Category: Jobs of a Preschooler

14 Children's Books About Teachers 14 Children’s Books About Teachers
Jobs of a Preschooler · Themed Books

14 Children’s Books About Teachers

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra charge to you if you click on a link and make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I greatly appreciate all purchases you make using these links. Thank you!)

A course I created entitled Who Are Community Helpers? was published earlier this year on SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Within the course, I had ten lessons about ten different community helpers.

One of the community helpers included was a teacher. Now that summer break is coming to an end and school is beginning again soon, I thought it would be fun to share a list of books about teachers.

Illustration from the book Jobs of a Preschooler

“I’m a teacher…” from Jobs of a Preschooler 

Many of these books were listed in the Who Are Community Helpers? course. None of them are about homeschooling teachers, though.

Books About Teachers

Most of the following books are books about teachers I was able to reserve from my local library.

A Letter to my Teacher by Deborah Hopkinson

A cute book written as one long letter from a student who is all grown up to her second grade teacher who was very patient and understanding and taught the then-reluctant student so much.

Because You are my Teacher by Sherry North

Simple rhyming text talks about all the ways a group of students could explore the world with their teacher if it were possible.

Diary of a Worm: Teacher’s Pet by Doreen Cronin

Worm doesn’t know what to get his teacher as a birthday gift. He writes a list of ideas and finally finds the perfect gift to present to her.

How to Get Your Teacher Ready by Jean Reagan 

Cute tips tell students how to help a teacher such as reminding her of no messy snacks on picture day and making sure her whistle works on field day.


Miss Brooks Loves Books! (And I Don’t) by Barbara Bottner

Miss Brooks isn’t a teacher by profession. She is a librarian, but she still teaches the kids at her school about her love of books. One student in particular thinks she will never like books until she discovers a book that fits her interests.

My Teacher by James Ransome

This fiction picture book is about a student talking about her teacher and all that her teacher does for the classroom and others.

My Teacher for President by Kay Winters 

I was unable to reserve this book at my local library, but it appears as though this book uses simple text to compare a teacher to a president.

What DO Teachers do (After YOU Leave School) by Anne Bowen

Rhyming text describes the adventures of teachers after the students leave school at the end of the day. Who knew teachers rode the slide, zipped through the hallways on skates, had colossal food fights, danced in their socks, made slime soup, and more after the students went home?

What Teachers Can’t Do by Douglas Wood

This book goes through many things a teacher can and can’t do such as not being able to spell “cat” even though they can spell words like “Mississippi” and “encyclopedia”. It ends by saying “teaching you” is what teachers do best.

More Books About Teachers

These books about teachers are great for a community helpers study that includes teachers.

Clive is a Teacher by Jessica Spanyol

Clive pretends to be a teacher and teaches his students.

I Can be a Teacher by Michou Franco

Simple text talks about what teachers do and ends with “I can be a teacher. So can you!”

Teacher by Ando Twin and Lucy M. George

This book talks about what a teacher does throughout her day and what her students get to experience. The teacher has a special guest join the class. An assistant helps the teacher throughout the day.

Teachers by Melanie Mitchell

This book talks about what teachers may do at a school throughout the day.

Teachers Help Us by Aaron R. Murray

Simple text talks about what teachers do.

What is your favorite book about teachers?

For more themed books, check out the following posts:

Hands-On Science: Raising Butterflies
Crafts and Projects · Jobs of a Preschooler · Ramblings

Hands-On Science: Raising Butterflies

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra charge to you if you click on a link and make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I greatly appreciate all purchases you make using these links. Thank you!)

A couple of months ago I mentioned how it can be fun to find butterflies and moths while out on a walk.

Today, I thought it would be fun to talk about a hands-on experience to teach your “little scientists” more about caterpillars and butterflies. Raising your own butterflies!

Jobs of a Preschooler- I'm a scientist...

