And we have another hit!! The kids at school LOVE this quirky panda! And while the littlest ones need a bit of help fully understanding the humor, once they get it, they ask to read it over and over again.

To teach PLEASE and THANK YOU, I followed this book with a game. Students took turns hiding "doughnuts" ( rings from a stacking baby toy) under their bottoms while one student headed outside. When the student returned, he/she asked PLEASE to each student to find the doughnuts and THANK YOU when they found one. Students went crazy for this simple game (and it helped them practice using YES and NO from previous lessons.)

Finally, we followed up with a "decorate your own doughnut activity" directly from Steve Antony's website- www.steveantony.com. Of course, students had to ask PLEASE for their paper. :)

Planning today's lesson on YES, NO, MAYBE, I was searching and searching for the right picture book choice. In the end, O couldn't find a good one, so I decided to bring PETE THE CAT: I LOVE MY WHITE SHOES, because I thought the kids would like it (and it does use NO quite a bit.)

I was wrong. They WENT WILD for it! They sang and snapped along, and loved saying "Goooooodness no" with me. We read it three times and I plan to bring it back when we talk about COLORS and also when we talk about FOOD.

I followed this book with a YES, NO, MAYBE activity using the "Do You Like Broccoli Ice Cream" flashcards you can download for free from the SUPER SIMPLE SONGS website, which was another hit.

Last week (our school's first week of English lessons) we were learning the basics: hello and goodbye. The kids loved listening to THE GRUFFALO for the first time in English. And with so much coming and going in the book- "Why fox, hello!" "Goodbye, little mouse" - it's a great introduction to teaching hello and goodbye, especially for kids who typically use the same word for both (ciao means hello AND goodbye).

THE GRUFFALO is a bit long for the littlest ones (i piccoli - 3yo). So rather than keep them squirming (or poking one another) I opted for HELLO HELLO. The colorful pictures of the animals grabbed everyone's interest and the simple text was perfect for the little ones. It was a hit!