The Twelve Days Of Springtime

Hardcover published by Abrams Books for Young Readers
Illustrated by Carey Armstrong-Ellis

"On the first day of springtime, my teacher gave to me
a garden to water carefully."
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK

One spring day when my son was little, he and I hiked to a local pond to collect tadpoles. We brought home lots of them to watch as they developed into frogs. At first the tadpoles wouldn’t eat anything we fed them, until we scooped up some “pond” scum from our very murky fish tank. The tadpoles devoured the scum! Soon they were sprouting legs and trying to jump out of their shallow container, and we were on our way to LOTS of frogs. So back to the pond we went to return the young frogs to their natural habitat—
but you'll see, there are still lots of them in this book!

For great school garden resources and ideas, visit the California School Garden Network website and the National Gardening Association Kids Gardening website.

School Library Journal
The kindergarten gang from The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003) and The Twelve Days of Winter (2006, both Abrams) is back in a hilarious counting book that welcomes spring. The text could be sung or acted out. Areas of the primary curriculum are presented within the illustrations showing insect study, plants, and metamorphosis. Many aspects of kindergarten life are revealed through the entertaining illustrations such as a child with her stuffed animal, field trips, music class, and various learning centers. Even the class hamster has fun on the field trip to the farm, rowing a boat in the stream, and riding on a turtle near a pond. The bright artwork was created with gouache, colored pencils, and a technical drawing pen on watercolor paper. The large, double-page illustrations make this a perfect choice to use with a group.

Kirkus Review
Armstrong-Ellis's illustrations...depict a rambunctious, multi-ethnic classroom full of kids and their valiant teacher, who is no Ms. Frizzle. Each page turn shows her eyes getting wider and wider behind their horn-rims as her kids take every activity she presents them and turn it into happy chaos. Readers will get an enormous kick out of seeing what they do in each busy spread...

Teaching Children Mathematics
Repeating the entries as it adds new days, this book resembles The Twelve Days of Christmas as a means to teach counting skills to children. However, a strong science correlation can be incorporated. Children can explore different plants and animals as well as numbers. Young children will also enjoy the colorful pictures. My third graders enjoyed the book and the repetition of the previous numbers as we counted to twelve. Students constructed their own counting books, which we shared with preschool children. The third graders explored the science concepts that the book presents. The younger students were entertained with the pictures and information. I recommend this book for students aged 4-9.

BooksForKidsBlog
...humorous cartoons of kids doing their favorite things in the balmy outdoors lend plentiful visual interest to this curriculum-related picture book...one horticulturist-to-be plants, tends, and picks her flowers in an impromptu bouquet for her long-suffering and deserving teacher. Even a friendly frog gets into the act, appearing on someone's head on every page...a fine choice to introduce those annual classroom activities relating to the growing season.

Read the full review at: Books for Kids Blog