I'm really excited about my latest project. I worked on it all day Sunday, even though I had loads of laundry and lesson planning to do! But it was worth it. I made a book to teach kids the right and wrong ways to handle books.
This is not my idea. There is a famous book out there called Mr. Wiggle. Several teachers at my school have copies made from laminated construction paper with a cute little bear. I even think there is an actual published book out there, but it seems that it's out of print, and used copies are running $80 and up (yikes!). Anyway, making this book has been on my to-do list for years. So when I finally got around to doing it, I decided to update it a bit.
So here it is:
Just like in Mr. Wiggle, someone has been very naughty with this book and the forest friends are very sad! (Cheesy, huh?!)
Here someone scribbled with markers and crayons...
Here somebody drew a picture with a pencil...
Here somebody got mud on the page...
Here someone got juice and chocolate on the page...
Here someone glued on paper and stuck on stickers. And yes, that says snail when it's actually a caterpillar. I fixed it. (Thanks, Anh!)
And here somebody ripped a page...
But now all of the forest friends are happy again, because they know the kids are going to take good care of the books in their class (awww....)
When I'm done reading this book, we will make a T-chart of good/bad choices when it comes to handling books. Here it is, all ready for tomorrow.
I'm also going to make a bookmark that the kids can take home to remind them of how to properly care for books (I'll post it when I'm done).
You can download Forest Friends here:
I printed mine on cardstock and had it bound at Office Max for just a few dollars. You will have to do the scribbling and ripping yourself (it's kind of cathartic, although my friends inform me that I am not a very realistic scribbler). I used red watercolor for the juice and let it drip. I used brown tempera paint for the mud and chocolate.
I'm sure we will still have a few torn pages here and there, but I think the kids will be more invested in taking care of our library.
Have fun scribbling!
