My Tactile Alphabet Book
Alligator Pie
The Perfect Pizza
The Tasty Taco

 

These books were all ideas shared by Kim Lenging.  If you have any questions regarding the booklets, please contact her at lengning@adelphia.net .

 

My Tactile Alphabet Book

The 'Tactile Alphabet Book' is the brainchild of Connie, Kim's co-worker. This book is perfect for the beginning of kindergarten, but can be used in preschool as well. It is easiest to put the books together on a duplicator that collates. There are 26 pages and a front and back cover. The book is bound with a book binding machine--Kinkos and Staples can do this for you if your school doesn't have a binder. It is strongly recommended to reinforce the binding edge of the front and back cover with book tape before binding. The students create one page a day. Of course, these books will fit into your program if you do a letter a week, but they will be in your classroom for 26 weeks!! Before the books go home, have each child "read" it to you. This, coupled with the daily review, ensures that the students will "read" them correctly to their parents.

The Pages:

The pages are full-sized bond paper (8 1/2 x 11). The sentence strips are created with the word processor with the format set on "landscape". Type the text at the bottom, using 48 pt. font. The text will appear at the bottom of the 'long side' of the page. You will have to create 26 masters, but they can be used each year. Each page requires something 'tactile' that the student glues on. Before introducing the new page, read the previous pages, and discuss what can be used for the day's page .  DO NOT fold under the books as you work on them as the previous pages might be crushed and ruined.

  • Aa is for apple. (Make an apple print or glue an apple die-cut)
  • Bb is for blue balloon. (Glue a blue die-cut balloon with a string tied to the end)
  • Cc is for cotton cloud. (Cotton)
  • Dd is for dirt. (A favorite!)
  • Ee is for eggshells. (Crush eggshells into small pieces.)
  • Ff is for feathers. (Glue on craft feathers)
  • Gg is for grass. (Another favorite---believe it or not, it stays green for quite a long time!)
  • Hh is for hearts. (An assortment of heart stickers, stamps, and die-cuts)
  • Ii is for ice cream cones. (Glue a triangle cone, and sponge paint scoops of ice cream--don't forget the cherry!)
  • Jj is for jack-o-lantern. (Use a die-cut jack with bright yellow paper behind to give the 'glowing' effect.
  • Kk is for kite. (A die-cut kite or diamond shape with a string and tail)
  • Ll is for leaf. (A pretty Fall leaf)
  • Mm is for material. (Cut up little scraps of material)
  • Nn is for noodles. (Fun pasta shapes)
  • Oo is for octopus. (Paint palm and fingers purple/brown and print onto paper. Re-paint, and print again with these four fingers next to the original four fingers. Add black thumbprint eyes.)
  • Pp is for paint.
  • Qq is for quarter. (Do a quarter rubbing with a silver crayon, use a quarter rubber stamp, or cut out photocopies of a quarter.)
  • Rr is for rice. (For fun, dye some rice with food coloring and rubbing alcohol.)
  • Ss is for sand.
  • Tt is for tape. (Colored masking tape pieces.)
  • Uu is for umbrella. (Die-cut umbrella.)
  • Vv is for vase. (Die-cut or construction paper vase with drawn flowers.)
  • Ww is for watercolor.
  • Xx is for x-ray. (Use a black construction paper square, and have students follow your lead to make a white crayon skeleton.)
  • Yy is for yarn.
  • Zz is for zero. (Cheerios.)

The Cover:

The cover is simply a piece of 9x12 construction paper with "My Tactile Alphabet Book" printed directly on it. The marker for this book is a Popsicle stick with a book sticker glued onto one end.

Alligator Pie

This book is a great deal of fun because the children really enjoy the chant (over and over and over and over!). To illustrate the book, you will need some clipart of an alligator ...NOT a crocodile. If you use a crocodile, one of your high achievers will certainly point out the error of your ways. Or worse, a parent who happens to be an expert on reptiles, will point out your sin! You will also need some clipart of a pie. You can cut a slit in the pie so you can "insert" the alligator so it looks like he is in the pie.

The pointer is a Popsicle stick with a small alligator sticker or reduced clipart glued on the end. It is stored in a pocket taped to the inside front cover.

