Miss Bindergarten Has a Wild Day in Kindergarten

Title-Miss Bindergarten Has a Wild Day in Kindergarten

Author-Joseph Slate

Illustrator-Ashley Wolff

Publisher-Dutton Children's Books

ISBN-0525470840    

     As teachers, we see the classroom from a different perspective. Teachers see the classroom as a comfortable place to learn.  But a child's first experience with the classroom can be intimidating.  I can remember my first day of kindergarten like it was yesterday. I walked into this large and scary room crying, like many of the other students. Not only was the room intimidating, there was an adult I had never met before and a herd of strange children.  It only took about five minutes until I made my first friend and stopped crying.  Then I realized in this room was the best play area I had ever seen.  It had a kitchen, a dress up station, a library, a block section and 20 new playmates.  Based on the wonderful experience in my kindergarten classroom, I often wish I could be there playing with my classmates.  That is why kindergarten will forever hold a special place in my heart!

     Since I have such fond memories of kindergarten, I chose a picture book from the Miss Bindergarten collection.  The book is titled Miss Bindergarten Has a Wild Day in Kindergarten written by Joseph Slate and illustrated by Ashley Wolff.  Miss Bindergarten is a collie who heads a class full of rambunctious animal students.  It appears that Miss Bindergarten is having a tough day with the kindergarteners since they keep having one problem after another.  One student comes in late, one has to use the bathroom and cannot wait, one student cuts her thumb and another calls for the nurse to come.  There are 26 students who have problems familiar to every kindergarten teacher.  The detailed pictures show just how much trouble the kindergarteners get themselves into.  With the descriptive illustrations, children can understand the text even if they are unable to read the words.  Miss Bindergarten and the rest of the staff in the school handle every problem skillfully and cheerfully.  Miss Bindergarten is not even flustered when a student releases butterflies in the schoolyard at the end of the day.  Instead, she remarks how even a wild day can bring about something wonderful to see. 

     Miss Bindergarten Has a Wild Day in Kindergarten is a pattern book because the sentence "Miss Bindergarten has a wild day in kindergarten" is repeated, with slight variations, every few pages.  Children enjoy pattern books because they find it comforting when they know what to expect on the next page.  Teachers also like to read pattern books aloud to their classes since the students can interact by finishing the familiar sentence.  The pages that do not contain the pattern sentence have appealing rhythmic sentences.  This book will engage every kindergartener since it has rhyme, rhythm and repetition.  It also helps teach the alphabet since each of the 26 students start with a different letter, such as Adam the Alligator, Brenda the Beaver, Christopher the Cat, and so on.

     This story is the perfect example of how students and teachers see not only the classroom differently, but also the school day.  The students are only concerned with their own problems as individuals, but Miss Bindergarten has to attend to 26 sticky situations throughout the day. This is a book from a fabulous collection that every kindergarten teacher should read to their class!


    

Where The Wild Things Are

Title: Where The Wild Things Are

Author/Illustrator: Maurice Sendak

ISBN: 0060254920

Publisher: Harper Collins

    


     One of the best qualities that small children possess is their imagination. For example, children can make apples out of oranges.  In contrast, adults have a realistic attitude towards life, and can only see what is plainly before them.  But by reading children's literature, we can remember what it is like to use our imaginations.

     As a child I loved to pretend rooms in my house were different places.  Sometimes, I imagined my room was a doctor's office, other times it was a tree house, but mostly it was a school.  Who would have thought I'd become a teacher?  I can also remember when my grandmother and I would turn my dining room into a tea party on Sesame Street.  You see, to me imagining different settings made them seem real.

     On the nights when I couldn't fall sleep immediately, I would pretend my room was the Small World ride in Disney World.  I was sailing through my room looking at all the international dolls that were singing and dancing. This memory is why I choose the story Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. I feel a special connection with the creative images that were used in this text.

     Where The Wild Things Are is a story of a young boy named Max who uses his imagination to turn his room into a forest, an ocean and, finally, the place "where the wild things are."  The wild things are described as big, scary creatures with terrible roars, teeth, eyes and claws.  The illustrations did an excellent job of depicting them as terrible.  But Max was able to tame the wild things by staring into their eyes and scaring them. They were so frightened of him they named him king of all the wild things.  Eventually, Max missed his mother and got hungry so he sailed back home.

     Sendak did a fantastic job of both writing and illustrating this story.  Any young child can relate to the way the boy used his imagination.  The story comes to life through the pictures. It is one of the best text-to- picture books that I have ever read.  A few pages have only illustrations, which made me feel as if I am actually there with the wild things.  I could almost hear jungle music playing while the creatures were going wild.  I believe that Sendak deserved the Caldecott Medal he received for this book.