I have used caterpillars purchased from Insect Lore twice now, and we have had positive results both times. (You can find more information about Insect Lore here if you are interested.)

If you do order through Insect Lore, you will receive a butterfly net (which you can use multiple times), a voucher code for caterpillars, and instructions. Once the caterpillars are ordered, they are shipped in the mail to your location. There may be an additional charge to receive the caterpillars.

The caterpillars arrive in a small cup with “food” on the bottom. They stay inside of the cup, eating and growing. Eventually, they form a chrysalis (moths form cocoons) on the top of the cup on an insert. Once all the caterpillars have turned into chrysalises (also known as chrysalides), you must carefully remove the insert and secure it to the top of the butterfly net with a safety pin.

Then, you wait until the painted lady butterflies emerge. Here you can see the insert hanging on the top of the net with some of the butterflies emerging.

butterflies emerging from chrysalis

Here is another picture taken after some of the butterflies have emerged.

butterflies emerging from chrysalis

The second time we did this, the butterflies laid (super tiny) eggs, and we had a bunch of teeny tiny caterpillars shortly after. Although this isn’t a great picture, all of those little lines are teeny tiny caterpillars.

teeny weeny caterpillars

When we were releasing the butterflies, one of them landed on my daughter’s finger.

painted lady butterfly

If interested, ask your local nature center if they offer some kind of a Monarch Butterfly program. You may be able to help tag butterflies, release butterflies, and possibly even take home a caterpillar to raise.

I have talked to some people who have raised monarch caterpillars and then released them as adults with tags. One book my daughters and I have enjoyed looking through that talks about raising monarchs is How to Raise Monarch Butterflies: A Step-by-Step Guide for Kids by Carol Pasternak.

More information about tagging monarch butterflies can also be found on Monarch Watch here.

I took the picture below at a monarch butterfly program my daughters and I attended. I enjoyed watching the caterpillars munching away at the milkweed.

monarch caterpillars on milkweed

What will you learn today?

 

Caterpillars, Butterflies, and Moths Nature Walk: How Many Butterflies and Moths?
Jobs of a Preschooler · Ramblings · Themed Books

Nature Walk: How Many Butterflies and Moths?

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra charge to you if you click on a link and make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I greatly appreciate all purchases you make using these links. Thank you!)

I had mentioned in a previous post that your little ones can be scientists by taking a nature walk to make some fun discoveries. I have talked about finding tracks, nests, and interesting creatures before. Today, I thought it would be fun to search for butterflies and moths.

Although I am definitely not a lepidopterist (a person who studies moths or butterflies), there are some books that provide details about moths and butterflies.

Books about Moths and Butterflies

Butterflies and Moths: Explore Nature with Fun Facts and Activities by DK
Butterfly or Moth?: How Do You Know by Melissa Stewart
Butterflies and Moths by David Carter

Moth and Butterfly Search

Typically, moths have fat feathery antennae, and butterflies have slender antennae with “balls” at the tips. Butterflies are often found during the day, whereas moths often prefer nights. Butterflies make chrysalises, and moths make cocoons.

This is a picture of a monarch butterfly we found on a trail we were walking on one day. Did you know you can tell a male and female monarch butterfly apart by looking at the markings on the wings when they are open? The males have black spots, and the females don’t.

These caterpillars shown on the milkweed plants are not technically butterflies (yet), but it is fun to see the different stages of a butterfly. Did you know monarch caterpillars can only eat milkweed plants?

monarch caterpillars on milkweed

I took the caterpillar picture at a monarch butterfly event we attended. Families were allowed to take home a caterpillar to raise and later release.

The book How to Raise Monarch Butterflies by Carol Pasternak is a great resource if you would like to raise your own monarch butterflies.

Some nature centers allow visitors to help tag monarch butterflies. The small tags help track monarchs during their long migration. More information about monarch tagging can be found on Monarch Watch.

I think this is an eastern tiger swallowtail. We were walking and saw it along the side of a road.

