Pete the Cat: Response to Picture Books

You're going to LUV LUV LUV these ideas!!! As an author-illustrator of picture books myself, I LUV seeing how teachers 'extend' the life of a book in their classroom -- for their students. There are so many possibilities with Eric Litwin's work. The illustrations by James Dean just beg for interpretation by teachers and students alike! Wait till you see this 'hand-made' version to support early literacy efforts!!

Today marks a new day here at Rainbows Within Reach. NEW day alert!!!
As my old-time readers realize, I have been on a quest for the last year to get my blog connected to a wider world. I've made tons of progress and learned so much in the process. I'm learning from my analytics how readers are responding and what type of articles bring more interest from Pinterest. Today marks my transition to being an Amazon Associate! It's time to bring links of interest to you directly.... make your life easier and support my efforts all at the same. We'll see how it works.

In my travels making Author-Illustrator school visits I'm in and out of oodles of schools seeing tons of ideas in classrooms across the country. Today I'm featuring classroom responses to the ever-wildly-popular growing-more-classic-by-the-minute "Pete the Cat" series of picture books. Let's start with a unique teacher created 'class' book for preschool. 

YUP!!! That's a LOT of teacher LUV to create an entire 'personalized' book for your classroom. Personal student photographs, watercolor adornment and lamination: bingo-bango you have your own rendition of the instant classic. 

Guarantee those kiddos are gonna-wanna turn these pages over and over again! I know I would!!

From this preschool material let's move on to a kindergarten response. Take a look at these handwritten inspirations!! I LUV LUV LUV the 'invented' spellings found on this bulletin board. Of course I'm also wild about the actual handwriting itself.

These same kindergarten kiddos took their response one step further for a technology infused 'extension' project. First they had photos taken of their favorite pair of shoes! From there they then worked on the computer to draw their shoes and then write about them. What a brilliant leap into technology. 

I know you are inspired by these 'adaptations' of what are becoming instant classics for children. I believe when we make books 'come alive' for children we foster their desire to decode and do the work to read. These children will have an affinity for all the work of Litwin + James and that enthusiasm will continue to expand to works throughout the library collection. 

Author Illustrator School Visit: Kindergarten Response, Long Island NY

My own school visits have been filled with amazing responses from students across the country to the illustrations I've created for my picture books. I LUV LUV LUV to see what they've come up with to extend the use of my books in their lives. I have TONS of articles here to share with examples. Here's a favorite link: Classroom Response. It has a YouTube video to introduce you to the song which is the text of "You're Wonderful." 

Keep on creating!!! Visit often and pin to your heart's content! I now have a *new* store over at Teachers Pay Teachers to offer immediate digital download of some of my songs (for purchase and a FREEBIE!) I'd be so honored if you'd follow my store there. 

-- Debbie --

This post has been added to TBA's international blog hop under the "Check out my Shoes" category!
Also added to Kindergarten RoundUP  Also added to the linkie on all things Pete over at Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes. Now added at Read it Again, Mommy.