Brainstorm 99: An Aggregation of Animal Groups & a Chicken Little Duo

Welcome back from the holiday break to the opening Brainstorm of 2017. To kick off 2017 here’s five books. There’s a trio of animal group name books that would work well together, and then a Chicken Little pair that can be used together. Happy reading in 2017!


An Aggregation of Animal Group Books
These three books that would make a fantastic trio of fiction/nonfiction when learning about animal group names.

Animal Groups by Jill Esbaum, photos by Frans Lanting
Find out the group names of 10 exotic animals, and a few more too. Facts about the animals highlighted are also included.

Activity Tie-Ins/Target Readers:

• Animal Groups/Vocabulary: I learned several things from this book, even though I taught Biology at one time and this book is aimed at little kids. (So consider that an invitation to use this at any level.) I'd never heard some of these group names, like a celebration of polar bears. Also, I never knew there aren't official scientific names for the groups of various animals. It seems like there's always a group somewhere trying to establish what's official. But not in this case. It's all up to what someone feels like calling them and if that name catches on. There's a great list of a broad range of creatures after the first 10 are featured, showing the various names by which a group of that animals can be called. For example, the book highlights zebras as one of the main 10, calling the group a zeal but shares later that groups of zebras can also be called a dazzle, herd or harem.
• Word Choice: Since you can choose which group name to use when referring to many animals, it's a good opportunity to talk about word choice. Why might you choose zeal of zebras one time, or dazzle of zebras at another time?
• Animal Lovers/Curious Readers: A fascinating book for animal lovers, or anyone really, with great pictures. 
• Fast or Slow Read: The book could be read as fast or slow as you want. You can just read the main group names for a quick read, or also include the further info on each animal and the text boxes to extend the reading time. There's also a few activity ideas in the back.

There Is a Tribe of Kids by Lane Smith
A boy tries to find his spot in all sorts of groups, from goats to jellyfish to rocks, before he finds one where he belongs.

Activity Tie-Ins/Target Readers:

• Belonging/Welcoming/Picking Friends: Everyone at sometime or other will face trying to figure out where they fit in. It’s a great chance to talk about how to choose good friends and how to be a group that is welcoming to others.
• Animal Groups: Pair this with either or both of the other two books in this trio when studying animal names for a good fiction/nonfiction look at the topic.
• Language Arts: A useful example text when talking about plural nouns and adjectives, as well as when to use are or is.
• Art: I loved the illustrations in this. They are so fantastic and fun. Picking this one up just to look at the illustrations is totally fine.
• Animal Lovers: A sure win for any animal lover. 

A Pandemonium of Parrots by Kate Baker, ill. by Hui Skipp
Introduces young readers to some group names to various creatures and provides prompts to find certain illustrations on each spread. Further information on each type of animal can be found in the back of the book.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Animal Groups/Animal Lovers: This is a playful introduction to animal groups. The sciency info is good for little readers. Combine this with the other reads to provide broader information, or build on the animal group name interest with a fictional read.
• Hide & Seek/Critical Thinking for Littles: The prompts to find certain critters, like "Find who is sleepy" vary in how challenging they are, but most little ones should be able to find them within 5 minutes and can practice recognizing emotional and social clues too.

The Sky Is Falling Duo
Two books in which doom is certain. Or is it?

Chicken Little by Laura Rader
The classic tale of a little chicken who gets plonked on the head and proceeds to warn everyone that the sky is falling. But there’s a very logical reason for what happened. (There are many versions of this story. Laura Rader’s is just one we have at our school.)

Actitivity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Danger of Rumors/Discerning Tech Users: Chicken Little provides a cautionary tale about spreading rumors without gathering all the facts. There’s good lessons in here for everyone, especially in an age when rumors are rampant and can be spread via technology with a simple click.
• Domestic Animal Fans: Some kids just love their chickens, pigs and cows and the Chicken Little tale is one way they can spend time with their favorite critters.
• Folktale/Fable Units: Since there is a moral to this story, one could argue for it being a fable and include it in fable units as well as folktale units.
• Compare/Contrast: Find multiple versions of this tale and compare/contrast them. 

Earthquack! by Margie Palatini, ill. by Barry Moser
Chucky Ducky feels the ground rumble and quake, and runs to warn the other barnyard animals. Meanwhile, a wily weasel plots ways to fill his tummy using the commotion. And eventually, the truth about the quakes and the weasely plots are uncovered.

Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:

• Compare/Contrast with Traditional Chicken Little: Instead of the sky falling, this spin on the Chicken Little tale has a duck getting all riled up about the earth crumbling to bits in a quake. His fear spreads as the other animals also feel the quaking. The plot of the weasel is conniving but doesn't get far, and the real explanation for the quaking is a bit humorous. 
• Art: The illustrations in this are actually quite stunning watercolors that also manage to be humorous. 
• Pre-Readers: There's lots of repeated phrases making this a good pick for little ones just starting to catch on to this reading thing. They should be able to catch on to the pattern and "read" along with an older reader. 
• Language Arts: Language arts teachers covering assonance, consonance or puns will find plenty of examples in this book.