Gobble It Up!

A Fun Song About Eating! by Jim Arnosky. I had the pleasure to have Jim Arnosky come to my school a few years ago as an author visit. He is an author, illustrator, musician, and storyteller. What impressed me the most about his visit was how he talked with the children about his observations and how these observations of nature and life become his written work. I was thrilled to see this book in a box of new things I collected in June for my new kdg. classroom.

B and I read it yesterday for quiet time and these are her thoughts, she wanted to help me, this morning.

-"I liked it when they had panda bears in the book, my friend came from China and she knows about panda bears."

-"I liked this story because it came with a song on a CD."

-"And I loved your book."

The book does come with a music CD and we had great fun listening to the upbeat tune song by Jim Arnosky, as we enjoyed the text. The story tells you about various animal's hunting behavior and their eating habits. It begins with a raccoon and the reader learns they hunt for crawdads, eating them "shells and all." I was surprised she wasn't bothered by the crocodile gobbling up the ducklings. The book/song has an easy refrain that is repeated to allow the children to engage and read/sing along pretty quickly.

"Yes, you would. Yes, you would. You'd gobble them up and they'd taste good."

The book ends with a panda eating rare bamboo and I thought it was great for him to include an animal that doesn't eat other animals to survive. I was surprised to read he worked with acrylic paint because they instantly gives you the soothing effect of watercolors. I think songs and literature will become a big part of our literacy learning in my kdg. classroom.