We love Piggie and Elephant!

We have been reading LOTS of Piggie and Elephant books.  LOTS. Because we love them.

 I love Piggie's enthusiasm about every single thing.  She is so adorable.

Most of all, I love how the children just connect with these books completely.  If you are ever having a bad day, just STOP what you are doing. Sit the children down. And read a Piggie and Elephant book. It will all be ok. The mood somehow changes- the children pay attention, AND you can't read one of these books and stay in anything but a good mood.

I keep my activities right beside my books on my bookshelf, so they are always ready to go!

                                                        
We have read so many of Mo Willems' books that the children are very familiar with him. I was curious how many books he has written, so here is a list that I found on Wikipedia.

It made me laugh a little, because when I searched for him, Wikipedia said, "Not to be confused with basketball player Mo Williams."  No, Wikipedia,  I wasn't confusing the two. I teach Kindergarten... I don't even know who Mo Williams IS...  Anyway, here is a list just for fun...

• Pigeon series
  • Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (2003) — Caldecott Honor 2004^[11]
  • The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! (2004
  • The Pigeon Loves Things That Go! (2005)
  • The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too! (2005)
  • Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! (2006)
  • The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! (I Really Do!) (2008)
  • The Duckling Gets a Cookie? (2012)
  • Don't Let the Pigeon Finish this Activity Book! (2012)
  • The Pigeon Needs a Bath! (I Do Not!) (2014)
• Knuffle Bunny series
  • Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale — Caldecott Honor 2005^[11]
  • Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity — Caldecott Honor 2008^[11]
  • Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion
• Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct
• Leonardo, the Terrible Monster
• Time to Pee!
• Time to Say "Please"! — a book about manners (2005, Hyperion Books)
• You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons — a compilation of cartoons Willems drew while taking a year-long backpacking trip around the world (2006, Hyperion Books)
• Elephant and Piggie series
  • Today I Will Fly!
  • My Friend is Sad
  • There is Bird on Your Head! — Geisel Medal 2008^[12]
  • I Am Invited to a Party!
  • I Will Surprise my Friend!
  • I Love My New Toy!
  • Are You Ready to Play Outside? — Geisel Medal 2009^[12]
  • Watch Me Throw the Ball!
  • Pigs Make Me Sneeze!
  • Elephants Cannot Dance!
  • I Am Going!
  • Can I Play Too?
  • We Are in a Book! — Geisel Honor 2011^[12]
  • I Broke My Trunk! — Geisel Honor 2012^[12]
  • Should I Share My Ice Cream?
  • Happy Pig Day!
  • Listen to My Trumpet!
  • Let's Go For a Drive! — Geisel Honor 2013^[12]
  • A Big Guy Took My Ball!— Geisel Honor 2014^[12]
  • I'm a Frog!
  • My New Friend Is So Fun!
• Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed
• Big Frog Can't Fit In: A Pop Out Book
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
• That is NOT a Good Idea!
• Don't Pigeonhole Me! 2 Decades of the Mo Willems Sketchbook
• Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator!
• Cat the Cat series
  • Cat the Cat, Who Is That?
  • Let's Say Hi to Friends Who Fly
  • What's Your Sound, Hound the Hound?
  • Time to Sleep, Sheep the Sheep!

I wanted my class to actually see him and "meet" him.  This is the Mo Willems' section of my Author Prezi.  I like having my favorite resources all together when I want to do a quick author study, or just for days when talking about an author naturally comes up.  Everything is ready to show the children. I am always adding to the Prezis that I make when I find new resources that I like.

I love this interview. (It is the first one up above in the Prezi- with Naked Mole Rat in the picture for some reason.) It really lets the children see that their doodling of superheroes or characters can be the beginnings of a great story! (PLUS - they love how they are in on the secret that Elephant and Piggie are his favorite books to make!  Shhhh... don't tell Pigeon!)

 Here are the other authors that I included in the Prezi.

Nellie Edge has an Elephant and Piggie Book Club paper that the kids would LOVE. What a fun idea!

I found this adorable drawing lesson for Piggie and Elephant on nellieedge.com, too.  The children had so much fun drawing these favorite characters.

We drew some of our own Piggies and Elephants and wrote a little story to go along with our pictures. I had some post-it speech bubbles (because of course I did...) so I let the children use some of these to add to their pictures.  They had a BALL!

I like spinach. Piggie is saying this.  

Erin from Adventures in Tutoring and Special Education shared this darling Piggie and Elephant comic strip activity that would be great to get the kids thinking about a conversation these two friends may have.

I wrote a post about using speech bubbles HERE.  These books are a great introduction for that lesson.
                                             

for stopping by!