Ask a class of kindergartners who have listened to at LEAST 2 books on the senses every day this week to review Senses in the City by Shelley Rotner and what do you expect? Senses overload? Not with this title.
Rebecca Soto added this new title from Millbrook Press (a division of Lerner Publishing) to her read-alouds this week. What was the verdict? They loved it. Hmm? I think that’s understating the response as they called me DURING my lunch thirty minutes to scream into the phone what they thought. Then two boys brought the book back to tell me that "they really loved" this book.
I collected their responses and this is what the class told me:
This was our favorite book of the whole entire week.
This was the best senses book.
We really like the page with the tall building that says "See the tall buildings." You have to turn the book sideways and the building is so tall it goes off the page.
The teacher told me the page "Smell the garbage on pickup day" was also a BIG favorite. The class had just discussed trash pickup so every child could enthusiastically talk about the smell of garbage.
<Note for Mrs. Chen, remember to read I Stink! to this class and sing Oscar the Grouch’s song I" Love Trash." Good thing I still have my Sesame Street Songbook from the 70′s!>
We liked it so much that we read it in the hallway while we were walking and he (eagerly pointing a finger) ran into Ms Glover’s class.
Ms Soto felt our students could relate to the setting of this title even though Nashville isn’t as large as cities like Chicago and New York. Shee wondered if students from more rural areas who have never been to a city would relate as well. If you have never been in a tall building with an elevator, does touching the buttons mean as much? Yes, you big city folks, there are children who have never been to the city nearest them. I can probably remember every single elevator ride I took up through 4th grade.
In response to reading this, Ms Soto’s class is now writing their own Senses at Hickman Elementary book complete with photographs. She’ll search the permission slips to see who is allowed to be photographed and shared with the media, and then we’ll see if I can share some of their work here.
While you are waiting, you should go get your orders in for copies of this book because it will be a favorite everywhere. Shelley Rotner, will you be creating Senses in the Suburbs or Senses in Rural Areas next? We’d be able to hit those standards with an entire set! Oh, wait! I went to the Lerner Publishing website (which has a faulty search engine. GRRRRR!) and was able to find Shelley Rotner’s Early Childhood Library which includes a title Senses at the Seashore. Ooooo, gotta go add that to my next order. I wish I had it right now. Then you could SEE ME BEAM when I am able to take a brand new book to the class who asked for it.
Recent Comments