The Pages:

  1. "Alligator pie, alligator pie" (student cuts out clipart of alligator and pie, or colors the clipart you have photocopied directly onto the page with the text.)
  2. "If I don't get some, I think I'm going to cry!" (student draws a picture of self crying great big 'crocodile' tears.)
  3. "Take away the green grass," (student cuts grass from a strip of green construction paper and glues onto the page. OR put some green paper through a paper shredder and let the child cut it up into little 'grassy' pieces and glue onto the page.)
  4.  "Take away the sky," (option #1--sponge paint blue sky, option #2--color a blue sky with crayons or markers, option #3--cut a blue sky from blue construction paper and glue it on, option #4--run this text onto sky-blue paper and let the student draw white clouds.)
  5. "But don't take away my Alligator Pie!" (student colors the same clipart from page one.)

 

Two variations that will go as an extension or stand alone are "Alligator Stew" and "Alligator Soup". By keeping the illustrations simple, all three can be produced in a week.

  1. "Alligator stew, alligator stew" (clipart of bowl or pot with alligator's head popping out.)
  2. "If I don't get some, I don't know what I'll do" (draw self, hands out, palms up, with a speech balloon overhead saying "Oh no!)
  3.  "Take away my baseball cap, take away my shoe" (clipart)
  4.  "But don't take away my alligator stew!" (same as page one.)

 

  1. "Alligator soup, alligator soup" (soup bowl with alligator's head popping out.)
  2.  "If I don't get some, I think I'm going to droop" (draw self 'drooping'--head to the side.)
  3. "Take away my hockey stick, take away my hoop" (blackline of stick and hoop to color.)
  4. "But don't take away my alligator soup!" (same as page one.)

 

The Cover:

A cute piece of alligator clipart, enlarged to fit the cover, could be glued on with the sentence strip of the title. Another idea-----Judy/Instructo (now Frank Shaffer), has a reptile theme book in which there was a huge alligator. Photocopy it, half on one sheet and half on another sheet. The students then cut the two halves, glue them together to make one LARGE alligator. The whole, large 'gator may then be glued onto a 6x18 piece of construction paper, then fold it to have it become the cover.

The Perfect Pizza

This book is extremely visual and very popular with the children. You could also make a 'big book' version of oaktag and have it laminated for durability. Here are the seven "ingredients" for the pizza.

PIZZA CRUSTS: Trace, for each student, six "crusts" onto 12x18 manila art paper. The crust is a circle traced around a deli container. Inside that circle, trace another circle (a smaller paper cup) as this will be the inside "guideline" for painting the sauce.

SAUCE: The sauce is tempra paint.Mix red and brown until you obtain the color of pizza sauce. The students will paint the inner circle on 5 of the pizza crusts, leaving one unpainted. The area left unpainted looks like the edge of the pizza crust.

TOMATO CHUNKS: This is optional, but makes a nice effect. Cut itty-bitty pieces of red scrap paper to mix with the "sauce". This looks nice if you like chunky tomato sauce.

CHEESE: Put some yellow and white paper through the office shredder. Filling a plastic grocery sack will be more than enough for the entire class. Cut the shredded strips into managable sizes. Students glue these strips onto the sauce covered crusts.

PEPPERONI: Make a blackline master of small circles that can be duplicated onto red paper. Each student will need about 12-15 pieces of pepperoni.

ANCHOVIES: You can use the fish crackers, but they tend to crush and make a real mess. The best idea is to make a blackline master of small fish shapes and have the students color them. Each student will need just a few for the last page of the pizza book.

BOINGERS: Use red scrap paper. Cut into small strips about 1/2" wide and 2" long. Fold them in half and glue one fold to the last page of the book, and glue some anchovies onto the folded area that "boings" out! (You can make "boingers" that fold accordian-style, but they are difficult to keep in place.)

The Pages:

The pages are white paper that fit into a 6x18 {folded in half} cover.

