The Gruffalo's Child!

The children were very excited when they knew that we were going to read this wonderful book!

One snowy night when the Gruffalo snored
The Gruffalo's Child was feeling bored.
The Gruffalo's Child was feeling brave
So she tiptoed out of the gruffalo cave . . .

There was some discussion about the story before we began:

Ember - "The Gruffalo's Child has got some snow. There's going to be a shadow and the little mouse is going behind the tree"

Oliver S - "We've got The Gruffalo's Child on our telly"

Milena - "The Gruffalo has whiskers!"

Evan W - "Where's his house?"

Georgia - "The wood is where the Gruffalo lives"

After we had read the story, the children thought about their favourite characters . . . 

Maisy - "I like just the mouse - because the mouse doesn't like the Gruffalo, he's scared. The mouse was brave and the Gruffalo was scared"

Alisha - "I liked the Gruffalo's Child because she was smiling. The Gruffalo was in the cave"

Jessica - "The owl - because he taked the mouse in the tree-top house"

The children loved exploring the magnetic pieces to re-create the story . . .

And it was lots of fun listening to the sound effects when we re-read the story in our sound book!

Jessica - "I liked the owl - because he Toowhood!"

Jack - "I liked the snake"

Evan W - "I liked the wind cause it blowed very hard"

Milena - "I liked the the bad mouse because he was big and scary"

Harley - "He's not a bad mouse, he's a nice one!"

Oliver PS - "I liked the fox"

Violet - "I liked the little mouse cause he had a big friend!"

The Gruffalo's Child won the W.H Smith Children's Book of the Year award at the 2005 British Book Awards. It was also short listed for the Red House Children's Book Award.

We have loved all of the Julia Donaldson books that we have read. 

Which one has been your favourite?

 

The Gruffalo!

This was already a familiar and very popular book with a lot of the children!

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood.
A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.

Ember - "I've got that book at home! It's a little bit smaller, but it's the same one"

Ava - "I've got a Gruffalo book at home and you press the buttons, they make a noise!"

As we read the story, several children enjoyed joining in with the repetitive text and some of them made predictions about 

what was going to happen next . . . 

Lexie-Mai - "Gruffalo will be dangerous"

Felicity - "I know what it is - it's a snake!"

Alisha - "I think it's an owl"

Bethan, Alisha, Georgia and Noah were very good at remembering what the Gruffalo's favourite food was each time!

We thought about our favourite characters . . .

Alisha - "I liked the Gruffalo - he has purple prickles all over his back"

Gethin - "I liked the mouse - cause he's smiling!"

Harley - "I liked the fox - cause he was smiling and I liked the owl - cause he's floating away from the Gruffalo"

Our Gruffalo and Mouse enjoyed sharing the book together - which do you think was their favourite part?

We were all very excited when we had a very special visitor . . . 

                   

A huge 'thank you' to Noah and his family for bringing in their wonderful friend - he has been very well behaved during his time in Nursery!

Night Monkey Day Monkey!

This lovely story made us laugh!

"Hey!" said Day Monkey. "There's a banana! How can it manage to fly?"
Night Monkey laughed and said, "Don't be daft, that banana's the moon in the sky"

Night Monkey and Day Monkey's worlds are as different as . . .  night and day! But in laughing at each other's misunderstandings they learn to be the best of friends.

Here are a few examples of what the nursery children said about the book . . .

Violet - "I liked the bit when he said 'Can't get me!"

Ruby - "I liked the butterflies when they had make-up on"

Alfie - "I liked the Dark Monkey I did - cause he couldn't swing like the Day Monkey - he was hanging with one arm"

Evan W - "I like it when Monkey woke up in the night"

Jacob - "The monkey eat the bananas!"

Archie - "I liked the frogs!"

Maisy - "I liked the Day Monkey and the Night Monkey, I liked both and they shared the bananas at the end"

Click on here to listen to the story being read by Christopher Eccleston! (listen to story) 

Excellent Elmer!!!

James has been a superstar in helping us find more David McKee books to read. James visited the library and brought us in 'Elmer and The Big Bird'.
Willow class loved hearing how Elmer defeated the big bully bird.
If you like Elmer you can watch the original Elmer story here by clicking the video below.

Anytime Tales - Elmer

Take a look at what Nursery have been reading . . . .

This term we have been having so much fun sharing some wonderful books written by Julia Donaldson!

We started off with 'Monkey Puzzle' 

"I've lost my mum!"
"Hush, little monkey, don't you cry,
I'll help you find her" said Butterfly.

This is what some of the children liked about the story . . . 

Ember - "The animals - the snake - because I got a toy snake at home"

Maisy - "The butterfly - that's the mummy. Monkeys - there was mummy and daddy and baby"

Noah - "At the end when they found the mummy - and the monkey got happy again"

Alfie - "When he found his daddy - when he found the caterpillars"

We all loved watching and listening to 'Where's My Mom?'! (YouTube)  - Lottie and Alyssa particularly enjoyed swaying from side to side in time to the music!

