August Preschool Literature

August – Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses

This month we are reading Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses, by Kimberly and James Dean during our kindergarten readiness time. The teacher will read the book aloud as your child follows along with his/her copy. In this book Pete the Cat wakes up feeling grumpy—nothing seems to be going his way. But with the help of some magic sunglasses, Pete learns that a good mood has been inside him all along. Fans of Pete the Cat will love watching him take his positive outlook and transform a grumpy day into an awesome day!

Book Activities for Pre-Reading Skills and Literature Appreciation

Intro to book (predicting/classifying/reflecting)
As the cover of the book is shown to the children, they will be asked: What do you think the book will be about? What kind of animals do you think will be in the story? Do you think they will be friendly animals? The story will be read aloud by the teacher and each child will follow along with their own copy of the book.

What do you think? (Classifying feelings)
The book is read together. The teacher will ask reflective questions like: Have you been grumpy? Would you like to be the cat? Why? What would you do if you were the cat? What animal would be your friend? What do you think the blue cat blues are? What would you see with the “cool” magic sunglasses? Would you share the sunglasses?

Survey Says….(graphing feeling)
The teacher will ask the children which animal in the book is their favorite. The answers will be graphed. There will be a discussion about what animals are the most liked/least liked.

Animals as Pets (classifying animal habits)
As the group looks over the book together, the teacher will ask about the animal on the page: if someone gave you that animal for a pet, would you keep it? What would you feed it? After reviewing the whole book, each child will pick one animal that they would like as a pet.

Talking about animals (classifying animals)
The book is read by the group. The teacher will ask the children what animals live at the zoo, inside a house, in the jungle, or on the form. The group will look at the numerous animals in the book and each child will answer what animals they like, why/why not, and what those animals do in the story. The teachers will write responses.

Why can’t I have a cat? (Classifying animals & sorting)
The group will read the book together. The children will answer what animals would be a good house pet. Why? Why not? The answers will be charted.

Alphabet Soup (letter recognition)
The teacher will lay out A-H foam letters in the middle of circle and tell the group it’s alphabet soup. The teacher will then say a letter (A-H) and write it on butcher paper. The children will take turns finding the different letters in the soup.

Emotions
Each page of the book shows a lot of emotion. The group will look at each page and the children will say how the page makes them feel.

Counting
Reading the book, the children will link chains when a new animal/mood is introduced.

Charades
Teacher will prepare container to draw pictures of emotions (happy, sad, mad, tired, surprised, scared, etc.) out of. Children will draw one and act it out, for the rest of the group to guess.

Sorting (Classifying)
Draw different colors/shapes of sunglasses (or you can have children decorate). Have children sort.