Kindergarten Counts

How number savvy are children at the start of school? It varies. According to the National Center for Education Statistics most first-time kindergartners can count to ten. Many can identify some single-digit numerals. A few can add and subtract. Much of what children know on that first day of school they know from home.

Sooo... make your little one's day count. COUNT OUT LOUD. Kiss 10 tiny toes. One, two socks fit 1, 2 feet. One, two feet fill 1, 2 shoes. A shirt has how many buttons? At snack time, cookies disappear. Palms up. All gone! That's a number! Count wheels on a tricycle, peas in a garden pod, clouds in the sky.

Twelve eggs fill a carton. Take away one for pancakes. How many does that leave? Serve up a hot stack. Hey, Mom! Tom got more pancakes than me! 'More' is an amount. Sibling rivalry or simple math? Numbers and counts are everywhere.

1, 2, 3 books teach number concepts. They come in a variety of formats for a variety of ages- board books, pop-ups, wordless picture books and more. Here's a handful: 1 2 3, a mini board book for babies by Simms Taback; Counting Peas, a board book for toddlers by Rosemary Wells; Five Little Monkeys jumping on the bed by Eileen Christelow; Mouse Count by Ellen Stohl Walsh and Zero Is the Leaves on the Tree, a hardcover by Betsy Franco.

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What Is a Concept Book?

The short (or long or tall) of it: A concept book is a picture book that teaches a broad concept to young readers. Examples? Alphabet books, number books, books about c o l o r s , opposites, feelings and emotions. A concept is an idea, an abstract notion. Here's the rub. Very young readers are concrete thinkers, very "here and now." Luckily concept books do not have to teach the alphabetic principle, or algebra, or color theory. They teach what toddlers and young preschoolers can see, hear, touch, and feel - the upper and lowercase, quiet and loud, and happy and sad face of things. Three concept books by DENISE FLEMING: LUNCH (1998) from Henry Holt and Co. Concept: Colors. A toothsome mouse called Mouse eats his way through the primary and secondary colors and then some. The pictures are deliciously big. Bon appetit! The emergent literacy bent: The text is sparse and the letters large, fostering print awareness. Point out a few words as you read. Clever...

No Time Like the Present

Give yourself and your baby a present. Time together, apart-from-others time. No ring tones. No sass tones. No Ho! Ho! Ho! Quiet, one-on-one book time, one-on-one look time. Sleepy head, head on shoulder time. Quiet LOUD (2003) by Leslie Patricelli .

New Year's Day Book Giveaway

Out with the old , i n with the new ! To make room for 2013 review books , this year's stack must go . I need your help to find these wonderful new old books a home . Please nominate a group or agency in need of baby books in the comments section below--your child's day care center or a nursery school or a local literacy organization, for example . I'll choose a winner at random then po st two packages--one to you as a thank you , packed with the 5 books pictured in my December 22 blog post, and on e to your nominee , packe d with the books below : All Gone! , I Went Walking , Kiki's Blanket , No More Blanket for Lambkin! , What Can I Hear? , Giddy Up, Li'l Buckaroos! and Ahoy, Li'l Buccaneers! , four Noodle books , Peek-a-boo! , Pat the Bunny , Peek-a Who? , Baby Play , I Kissed the Baby! , Kiss Good Night , Chicky Chicky Chook Chook , Chicka Chicka Boom Boom , Meeow and the Pots and Pans , Mother Goose , One Moose, Twenty Mice , Th e Apple Pie T...

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