Read Across America Day - 2026 - Bedminster School Kindergarten - An Unusual Day at School!

 

The "Cat in the Hat" came to Bedminster School to read to the kindergarten classes at Bedminster School to celebrate Read Across America on Dr. Seuss's birthday. 

Read: The Wrong Side of the Bed by Wallace E. Keller. Opened by asking what does it mean to say that you woke up "on the wrong side of the bed," then read this splendid story of a day that went completely upside down! (Also discussed gravity.)

Shared the poem "Eight-oh-Three" about racing for the school bus from the collection Lunch Money & Other Poems about School by Carol Diggory Shields.

Sang (with props): By the Way by Joe Scruggs - lyrics here  (video with tune here)

Read: Just Another Ordinary Day by Rod Clement. Read the first two pages without showing the pictures, then showed them so the children could see that Amanda's ordinary day has her riding to school with a Tyrannosaurus rex, having lunch with an alien, sailing a pirate ship at library, and riding home on an elephant!

Got the wiggles out by reading and acting out: Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood

And looking toward their futures, read: Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama - sharing this inspiring tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans whose the ideals that have shaped our nation - from the artistry of Georgia O'Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington.

(I was reading to three classes but if the group had been smaller and I'd had more time, I would have loved to follow this up with a discussion of what these kindergarteners would want to do for the world when they grew up).

Closed with the poem "Clock-Watching" from Lunch Money & Other Poems about the agonizing slow clock movement - with the surprise twist that it is the TEACHER waiting for the school day to end!

Sang "The Wheels on the Bus" as the kids lined up to leave.

More ideas here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search?q=school+daze

Bedm 3/2/2026 25 minute time slog

Read Across America - 2022 - Books and Dreams - 4th grade

 

Read: More Than Anything Else by Marie Bradley (A fictionalized story about the life of young Booker T. Washington. Living in a West Virginia settlement after emancipation, nine-year-old Booker travels by lantern light to the salt works, where he labors from dawn till dusk. Although his stomach rumbles, his real hunger is his intense desire to learn to read. - Booker (great name, kids noticed!) was born into slavery, freed at age 9 with the end of the Civil War, age 16 walked 500 miles (equivalent of distance from Bedminster to Washington DC & back!)  to go to high school at Hampton Institute, later became a teacher and founder of the Tuskegee Normal School (a college for teachers) which later became Tuskegee University.)

Read: The Pink Refrigerator by Tim Egan (Dodsworth does as little work as he can, collecting items from a junkyard and placing them in his thrift store for sale, until he happens upon a pink refrigerator that spurs him to do much more with his life.)

Read: Appelemando's Dreams by Patricia Polacco (with the war raging in Ukraine, I wanted to share this book on the power of dreams from the renowned Ukrainian/Russian author illustrator Patricia Polacco. Also discussed how this author/illustrator of over 50 books had dyslexia and felt "stupid" as a child because she couldn't read didn't learn to read herself until 5th grade when a teacher figured out how to help her, a story she tells in her book, Thank You Mr. Falker. Urged the 4th graders to look for Ms. Polacco's books at the library because, though they are in the E/Picture Book section, they have long texts and are geared much more toward older students like them.)

Read: Imagine a Place words by Sarah L. Thomson ; paintings by Rob Gonsalves (Mind-blowing illustrations accompany poems that urge the reader to think beyond the ordinary - the same author/illustrator pair created Imagine a Day and Imagine a Night.)

Read: Sector 7 – David Wiesner (visual storytelling -- telling a story without words. Wiesner is an author/illustrator local boy, grew up in Bridgewater NJ, Caldecott Medal winner, fun wordless fantasy of a boy who goes on an adventure with a cloud and makes quite a stir at the cloud factory.  Did you know there really is a cloud machine? Here’s a video.)  – mentioned they can find this and other books by this talented illustrator  in the Picture Book section. 

Read: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce (and a 2011 Short Film) -- view here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3yrl25 This is the story of a man and a magical library of flying books, and most of all, the power of stories in our lives. The film was awarded the Best Animated Short Film at the 84th Academy Awards. 

Read: If… by Sarah Perry (Imagine if cats could fly, leaves were fish, mice were hair, caterpillars were toothpaste, toes were teeth, or frogs ate rainbows…then imagine what else you can imagine!)  

No time for:

The Book of Gold by Bob Staake  (Isaac Gutenberg isn't a curious boy . . . that is, until he meets an old shopkeeper who tells him about The Book of Gold. This special book, hidden somewhere in the world, holds all the answers to every question and turns to solid gold when opened….)

Library Lil – Suzanne Williams (a librarian with superhero strength revitalizes the towns library even convincing the head of the town’s motorcycle gang to become an avid reader)

Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair by Patricia Polacco (A town has forgotten to read since the invasion of television...)

