthew’s Midnight Adventure Series and will be enjoyed by boys and girls aged five and up.
Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach written and illustrated by Melanie Watt
Scaredy Orville Squirrel whose initials are S.O.S. is an immensely popular character in an equally popular series of picture books. In Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach Scaredy the worrywart is very careful to avoid any sort of real or imagined danger. Rather than encounter pirates, jellyfish, seagulls and sea monsters, he decides to create his very own private backyard beach paradise. After carefully constructing his safe haven, Scaredy realizes that, although his beach “look” is great – his backyard just doesn’t sound like the real thing. The only solution is “Operation Seashell” – a carefully planned and executed mission in search of a seashell that will provide crystal clear ocean sound. Featuring detailed descriptions of Scaredy’s beachware and plans for his mission, Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach will be enjoyed best independently or in a small group or one-on-one read-aloud setting. Best-suited to children five and up.
To enhance a squirrel theme circle time for preschool or kindergarten, we hope you will enjoy our free early learning printables
All of our early learning printables, including these Squirrel theme printables are in PDF format, if you don’t already use Adobe Reader, you will need to download it to access the files.
These days we are racing to meet all of my youngest son’s sports commitments. He is playing on the high school basketball team and he also plays “rep” hockey. This year the regular season and his hockey team’s Christmas tournament “collide.” He has ten different hockey commitments between now and next Tuesday – and has turned down the opportunity to ref this week (thank goodness).
Hockey is definitely his first love and, over the years, we have enjoyed several picture books about hockey together. He’s well past picture books now but I’m not.
The Hockey Tree written by David Ward and illustrated by Brian Deines
In light of the busy week ahead, I thought I would take a moment to write about David Ward’s The Hockey Tree. This is a favourite wintertime picture book that beautifully captures a Canadian winter day. Set in Saskatchewan, Owen and Holly are excited because Humboldt Lake has finally frozen over and it is a perfect morning for a spirited game of pond hockey. The two children are excited to drive to the lake with their dad and before long their skates are laced and the three are laughing and playing together. Unfortunately, just as the family starts to talk about taking a break and enjoying a mug of steaming hot chocolate, Holly smacks at the puck and it flies across the frozen lake and into an ice fishing hole.
The children are terribly disappointed that they’ve lost their puck and assume that the game will have to end. Dad is not quite so willing to concede. He helps Owen and Holly to find a fallen poplar tree near the lake. Once a suitable tree is found, dad saws a piece from the trunk to create a wooden puck and the hockey game resumes.
Brian Deines’ luminous illustrations include icy cold winter scenes that are made warm by his depiction of the joy of playing a favourite sport with friends and family.
A lovely book to share with young children, this is one of my favourite wintertime picture books.
The jury’s comments were as follows: “In Cat’s Night Out, Jon Klassen’s highly imaginative and clever illustrations, with their subdued, delicate colours and their minimal movement, mysteriously transform a smoky New York night into a grooving and pulsating background for his cool dancing cats.”
My thoughts about Cat’s Night Out”… It’s Saturday night and, as Easy Street grows dark, it is time for the neighborhood felines to kick up their heels. Featuring evocative illustrations that include hidden numbers, this rhyming counting book also includes a wide variety of dance steps, costumes and vocabulary. Highly recommended.
6 Free Printable Nursery Rhymes to Share With Young Children
Enjoy these nursery rhymes with babies and children. Help them discover rhyming words and gain phonemic awareness. Our free printable nursery rhymes are perfect for home and school.
A substantial part of my work is with young children. I have found printable nursery rhymes very beneficial. If they have enjoyed wordplay and stories at home, children are often somewhat familiar with the rhymes, they enjoy the rhyming and repetition and they welcome the opportunity to create a “book” of nursery rhymes and “read” text. “Reading” along while repeating a familiar rhyme, is an opportunity to practice directional tracking by sliding a finger along the familiar words (from left to right, top to bottom).
For children who are new to English, learning nursery rhymes also introduces characters that they will encounter again and again and the rhythm of English.
Nursery rhymes introduce many literary devices: repetition (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; Polly, Put the Kettle On), onomatopoeia (Baa Baa Black sheep; This Little Pig; Old King Cole; Ding, Dong, Bell), alliteration (Little Boy Blue; Sing a Song O’Sixpence; Goosie, Goosie, Gander; Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater; Wee Willie Winkie) and imagery (Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet).
Nursery rhymes also introduce rich vocabulary. Jack and Jill introduces fetch, pail, crown and tumbling. These are probably not words that are used in everyday conversation so, just by sharing and talking about nursery rhymes, a child’s vocabulary is expanded.
Another key benefit of enjoying nursery rhymes with young children is the boost it will give to their phonemic awareness. We want young children to notice that words are made up of sounds. Hearing rhyming (diddle/fiddle, star/far, horn/corn) and alliteration (Boy blue, Grey Geese, Simple Simon, Tommy Tucker)
Prior to creating my own printable nursery rhymes, I often visited Webbing Into Literacy and used A Rhyme a Week.
The Storytime Standouts printable nursery rhymes can be used to create a nursery rhyme booklet and/or as learning activities.
Step 1 – Make sure you have Adobe Reader. If you don’t have it, please click on the ‘Get Adobe Reader’ button to install it for free. Step 2 – Pin this page, share this page or “Like” us on Facebook. Step 3 – Choose from any of our 250 free downloads, including these free printable nursery rhymes.
Hey Diddle Diddle
Traditional English nursery rhyme that includes repetition, rhyming and imagery.
Humpty Dumpty
Traditional English-language nursery rhyme. Usually includes an anthropomorphic (possessing human traits, emotions) egg.
Jack and Jill
Traditional English-language nursery rhyme. Includes alliteration and rhyming.
Little Boy Blue
Traditional English-language nursery rhyme featuring alliteration and rhyming.
Sing a Song of Mother Goose illustrated by Barbara Reid Nursery Rhyme Picture Book published by Scholastic Trade
If you are interested in nursery rhyme books, I can personally recommend Barbara Reid’s Sing a Song of Mother Goose. Ms Reid is renowned for her marvellous plasticine artwork. Sing a Song of Mother Goose features beautiful, bold illustrations of fourteen well-known nursery rhymes. A lovely gift for a new baby, it is available as a board book, paperback and in a hardcover gift edition.
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Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
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The Deep Cold River Story written by Tabatha Southey and illustrated by Sue Savor
a great book to share with a group. 
Storytime Standouts shares Spork, a picture book about diversity and individuality written by 