1) Make a crust. (Students cut and glue the ONE crust that is not painted onto the first white page in the book.) 
2) Add some sauce. (Students cut and glue ONE crust with sauce only.) 
3) Add some cheese. (Cut and glue another crust with sauce AND shredded cheese.) 
4) Add some pepperoni. (Cut and glue the crust with sauce, cheese, and pepperoni.) 
5) STOP! Hold the anchovies! (Cut and glue the crust with sauce, cheese, pepperoni, AND (one) anchovy, if desired. The other anchovies can be glued onto boingers and glued off to the side of the pizza.) 
6) The End. (This page is blank or with an anchovy or two....)

The Cover:

The title, "The Perfect Pizza", can be glued on. The last pizza with sauce and all the ingredients is glued onto the cover. A cover of green looks nice.

The Tasty Taco

This book is best done later in the school year because the creation of the pages and text are different from previous books in this collection and require more student manipulation of the words on the page.

This is NOT a cumulative book--adding ingredients as you go. That would be too cumbersome and complicated. The book is made with 12x18 sheets of white construction paper cut lengthwise. Each student will need 4 of these 6x18 sheets. Fold the pages in half (now 6x9) and staple at the side fold. This is the actual book, and it has 8 pages.

The Tasty Taco requires a lot of prep work, but it is a very visually appealing book and worth the effort!

You will need to make five 'tortillas' for each student. Use a deli container to trace circles onto manila art paper. After the students cut out their five, lightly write their name on the back of each, paperclip together, and store until needed.

 

'Ingredients' to Have on Hand

TORTILLAS: Have the students "cook" their tortillas by putting the 'tortillas' on the sidewalk or a stucco surface and rubbing a peeled brown crayon over them.

MEAT: Use any dark colored construction paper scrap that can be scrunched up, mooshed and cut into pieces to look like hamburger! You could also use bits of brown yarn. If you like chicken tacos, use tan paper.

CHEESE: Feed yellow and white construction or butcher paper into a shredder. Cut the resulting strips into manageable pieces.

LETTUCE: Feed light/medium/dark green paper into a shredder. Cut these, also, into manageable pieces.

TOMATOES: Trace tomato-size circles onto red paper. Retrace two half circle shapes INSIDE these circles. They look like tomato slices, especially if you dot in seeds. Each student needs two or three that can be cut into chunks.

SAUCE: (Two choices) Sour cream can be made by mixing white tempera paint with white glue and saturate cotton balls. These take 24 hours to dry, so plan accordingly. Guacamole can be made by mixing green and peach tempera paint until you get the desired shade.

JALAPENOS: Trace a jalapeno shape onto dark green construction paper. These and the tomatoes can be traced onto white paper and photocopied onto colored paper for the students to cut.

The Pages:

Type the text using 26pt. century gothic or comic sans font. Cut the sentence strips for each student--one strip per page. The text is cut apart into words and placed along the bottom of the page AFTER the ingredients are in place. This can be done as a group activity, asking the students to show you each word, lay them down in order, then glue them onto the page. Glue sticks are the best adhesive because it doesn't ooze out of the edges.

The students may do the pages one at a time, leaving the books open to dry overnight. Each page uses a half a tortilla. Allow the students to fold their tortilla and cut on the fold line. The straight edge is laid along the bottom of the page, LEAVING ROOM for the text. The 'chunky stuff', meat, tomato, cheese, and lettuce is glued onto the appropriate tortilla half. The sauce is painted on. And, the sour cream is 'glopped' on----messy, but enjoyed! The jalapenos can be glued atop a "boinger".  Boingers can be made by accordion - folding a thin strip of paper, glue one end to the page, and glue the other end to the jalapeno. More jalapenos could be glued on around the tortillas just for 'effect'.

1) Get a tortilla. 
2) Add some meat. 
3) Add some cheese. 
4) Add some lettuce
5) Add some tomatoes. 
6) Add some sauce. (or sour cream) 
7) Stop! Hold the jalapenos!

The Cover:

The cover of the book is a full tortilla, folded in half. One half is glued onto the cover, and the tortilla falls open with the full range of ingredients glued inside. On this tortilla, add the sauce first because it overwhelms the other ingredients if added later. (We all know the kindergarten motto is "More is Better!") After applying the sauce, add a dollop of glue and liberally apply the other ingredients. It is wise to do the cover last, allowing the students to work in small groups, retrieving the ingredients from a buffet of deli containers.

The pointer is a Popsicle stick with a jalapeno sticker glued on it.