2022 Bedm, 4th grade Ms. Carlin's class

More ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Books%20%26%20Reading

https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Creativity

School Age Storytime–Imagine the Possibilities!

Read Across America Day 2021 - Bedminster School Kindergarten

 

Opened by mentioning that this has been a year with a lot of changes, then shared the book Changes by Anthony Browne encouraging them to notice all the strange things in the pictures!  (You can hear me read this book again here and visit  https://tinyurl.com/Storytime-with-Carol for more of my read-alouds.) 

 Then followed up with Joanne Ryder's book EarthDance and encouraged kids to get up and move with the book as well.

Mentioned I also have created a compilation of fun family sites for at-home reading & learning at: https://tinyurl.com/familylearningideas​.

School Age Storytime: Look Again–Art, Artists, and Imagination

K-2nd Grade Storytime utilizing the new Keith Haring picture book biography and encouraging kids to embrace art and creativity in themselves and all around.

Opened by sharing Here a Face, There a Face by Arlene Alda (photographs of “found faces” in buildings and objects – book opens with a tribute to John Lennon’s “Imagine”)

Asked if anyone had ever played the drawing game – taking turns adding lines to each other’s drawing – a game Keith Haring played with his father.)

Read: Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing by Kay Haring (Keith’s brother)  (Inspiring picture book biography of this generous-hearted artist who created art often in unused or ugly public spaces – suggested teachers might want to get mural paper and have kids do something similar.)

Read: Changes by Anthony Browne (The objects in a boy’s house morph around him in this intriguing book that pays homage to surrealism…)

Dinner at Magritte’s by Michael Garland(great lead in to the art of Rene Magritte – can share pages from Now You See It—Now You Don’t: Rene Magritte (J759.9493 WEN), The Mad, Mad, World of Salvador Dali (759.6 WEN) both by Angela Wenzel, Salvador Dali and the Surrealists – their life & ideas + 21 activities by Michael Ross (J759.6 ROS) and/or Google: “Rene Magritte paintings” and “Salvador Dali paintings”.)

Mentioned  life-like statues of J. Seward Johnson – many available to view at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton NJ – an incredible place to visit.

Action break inspired by stone parents in above book – “statues” game aka “freeze dance” – sing or play tunes as students dance, then stop the music and “freeze”

Another incredibly imaginative artist M.C.Escher “Ascending and Descending” and “Relativity” (above) inspired:

Read: Palazzo Inverso by D.B. Johnson (book imagines “master’s” apprentice changing the drawing simply by turning it around – book goes forward then returns backwards (upside down) to the place where it starts!) – also have the kids notice the fish/bird end-papers.

Return to Keith Haring who famously said “It’s your job to decide [what my pictures mean]. I only do the drawing!’  Show his pictures from: Keith Haring: I Wish I Didn’t Have to Sleep (J 709.2 HAR), read excerpts and have kids supply their own interpretations.

Finish with:

 

 

Book: If… by Sarah Perry (imagine if cats could fly, leaves were fish, mice were hair, caterpillars were toothpaste, toes were teeth, or frogs ate rainbows…ends with “If this is the end…then dream up some more! – encouraged kids to create their own book of imaginative ideas!) 

Related programs:

http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2014/03/picture-this-keith-haring-characters-at.html
http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/08/picture-this-art-exploration-for-kids.html
http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2016/05/school-age-storytimeimagine.html

Related books:

Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Illusion by Al Seckel
Imagine a Place (also Day, Night) by Sarah Thompson, Art by Rob Gonsalves

Bedm 1/2/17

School Age Storytime: Stepping Out (of Your Comfort Zone)

A K-4 storytime celebrating curiosity and a willingness to try new things -- with a nod to books and reading, the beauty of this country and the world around us, and the power of possibilities....

The Book of Gold by Bob Staake Isaac Gutenberg isn’t interested in anything, until an old bookseller tells him the legend of a book of gold which contains answers to everything and, when opened, turns into solid gold.  Eager for riches, he opens every book he finds – and gradually starts reading what is inside…he’ll need patience and fortitude…and eventually finds them both at the NY Public Library.

On this Spot: An Expedition Back Through Time by Susan E. Goodman (J974.71 GOO)  (Non-Fiction – uncommon core!) --  A brilliant tour-de-force tracing NYC from the present back in time 540 million years…lots of mathematical comparisons (e.g.if all the 8 million people in NYC today were laid end to end would reach to California and back, 350 years ago New Amsterdam had 1500 people = about the population of 3 schools today), fascinating historical trivia (e.g. pigs and chickens roamed NYC streets 175 years ago, the Lenape path to winter grounds is now today’s Broadway) and scientific information (the rise and fall of mammoths, ice age glaciers*, dinosaurs, lakes, mountains, and seas).   Text is long so I point out highlights.)  *mentioned our gorgeous local Buck Garden was carved by a mile high glacier.

