Something's Fishy in the Library!

Puffers, Perch, Clown Fish....   No, it was just the books for my Summer Reading Program!

This week for story time, I had a fish theme. One of my regulars loves animals and mentioned he wanted me to read him a fish story. I decided to make it my theme for the week. With so many good fish stories published, the hardest part was choosing which ones to read. I pulled an assortment of my favorites and let the kids select what I would read.

We started story time with Fish Faces by Norbert Wu.

It's a cute little non-fiction book that introduces readers to the differences in fish. Very colorful pictures with rhyming text. Great little book! (I use Accelerated Reader so this one is leveled at 1.5)

Fidgety Fish by Ruth Galloway was the next reading selection.

I love reading this one early in the year to my Kindergarteners. It's about a little fish, Tiddler, who can't be still. Sounds just like a Kindergarten student in August! ADORABLE!! (Accelerated Reading level 2.5)

Finally the kids picked out Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. 

In case you've been asleep for the past 10 years, it's a cute story about a fish who learns about real beauty and friendship. (Accelerated Reading Level 3.3 -- Really it's been published for over twenty years in case I have any Rip Van Winkle's out there.)

To finish off story time we had to have a little craft activity. I had make it quick due to the fact I had to take my sixteen year old to the doctor for blood work. (He picked up a nasty viral infection over the weekend and spent a couple days in Children's Hospital in Knoxville. Fun/NOT!! Yes, he's ok now. I just have a few more gray hairs...)

I thought the kids would enjoy making a rainbow fish to take home. (This is the Sara version of how we made our rainbow fish!)

1) Make pattern of fish body. I'm not an artist, but I thought it turned out alright. I drew it on copy paper so our finished project wouldn't be too heavy.

2) Students glued pieces of scrapbook paper onto the body of fish for the scales. I gave them one special sparkly scale - piece of aluminum foil.  I had precut them into circles to save time. Then we cut out the fish bodies.

3) Students colored fish's face  - adding eyes and a mouth. We attached/glued fish's body, tail, and fins onto a piece of blue construction paper. Fins and tails were precut to save time.

4)  If the kids had time, they added seaweed and other details to the background. I found neon markers at Wal-Mart this summer. They are the coolest things. Yes, they work on dark colored construction paper.

I thought they turned out right cute.

Other library fish books that would have been great for story time:

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen (AR 3.0)
Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni  (AR 3.7)
Swimmy by Leo Lionni  (AR 2.9)
Weird and Wonderful Fish by Gerri McCall (AR 5.7)
About Fish: a guide for children by Cathryn Sill (AR 2.0)
Big Al by Andrew Clements (AR 3.8)

Happy Reading!