If you know what this guy is, please let me know.

A moth, a beetle, and a fly all flew on to a tree…

butterfly, beetle, and fly

…and then I took a picture.

Speaking of butterflies and flies, another book to check out is I, Fly by Bridget Heos about a fly that feels underappreciated. He thinks butterflies get too much attention, so he attempts to enlighten a classroom full of kids about flies. Readers learn quite a few facts about flies through the fly’s humorous discussion.

How many butterflies and moths can you find on your next nature walk?

Here are some more posts you may be interested in reading:

Nature Walk: Whose Tracks Are These?

Nature Walk: Where Will You Find a Nest?

14 Children’s Books About Flowers

14 Children’s Books About Seeds, Plants, and Gardening

Simple Eggsperiment to try this Easter Easter Eggsperiment and Projects
Jobs of a Preschooler · Writing Appearances

Easter Eggsperiment and Projects

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

It can be a lot of fun celebrating holidays! Will you be celebrating Easter in just a few weeks?

If so, you may enjoy 2 simple Easter egg painting projects my daughters and I did together, which I wrote about and had published on Hands On As We Grow.

Easter Project with Painted Eggs and Paper

It took a little bit of trial and error to figure out exactly how we wanted to do the projects, but we had a lot of fun and the results were beautiful.

You may also enjoy doing an Easter Eggsperiment.

My daughters and I have enjoyed doing science experiments, and I think the floating egg experiment is the perfect science experiment for Easter.

Jobs of a Preschooler- I'm a scientist...

“I’m a scientist…” from the book Jobs of a Preschooler.

This eggsperiment causes eggs to rise in water and float, which reminds me of Jesus rising from the dead- the reason Christians celebrate Easter to begin with.

If you would like to do an Easter Eggsperiment, gather the following supplies:

  • tall clear glass
  • 1 egg
  • salt
  • water
  • spoon
  • measuring cups
  • measuring teaspoon

Once you have your supplies, follow these steps:

  • Fill glass with 1 1/2 cups cold water.
  • Put egg in glass.
  • Notice what happens to the egg. It should sink to the bottom of the glass. The egg is denser than the fresh water, so it sinks. But how do you make the egg rise?

Can you make the egg float?

  • Take the egg out of the glass.
  • Add 1 tsp salt.
  • Stir until dissolved.
  • Put egg back in glass.
  • Notice what happens to the egg. Did it rise at all?
  • Follow the same steps: take egg out of glass, add 1 tsp salt, put egg back in glass, and notice what happens to the egg 1 tsp of salt at at a time until the egg is floating.

But, why does the egg float when the salt is added?

Salt water is more dense than fresh water. As you add salt, you will notice the egg will begin to rise because the water is becoming denser than the egg. The egg becomes buoyant.

You can check out this 3 1/2 minute video for kids that explains buoyancy and what makes things float for an extended explanation. (From 2:16-2:22, it does show a simple drawing of Archimedes from the back running naked.)

We decided to take the experiment further and  tried two different kinds of salt-iodized salt and regular salt- in two separate glasses.

Here are our results after adding 4 tsp of salt to each glass.

Making an Egg Float in Water

It was interesting to us that it required more to get the egg in the iodized salt to rise.  Here are our results after adding 7 tsp of salt to each glass.

Making an Egg Float in Water

Will you try this eggsperiment at home?

 

Check out these posts for more simple science fun at home:

 

10 Cookbooks for kids 10 Cookbooks for Kids
Jobs of a Preschooler · Pickles, Pickles, I Like Pickles · Ramblings

10 Cookbooks for Kids

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra charge to you if you click on a link and make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I greatly appreciate all purchases you make using these links. Thank you!)

Does your family have a favorite TV show you watch together?

My family enjoys watching MasterChef Junior, and I have been trying to find out when the new season will premiere. A while back, I had read it was going to start on February 26th this year.

