Picture Book - A Treasury of Children's Literature

My daughter and I absolutely loved A Treasury of Children's Literature. An anthology of classic literature, edited by Armand Eisen, there are many opportunities for delight driven learning. There are traditional stories, Aesop's Fables, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes, children's classics, A Child's Garden of Verses, American tales, and Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales. The illustrations are wonderful...just beautiful and nicely spaced with text.

This is a perfect book to begin transitioning from short picture books to longer selections, possibly even chapter books. At four, Grace loved it. But I imagine if you are teaching a little boy, it might be best deferred to age five to six due to the wiggle/attention factor. Grace and I read a story a night, along with a poetry or fable selection. We had great fun with this book, often taking the next morning to learn about something within the previous night's story.

Some examples:

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Small, medium and large bowls - How many cups of rice fit into a small bowl? Medium? Large?

Stranger danger

Jack and the Beanstalk

Sprouting beans on a paper towel in the closet

Planting beans

Harps

Cinderella

Time to the hour

Ballroom dancing

Forgiveness - "Falling to their knees, they begged her pardon for how they had mistreated her. And Cinderella, who was as good as she was kind, willingly forgave them both."

Measuring feet - Grace had a ball doing this. Buy a pair of shoes at a "real" shoe store. Practice measuring length and width. : )

Hansel and Gretel (This is a sordid little tale, not recommended, as written, for young children. I opted to change the words and the story as I read.)

Resourcefulness

Leaving a trail - We did this on a nature trail. Fun, fun, fun!

Snow White

Stranger Danger

Vanity - We used this opportunity to talk about Biblical beauty.

Friendship - Love is an action word. The dwarfs showed Snow White love. Love is not a feeling. It is an action.

Greed and Jealousy- lead to death.

Johnny Appleseed

Apples - Cut apple in half to see the apple star. Dig out seeds. Count them, glue them to a paper apple. Make apple prints. Make homemade applesauce or an apple pie.

Helpfulness or Charity - Johnny went around the country planting apple orchards so that travelers, pioneers would have food to eat along the way.

Define myth - Some people think Johnny Appleseed was a mythical person.

Define biography - Some people think Johnny Appleseed was true and real.

The Ugly Duckling

Accepting yourself as God has made you. We all need to grow up into God's glory. We should rejoice in how He has created us! (And we parents, should rejoice in the way God has made our children. We do not need to crunch our children into a box. Allow them to explore their interests and develop their talents.)

Ducks - waterproof, duck anatomy, habitat, migration, behavior, etc... Possibly tie in Robert McCloskey's "Make Way for Ducklings." See the Five in a Row unit study, Volume I for further learning ideas for the McCloskey book.

Swans - monogamous/mate for life, migration, habitat, etc...

Seasons - focusing on winter - especially for those who live in a more mild climate. Gracie had trouble fathoming snow and ice. (We're in Florida)


~~~~~

Parents should be aware that original fairy tales often contain dark elements. So I recommend that parents read the tales first, so that there are no surprises during read aloud time. While I don't recommend every story within this book (due to content), there was much educational value, delight and literary experience to make it worth mentioning. I believe Sonlight uses this book in their pre-k or kindergarten program.This book, along with a few resources from the library, was my daughter's pre-kindergarten program.As a read aloud it is most appropriate for pre-kindergarten to third grade. My sons have read this book themselves as a part of their reading assignments in 3rd to 5th grade.

©2008 Y.M.F.