*Picture book, realistic fiction for preschoolers through second graders
*Young girl as main character
*Rating: I absolutely love this sweet book In Grandma’s Arms. You can use it for so many lessons, too.
Short, short summary: In this story, a young girl is sitting on her grandma’s lap in the Storybook Chair, and she says, “We can do anything–, We can go anywhere.” Then she and her grandma have several magical adventures through the pages of a book, including flying on clouds of pink cotton, leaping on a comet, and visiting with a dragon. In the end, she grows drowsy and has sweet dreams.
So, what do I do with this book?
1. This is a wonderful book to read to students before teaching or talking about the six plus one traits of writing, IDEAS. Where do authors get their ideas? What kind of ideas do they have? Where is the little girl getting all of these wonderful adventures she is having? Why are these potato ideas (ideas you have to dig for)? This is a perfect book to use with young writers in kindergarten and first grade when teaching a six plus one traits of writing lesson on IDEAS.
2. Children will want to share their favorite stories–books and grandparent stories. Allow children to draw pictures of their grandparents and share stories about them. Take a poll of students’ favorite fairy tales or books.
3. This is also a terrific book to talk about verbs or action words with students or your children if you homeschool. In Grandma’s Arms has several strong verbs such as: fly, float, leap, and zoom.
I would also like to draw your attention to another WONDERFUL blog that I hope you will all check out and subscribe to. It is about using picture books in the classroom; and recently, he did a huge post on Civil War picture books and using picture books in high school classrooms. You don’ t want to miss this site if you love picture books. Here’s the link: http://teachwithpicturebooks.blogspot.com/