But it didn’t.

Now, it appears it should be starting again on March 12th. I guess we will see if that date is correct. It is amazing to watch children between the ages of eight and thirteen create such elegant dishes. Especially when they use ingredients I don’t even recognize!

I enjoy watching how the kids often band together and encourage one another even though they are competing against each other. They are still competitive, but they are also compassionate.

Sometimes, I wish I could taste test the dishes the contestants have created. Other times, not so much.

from book Jobs of a Preschooler...preschooler being a taste tester

Be a taste tester like the girl in the book Jobs of a Preschooler.

I don’t think I could handle the challenging task of being a judge. The emotions of the kids when they are eliminated can be quite heartbreaking, and I don’t think I would want that responsibility.

My daughters and I do enjoy baking and creating foods together, and it is not uncommon to hear my daughters discussing with one another whether or not our food dishes are “MasterChef worthy”.

Typically they are not. And when they might be, it is probably because we found a good recipe to follow step-by-step and didn’t mess up.

If you have ever seen the show, you may know a Mystery Box Challenge is when the contestants have a large crate they can not see through in front of them flipped upside down. When the contestants are given permission, they lift the crate to discover an assortment of ingredients they use to make a dish.

A few years ago, we celebrated the start of the MasterChef Junior season with our own Mystery Box Challenge. My girls were nervous as they lifted the crate because they had no idea what I was going to have them create.

I think they were pleasantly surprised when they lifted the lid and found vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, M&Ms, cookies, chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, saltine crackers, nuts, and a few other items that could be used as toppings on ice cream.

So, it wasn’t a true Mystery Box Challenge. I didn’t have them cook or bake anything, and I didn’t taste test either of their creations.  But we still had fun.

From book Jobs of a Preschooler...Preschooler being a chef

Be a chef like the girl in the book Jobs of a Preschooler.

This is a picture of one of their creations. It had vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, marshmallows, M&Ms, and broken cream filled cookies mixed together.

ice cream creation

Unfortunately, I can’t find the picture of my other daughter’s creation. I personally would have prefered vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, and crushed saltine crackers mixed together.

Yes, crushed saltine crackers in my ice cream. It’s tasty!

No pickles, though.

from Pickles, Pickles, I Like Pickles book

Illustration from Pickles, Pickles, I Like Pickles

When I celebrated National Pickle Day, I had one student tell me he likes olives in his ice cream when I gave him a coloring page for the picture above. I’m kind of curious if he really does.

Cookbooks for Kids

If you have a little chef at home who would like to do some cooking, you may want to check out some of these cookbooks for kids.

The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs
Kid Chef Junior: My First Kids’ Cookbook by Anjali Shah
Kid Chef Every Day: The Easy Cookbook for Foodie Kids by Colleen Kennedy
The Usborne Internet-Linked Children’s World Cookbook
Cooking Class: 57 Fun Recipes Kids Will Love to Make (and Eat) by Deanna F. Cook
The Cookbook for Kids: Great Recipes for Kids Who Love to Cook by Lisa Atwood
Super Simple Baking for Kids: Learn to Bake with Over 55 Easy Recipes for Cookies, Muffins, Cupcakes, and More by Charity Mathews
Complete Children’s Cookbook: Delicious Step-by-Step Recipes for Young Cooks
MasterChef Junior Cookbook
The Science Chef: 100 Fun Food Experiments and Recipes for Kids by Joan D’Amico and Karen E. Drummond

This is an older book (c 1994), but my daughters and I (along with a few friends) enjoyed bringing science into the kitchen with the included experiments and recipes. Along with the experiments and recipes to try at home, The Science Chef explains different kitchen tools, measuring techniques, stovetop cooking terms, and safety rules. It also defines various cooking skills such as the difference between chopping, dicing, mincing, and slicing. Perfect for the little scientist who also likes to cook!

What is your favorite recipe?

Check out these posts for more fun with food.