A simple story about a scribble who wants to have fun. The house doesn’t want to because he doesn’t look like him. His lines aren’t straight and he is colorful. When all the other drawings decide to have fun and play with him they learn a valuable lesson that including everyone no matter their differences, even in art makes everyone better for it.
The first thing we encounter is a multi-colored scribbled spot. The reason this spot is scribbled and multicolored is because it represents tangled and confused emotions. I love that the author gave a page where she showed different colored spots and what they represent. The second thing I loved is that not only did the scribble start to separate his spots by color but the author gave several words that were synonyms of the original emotion. For example the word peaceful can also mean, “relaxed, tranquil, calm, quiet, mellow and serene”. This is a great way to increase a child’s vocabulary. The author also used examples of where we can find these colors when we draw. For example we might color leaves, grass or vines green. All of these represent things that a lot of people find peaceful. This book teaches children that they have all of these emotions inside them, but sometimes they get mixed up.
The respectful spot takes a young boy and girl on a tour of how to be respectful. The author has given examples of how to respect people, places and things. Through pictures and explanations this is a great book to have a discussion about respect with the youngest child.
This is a book about diversity. In this day and age we need to teach our youngest children the importance of diversity. This spot teaches kids the benefits of everyone having unique features, ideas, talents and more. He explains through examples how boring it would be if everyone and everything was the same. He makes the point that no matter our differences we all want to be accepted and loved. The author expresses the importance and need for “diverse, idea, perspectives, and talents! I believe that everyone should read this book no matter their age, because this is a lesson everyone needs to learn.
This is a great book to start with preschool children. It teaches them things like holding the hand of an adult when crossing a street. Children are taught how to get on and off a bus, how to listen to crossing guards. The Safety Spot then tells you how to stay safe in school. Don’t run, use handrails, look for hazard signs, tell a teacher if you have an accident. In the cafeteria don’t eat too fast, eat your own food. He also teaches the importance of washing your hands to get rid of germs. He tells kids how to stay safe at recess and when playing outside. How not to do something because you have been dared to do it. This is a book that the youngest child should have read to them over and over. This will hopefully keep kids safe from the youngest of ages.
Children need to be taught how to make good choices and this book can help with that. According to responsibility spot you first need to identify the problem, think about the positive and negative consequences, then make a choice and then reflect back on the outcome. We call this trial and error. The responsibility spot also makes the case that sometimes adults can help because they’ve had to make a lot of choices in their lifetime. The main message throughout is that the better choices you make the bigger your responsibility spot will grow. A simple message that all need to hear.
The thankful spot advocates keeping a Thankful list. Listing things you are thankful for keep you positive and happy. The Thankful spot gives a list of things they are thankful for. At the end of this wonderful book the reader is encouraged to make a thankful list. For that child who says they don’t know what they are thankful for there is a handout with wonderful starter questions.
The Patiences Spot is here to teach kids how to wait, even when it is hard. Once again they express the need to help your patience spot grow bigger. Problem solving helps grow the patience spot. Making good choices and listening all help grow your patience spot. The important message is that you can’t become patient immediately. Your patience spot is something that grows over time.
As I read this book I kept thinking that this would be a book I should read to my middle school students. It seems that if a child grow up through elementary unorganized then when they hit middle school it is even worse. In middle school they have to keep track of everything for seven different classes. The organization spot starts out helping them organize their messy room. Then he points out that organization starts in the brain. Some helpful suggestions were to create a routine chart, to do list, use notes, stickers on calendars. Then he touched on using graphic organizers for organizing your thinking in school.
When a popsicle goes outside and melts to fast he believes he is useless. He sees himself as just a stained stick. I twig tries to tell him that he is and can be so much more. This is a book about many things. First it is a book about believing in yourself. Then it is also a book about recycling. What could you do with a popsicle stick? What could you make out of it?
A young princess has been told never to paint with her unicorn. She decided to find out why. She puts a bit of pain on a brush and the unicorn licks it. She gets out cans of paint and he uses his tail as a brush. Then she decides to see what would happen if she put a touch of paint on his horn. Paint spattered everywhere. This book started out in black and white and then as things happened with the unicorn and paint became very colorful. A very cute book.
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