These fine folks sent me the most wonderful book to review. Children find ponds fascinating just as we adults do. They love
the idea of playing in mud and water and watching the creatures that live in the pond. Although it is aimed at Grades Pre-K,
I have enjoyed reading it and am tempted to play with the story boards and cutouts myself. It is a workbook for the teacher,
parent, grandparent or homeschooler with five full color story board cutouts so each child can take a book home that covers
each of the five sections of All about the Pond.
- A Pond
- Pond Plants
- Pond Animals
- A Frog's Life
- Pond Seasons
The book begins with a teacher script to present the story, "A Pond". It takes the child to the pond, asks questions and allows the child to place story board pieces, already in the book as cutouts, ready to use, as they retell each story.
The second pond story board makes the botanist happy and talks about pond plants and how plants came first and how animals cannot exist without plants, although it is certainly simply stated at a level any child can understand.
The third pond story and story board talks about pond animals that most children are already familiar with and puts them in their native habitat, the pond. The swans may be a bit out of place though, as might the minks. I might modify this part.
The fourth story is about the frog's life, from egg to tadpole to frog, from aquatic animal to air breathing land creature. This is a wonderful teaching tool for kids. It lets them see that those tadpoles they see in the spring grow into the green and smooth frogs they see in the summer, or if tiny tadpoles, they grow into those brown and bumpy toads they see under rocks and all around the pond.
The fifth story and story board talks about pond seasons. Again each child may place pieces on the story board as the story progresses from spring through winter.
Moving from story boards to the kitchen, the book explains how to make Water lily Cookies; Pond Jell-OĻ; Duck's Nest Crunch; Tadpole Surprise; Summer Celery and create an edible pond. It segues into arithmetic and numbers using lily pads and frogs and repetition. From arithmetic to music and dancing to art.
For outdoor activities, we explore "Come to the Pond; Pond Hoops; Fish in the Pond; Where Did Froggy Go?; Skating on the Pond."
Moving to Drama and song, the book brings us, "Ducklings"; Paper Bag Duck Puppet; Animal Yoga; "Then and Now" Chant; "Sing a Song of Seasons."
To top everything off, we have alphabet cards: charmingly illustrated, full-color, theme-based, upper- and lowercase alphabet cards.
This book leaves nothing out
It covers learning from visual to auditory to kinetic and back. It's a charming and interesting book that would be a great addition to any teacher's library.
It may well convince the parent, grandparent or school to build a pond for teaching purposes (See my article PONDS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM.) to use year round, in hands on and in real time rather than with a book. But if you are without a pond, this book is a grand adventure.
I award this book five
~Jan Goldfield
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