This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie, Paintings by Kathy Jakobsen (J782.42 GUT)

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein (also DVD)-- The Caldecott-winning evocation of Phillippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk between the world trade towers.

The Pink Refrigerator by Tim Egan  -- Dodsworth leads a very dull life until a rusty old refrigerator filled with different supplies each day opens his eyes to amazing new possibilities.

See also:

http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2014/10/school-age-storytime-on-this-spot-new.html 

http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2016/05/school-age-storytimeimagine.html

http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/school-age-storytime-earth-day-heroes.html

 

Bedm 10/2017

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~ Anne Frank (1929-1945)

“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” ~ Helen Keller

"The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day." ~ Gloria Steinem

"I figure if a girl wants to be a legend, she should go ahead and be one."~ Calamity Jane (1852-1903), American frontierswoman

School Age Storytime “Mothers of Invention”

 

A K-3 storytime emphasizing pioneering women inventors and the challenges they faced. Opened with a discussion of the phrase “Necessity is the mother of invention”

In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps it Up by Monica Kulling – the story of the 19th century “Lady Edison” (also discussed NJ’s own Thomas Edison) Knight, eventual holder of twenty patents, fought discrimination and proved that she was just as intelligent an inventor as a man.

Action: Hi, My Name is Joe & I Work in a Button Factory – Left/Right reminders, get the wiggles out!

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay & The Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul – showed the pictures and summarized this true story of a woman who had the idea of turning the mountains of discarded plastic bags plaguing her village into crocheted purses.

Imaginative Inventions by Charise Mericle Harper (poems about inventions – shared the Frisbee poem – another example of reuse, though eventually became plastic!)

Ada’s Ideas by Fiona Robinson – showed the pictures and summarized the story of the world’s first computer programmer.

Additional wonderful books featuring the women profiled above – great for “compare & contrast”:

Spic-And-Span! Lillian Gilbreth’s Wonder Kitchen by Monica Kulling --the story of the world's first female industrial engineer & efficiency expert and the first woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

 

Closed with two books celebrating imagination, creativity & girl power (with a nod back to the paper bag we started with):

If I Built a House by Chris Van Dusen – a kid imagines a truly spectacular house (I encouraged kids to design their own imaginative rooms) -- and The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch – a princess outsmarts the dragon holding her fiance prisoner then decides the shallow prince is not worth marrying.

Another wonderful empowered princess –Princess Atalanta from “Free To Be You and Me” – check  out the Youtube video HERE.

If you want to get your kids involved in inventing & constructing, you might want to do a “Cardboard Challenge” inspired by Caine’s Arcade – details at: http://cainesarcade.com,
http://cardboardchallenge.com/ and 2017: http://imagination.org/our-projects/cardboard-challenge/

Bedm 3/2017

For more women’s history programs, check out: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/03/just-bag-it-ages-5-10-well-share-story.html
http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/mothers-fathers-of-invention-if-at.html
http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search?q=women%27s+history

Other ideas: https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2021/12/homeschool-book-club-activities/

Craftacular Spectacular: Connect Four--or More!

(Ages 3-6 & 6-10)

We’ll share a story about the Empire State Building then build our very own skyscrapers. 

As kids entered, they browsed books on structures and NYC – titles from: School Age Storytime: On this Spot: New York City & The Empire State Building–A Trip Through Time and “What’s K’NEX’t?”

Asked who had visited NYC?

Read: Top Job by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel (6-10 group only) (After other students in the class brag about their parents’ professions, narrator explains about her father’s job – changing the lightbulb on the top of the Empire State Building! --  Lots of math problem possibilities – fun to work out how tall the building is.   Trivia: Please Touch Museum image of  Statue of Liberty Torch made from toys!)

Read: Sky Boys – Deborah Hopkinson (both groups -- tough for the 3 & 4 year olds, 5+ next year)  (Going back in time 80+ years to see the amazing story of how the “Sky Boys” built the Empire State Building – lots more math here (e.g. translating tons into pounds yields an enormous number!)

Booktalk: On this Spot: An Expedition Back Through Time J574.71 Goodman, Ding Dong Ding Dong by Margie Palatini, The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein, showed Sector 7 by David Wiesner.

Shared pictures, some poerms and structures from: Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building by Christy Hale

Craft: Mini marshmallows and spaghetti to create structures.  Had them build on the 12x18 B&T cardboards, muffin cups to distribute marshmallows..  (Mini-marshmallows went a long way 5 bags for 80 kids! + 3 lbs. of spaghetti).  This is a tricky craft for the pre-schoolers (though fun- they love to nibble the marshmallows).  Straws and Connectors are easier for them to handle.

8/16 BWL