Children's Books on the iPad

A kindergarten lesson often has a book to accompany it, so a search on iTunes commenced to look for free children's books. I am a printmaker/bookmaker, so my love for books runs hardcore, but I liked this experience of using an e-book for a few reasons.  First, I like that the students have some ownership of the experience.  Flipping pages, pace, and listening to it over again was in their control.  Next, the book was interactive.  It asked the students to participate in the story.  They painted the dog's paw prints and found the frog under the leaves.  Finally, there is a management advantage.  My classes run back to back with no minutes in between.  I needed to get paint poured and had no time during my previous classes.  While students sat in groups of two or three listening to the book I was able to get paint ready so there was no wasted time.  A huge bonus during a 40 minute class!  While getting all the colors ready, I noticed the kindergarten students really experienced joy while listening and interacting with the book.  Teacher and students were happy!

Once students were finished with the book and materials were ready, we regrouped on the carpet and talked about the story.  At the end of the book there is a rainbow and this flowed into our lesson of painting a ROYGBV rainbow.  Next class students practiced cutting zig-zag and curvy lines from great worksheets I found on Pinterest and then cut out and glued their rainbow lines to black paper.  My first class drew the lines themselves, and while the results were much more unique, many students struggled because their self drawn lines where to intricate to cut out themselves.  For the second day, I drew curvy and zig-zag lines on the back of the paper and students felt much more confident about their cutting skills.  Check out our results on Artsonia!

What e-books have you found or do you use?!?!?!

Kindergarten read Stella and Sam Rainy Days and Rainbows

 

I drew curvy and zig-zags lines on the back.

Students drew their own curvy and zig-zag lines.