Ruby - "They found her mum!"

Thomas H - "There's some flies in the spider web!"

Oliver PS - "There's a crocodile!"

Felicity - "That was lovely - I loved it - I loved the part when he was looking for his mummy"

Harley - "Then he saw his dad. There was a butterfly and a bat and a snake on there"

Georgia - "I liked the butterfly - I liked all of it"

Gethin - "I liked the snake"

Ava - "I liked the daddy monkey - because he founded his little monkey!"

Next we moved on to 'The Rhyming Rabbit'

Poor old Rhyming Rabbit is feeling lonely and left out. None of his fellow rabbits appreciate his carefully thought-out poems. And as for the other woodland animals? They just tell him to be quiet! Then one starry night he meets someone who shares his enthusiasm for poetry . . . 

This is what some of the children thought about the story . . . 

Lottie - "I liked the fox!"

Ember - "I liked the rabbit talking to the mole - because the mole didn't like the poem"

Alfie - "Worms don't have ears!"

Artan - "I like the worm"

Harley - "Where's the fox? I think he runned away"

Oliver E - "I liked it when the sheep made a poem"

What do you think Ember has used to create her wonderful fox?

Have you read 'What the Ladybird Heard'?

Two crafty robbers, one tiny ladybird and a whole farmyard of fun! Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len have a cunning plan to steal the farmer's prize cow. But they reckon without the tiniest, quietest creature of all: she has a plan of her own.

Alfie - "My sister used to have that one! I think they may have to say 'Shoo, shoo, shoo!'"

"I likeded the one when they sploshed into the water"

Thomas M - "I can find the Ladybird!"

"They've swappeded over the noise"

Maisy - "I liked the horsey - because it goes neigh!"

Ember - "I liked the people splashing in the pond!"

We loved joining in with the song! (What the Ladybird Heard)

Alisha - "I liked the cats! I liked the orange one"

Archie - "I liked the piggy"

Felicity - "It was about somebody took the prize cow"

Can you count how many spots Violet has painted on her fabulous Ladybird?

Our next book was a little bit different - it was a lift-the-flap book!

Rabbit's Nap

Rabbit's feeling sleepy. She curls up in a chair. Tap tap! Who's there? Oh dear, it's Builder Bear.

And then there's the band of mice, the wood-chopping fox and the bell on Hedgehog's bicycle - will Rabbit ever doze off?

We enjoyed this one too . . . 

Oliver PS - "About the rabbit sleeping - snoring!"

Gethin - "The fox - chop wood - chop chop!"

Georgia - "I liked the tortoise riding the bike"

Oliver E - "I liked it when Builder Bear woke Bunny up!"

Archie - "About chopping the wood up - the fox"

Bethan - "The fox - because he was chopping the wood"

Alisha - "I liked the rabbit - she tried under the tree, she tried in the bed - that was right!"

Which is your favourite character from this story?

Willow Class are enjoying Elmer!

Yesterday we read another David McKee story - 'Elmer in the Snow'.
We loved watching the elephants playing and our favourite part was when Elmer threw snowballs at the other elephants.
Miss Quinn asked the children to look at home and bring in any other Elmer stories that they had, so we could share them with the class.
James was a star and remembered. Today he brought in 'Elmer and the Rainbow', we loved reading all about how Elmer helped the rainbow to get his colours back. Thank you James!

If you have an Elmer book - bring it to school (with your name inside) and we can enjoy some more Elmer adventures together!

Poor Bernard!

Willow class have loved listening to the
'Not Now Bernard' story by David Mckee!


Poor Bernard was gobbled up by a monster and his Mummy and Daddy were too busy to notice! Ask your child what their favorite part of the story was!

Most of them told me it was when Bernard got gobbled up!
 We talked about monsters being 'fictional'. Maybe Your child could draw a new monster for the Bernard story. Have a look at these monster colouring sheets, you could choose one of these or it might give you ideas for your own!


Monster colouring sheets.

This week Willow Class looked at the Story of 'The Two Monsters'.

Willow class are really enjoying David McKee books. This week we read the story of 'The Two Monsters'. All the children in Willow thought it was funny.

Their favourite part was when the monsters had a big fight and threw rocks and called each other names.

We were glad the monsters made friends in the end.

Have you read any David McKee books?

Let us know by writing to us on here!

Welcome to the Early Years Book Blog!

We love books at Greenfields so we have decided to share our favorite books with you at home!
Every term each class will have a focus author. 
During the Autumn term Willow class are looking at David McKee, Nursery are looking at Julia Donaldson and Rowan class are focusing on Valerie Thomas. 
The books we are looking at are displayed on the above bookshelf! Please feel free to add comments about the books.