Friday, June 29, 2012

Flannel Friday: Night Creatures

While refilling my Dream Big - Read display last week, I discovered a non-fiction easy reader called Night Creatures. (It's by Wade Cooper and published by Scholastic. The ISBN is 9780545007191.) Though it's obviously a book intended for kids who are learning to read independently, I thought its simple text would also work well for my babies and toddlers, if the illustrations were more toddler-friendly. I immediately decided to adapt some of the pages into a flannel board.


 (All of the text below is quoted from Night Creatures, with the exception of the "I'm a(n) _______" sentences. I added those in to give the whole flannel board experience some structure.)  The clipart, as always, comes from Clker.com.


I have eyes
like the moon.
They sparkle at night.
I see my prey
in black and white.
I turn my head
from left to right. 
I'm an owl! 

 
By day I look like
moss or bark.
I open my wings 
when it gets dark. 
I'm a moth! 


I hang out in

a cave or tree.
My eyes can see, 
but in the dark.
I get around 
by using sound.
I'm a bat!


 
My fur is long
and black and white.
I walk in gardens 
late at night. 
If you scare me,
I will spray
a stinky smell. 
So stay away!
I'm a skunk!

There are other animals mentioned in the book, including a badger, a fox, a jaguar, and a kangaroo, but I thought those animals were less likely to be familiar to my audience, and I also worried about the concept of animals eating other animals and how that might be received by the parents of little babies. (The page about the fox is nothing but a litany of animals it eats. Like rabbits. And turtles.) So this last little verse is written by me, because I really wanted to have five animals.

http://www.clker.com/cliparts/a/X/j/t/6/h/racoon-hi.png 
On my face I wear a mask.
I wash my food before I eat.
I'll eat whatever I can find
with the long fingers on my feet.
I'm a raccoon!

This week's Flannel Friday host is Andrea. Follow all things Flannel Friday at the official website.

2 comments :

  1. Very creative way to take a book with great information and tweak it to fit the age group at your storytime. I love your idea!

    Thanks for sharing!
    ~ K~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, K! I can't wait to try this one out.

      Delete

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