I know a lot of things

by Ann and Paul Rand was the perfect book to talk about what children already know when they come to school. Children are gathering information and knowledge from the moment they are born and to assume they are coming to school to learn, is limiting in ways for our students. Andie Cunningham and Ruth Shagourgy talk about Discovering Expertise in their book Starting with Comprehension which I reviewed here. "In the five years on this planet, these children have all become experts in parts of their lives." Two of their goals in the beginning of the year is to uncover a child's personal strengths as well as discovering curriculum possibilities. As I read about this idea this summer, I knew I wanted to find a picture book to foster our work and painting of our expertise.

I know a lot of things, is written from the voice of a child who notices the world around them and values what they see. "I know a cat goes meow." "And even an ant could carry a load on his back big as a berry", this is my favorite illustration. One ant carrying a large berry upon it's back against a background of soft pink paper. The illustrations are muted tones and simplistic. The book was originally published in 1956, before the illustrators media was listed in the book information, but I would love to know exactly what they used. Throughout the book you can hear the voice of a child, "a book needs pages and a cake takes ages to bake." Check in with your students and find out what are they experts at, what do they know a lot about, it will help you understand them.