Two Summer Books (and More) with Feelings!

As a former teacher of 38 years, I know summer is a time for educators to catch some much-needed R&R with family and friends. It is also a time to reflect on the past school year; what we thought went well and what changes we can make in the upcoming school year to improve student learning. I am always on the lookout for new books/materials to add to my lessons and recently came across two books that may interest you.

Newbery Medal award-winning children’s author Matt De La Pena has written a beautiful book about the many aspects of love. Along with the powerful illustrations by Loren Long, the book enables the reader to “feel” love. This would be a selection for students of a variety of ages to read together to explore the complexity of this feeling.

You can listen to an interesting audio interview here with both the author and illustrator. Along with the book, this interview could be used to initiate discussions with older students.

Caldecott Honor award winner Jillian Tamaki has created a book that explores colors through the eyes of a young girl throughout the seasons of the year. The illustrations are vibrant and will definitely create an awareness of colors in our world for our younger readers.

Following are two summer activities that may interest you as a follow-up to the above selections:

—1—

• Ask students to fold their papers in half and make two columns—character and setting—using the Character and Setting STAMPede icon stamps.
• Invite students to think about and then list who they love and where they feel love.
  
• Students could orally share or write about their choices and/or choose one from each column to illustrate. This activity has room for a great deal of variation and could be designed specifically for the needs of your students.
• The lists could also be nicely paired with the Six-Second Stories activity from Facilitating Relationships!—Autism Collection, Volume 3.

—2—

• Give students a choice of colored paper asking which color makes you think of love? Ask students to trace and cut out a large heart icon and draw/write their list choices on the heart.
• Or students could use the heart icon on white paper to do a watercolor blend (one of my favorite outdoor summer activities) using colors that make them think of love and then complete the activity in the same manner as above.

If you are looking for other books related to feelings, below is a bibliography that appeared in our blog series on Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch:

— Mr. Hatch Bibliography —

Also, if you are interested in reviewing books that Maryellen recommends for each developmental stage of the SGM^®, check out this list.

— Maryellen's Favorite Book List —

Whether you are an experienced SGM^® user or are new to our materials, there are many other resources available to you on our website.

— MindWing’s Website —
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