Story Stretchers: Activities to Expand Children's Favorite Books

Rating:
Summary: Literature Based Curriculum
Review: I was introduced to this book in a Preschool Literature Class I'm taking. A friend has one...and I had to buy it too! There are lots of great ideas in all curriculum areas all based on a book. And several books fit under one theme or topic. What a wonderful resource for teachers who like to teach from literature!

Rating:
Summary: great for teachers and caregivers, less valuable for parents
Review: Organized around eighteen themes, with five books featured for each, this resource is a valuable aid primarily geared toward the classroom teacher or daycare worker rather than a parent. With a nice selection of 90 well-regarded books, each is devoted two pages and features a picture of the book's cover, a short description of the content, Circle Time presentation ideas, five story stretchers well marked in bold (Art, Snack Time, Math, Music, Science and Nature Center, Library Corner, etc.) with a learning objective, materials list, and instructions. At the end of each chapter are the complete citations for the five featured books as well as a list of additional books related to the theme.

An example of the content: the first theme is Families, and the five featured books are 'A Baby Sister for Frances', 'Me Too!', 'Whose Mouse Are You?', 'Five Minutes' Peace', and 'Titch'. For 'Titch', story stretcher activities are: decorating t-shirts; listening to a tape of the story and turning the pages; counting to three; watching plants grow; making a pinwheel. Other themes include Friendship, Feelings, Colors, Counting, and Transportation.

As someone interested in homeschooling one child, I found that quite a few of these activities were inappropriate for me, but some were adaptable and others were as applicable to one child as to many.

An appendix instructs one in binding a book, constructing a rebus chart and making art dough. Separate indices list authors and illustrators; book titles (both featured and recommended); activities organized by type; and terms (objects, concepts and techniques used in the activities).

Strengths: nice book selection; well-organized and presented.

Weaknesses: activities are not consistently relevant or creative; no information is given about appropriate age or reading levels for the books or activities.

Overall, I would say this is a valuable resource, particularly if you are working with a group of children and don't have the time or the knack for coming up with ideas of your own to expand on reading material.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful way to enjoy stories with your students!
Review: Story stretchers help prolong children's favorite books by offering many activities that correspond with each story. The stories are grouped by theme, so it is easy to find books for your weekly theme. Not only are there featured books for each theme, but the authors have listed other books that will work with your theme, too. Story stretchers makes it easy to turn one short story into a whole days worth of fun activities that incorporate all curriculum areas (math, art, music & movement, etc.).