Celebrate Spring with these favorite read-alouds! And, check out this great resource for fun tips on how to make the most of read-aloud time with your kids. (For tip #2, we recommend a blanket fort!) Reading aloud is the single most important thing you can do to help prepare your child for reading and learning.
Lola Plants a Garden
by Anna McQuinn, Illustrations by Rosalind Bearshaw
Age level: Pre-S to Grade 1
Not only is it a good Springtime read, but it’s just in time for National Poetry Month! After Lola reads a book of garden poems, she wants to plant some flowers and start a garden of her own. She gets books from her local library and chooses her plants. Then Lola and her mother buy and plant the seeds, and mark the rows. Now it’s time to wait…..
Numbers in a Row: An Iowa Number Book
by Patricia A. Pierce, Illustrations by Dorothea Rohner
Age level: Grade 1-3
There is more to love about Iowa than cornfields and livestock. It’s true there are five pigs for every citizen in Iowa, but it is also home to the ice cream capital of the world and the place where trampolines were invented. Explore Iowa and find the National Farm Toy Museum, the Bily Clocks Museum and Snake Alley, the world’s “crookedest” street. The birthplace of Eskimo Pies and bandleader Glenn Miller, Iowa is also where Ringling Brothers Circus got started under a clothesline tent. Red Delicious apples were invented by a farmer from Iowa, and the very first game of six-on-six girls basketball was played there, too. With lively text, engaging rhymes and appealing illustrations, Numbers in a Row makes the history of this great state real and relevant to children everywhere. good Springtime read, but it’s just in time for National Poetry Month! After Lola reads a book of garden poems, she wants to plant some flowers and start a garden of her own. She gets books from her local library and chooses her plants. Then Lola and her mother buy and plant the seeds, and mark the rows.
The Listening Walk
by Paul Showers, Illustrations by Aliki
Age Level: Kindergarten – Grade 2
Put on your socks and shoes — and don’t forget your ears!
“We’re going on a listening walk. Shhhhh. Do not talk. Do not hurry. Get ready to fill your ears with a world of wonderful and surprising sounds.” In this classic from 1961, a father and child take a walk together and listen to the sounds around them.
Planting a Rainbow
Written and illustrated by Lois Ehlert
Age Level: Preschool – Grade 1
This colorful book helps children understand how to plant bulbs, seeds, and seedlings, and nurture their growth. Lois Ehlert’s bold collage illustrations are amazing!
Egg
Written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes
Age Level: 3-6
Only the green egg remains unchanged after the pink, blue and yellow eggs hatch; three small birds wait and wait and wait for the fourth egg. After the long wait, a distinctly un-avian creature emerges and a unique friendship begins. Strong lines, soft colors with rounded shapes and repeated images with minimal language tell this distinctive tale of an egg.
Cedar Valley Readers 