Time to Sleep

Read from openlibrary for Children's Books group.

Unlike some other members, I really like this myself. I don't know how thrilled I would be to read it aloud a whole bunch of times, but I can certainly imagine that some children would like the wittiness of the circular story and ask for the repeated readings.

I also think it's for the youngest children, not those who already have learned about hibernation and estivation. I find it easy to forgive the silliness of the premise. After all, these are friends looking out for one another, always a good theme.

I love the illustrations the way a child would, without particularly caring how impressive the amount of craft that went into making them. They're bright, and warm, almost tactile. I think show more it would make a good board book.

I like Fleming's work. Her Small Small Pond is probably the most famous... at least it came to mind first for me. show less

This book was super cute! Bear realized winter was coming, so he wanted to tell Snail, and Snail wanted to tell Skunk. The list goes on until Ladybug comes to Bear, where Ladybug realizes Bear was already sleeping in his cave because of winter. The animals find their places to stay during winter, and each animal tells an aspect of how they know winter is on its way. For example, Bear can smell it in the air, and Woodchuck can see the leaves falling from the trees. This provides children with reasons to know that winter is coming, and it shows the children how these animals hibernate during the winter.

It is a cute book that has the animals talk to each other. They remind each other that they need to prepare for hibernation time. This is a book that the younger students would enjoy. They would be amazed by the great drawings. This story would be used for a lesson to remind students to look out for each other the same way the animals did.

A very pretty book, and a good way to teach children while encouraging them to read.

This was a really nice book. I love its colorful illustrations. I found that the style of the illustrations is very different. For example dark, deep colors are used. All of the pictures look like they have texture as well. I also like how the story comes in full circle. It starts with the bear in the beginning, and then ends with the bear again. The main idea of the story is to introduce hibernation, and to show how it is nice to keep friends informed.

i liked the way all the animals thought to share the news of the new weather with other animals. I thought this teaches children to help others prepare for something whilst most importantly telling them how some animals prepare for the winter season.e.g when turtle went to woodchuck, he told him,"its time for you to burrow down and sleep", and woochuck hibernates underground during the winter season but only after he has eaten enough to store as can be seen in his reply,"my skin is so tight i could not eat another bite"

Summary:
This picturebook tells a story about the woodland creatures learning that it is time to go into hibernation for the winter. In the beginning of the book bear realizes that it is "time to sleep" however she cannot sleep just yet, first she must tell snail. The story continues with the news being passed on to each of the other the animals by the one that learned before them. The animals include a bear, a snail, a skunk, a turtle, woodchuck, and a ladybug. With each animal that the news is passed on to the story tells how the animal knows that winter is coming and that it is time to hibernate, as well as how each animal hibernates. The story ends with each animal telling each other goodnight for the winter and that they will see show more each other in the spring.

Personal Reaction:
I greatly enjoyed this book. I love that it provides so much quality information while still being to the point, interesting and entertaining. The artwork in this book is very engaging and does a great job of portraying the setting of the story. It not only depicts the animal themselves, but also the habitat in which they live, including the forest and their individual homes in the woods. It also shows the changes taking place in the environment that tell the animals that it is time to hibernate.

Classroom Extension:
1. Plant a winter bulb - use winter dormancy in plants to help explain winter hibernation in animals. Bulbs, tubers, perennials and trees sit quietly over winter, and then 'wake up' again in the spring. Demonstrate this sleeping-waking similarity by planting bulbs. Plant your bulb in it's 'nest' of dirt, keep it in a cool place over the winter, and watch for signs of it 'waking up' in the spring.
2.Hibernation Game - Have all the children sit in a cirle. One child will sit in the middle and pretend to sleep all curled up like a bear hibernating. Make sure their eyes stay closed! Pick a child and have them sneak up and touch the bear then quickly return to their spot in the circle. Then everyone in the circle says WAKE UP SLEEPY BEAR! WAKE UP! and the child will then sit up and have to guess who woke them up. Let them guess 3 times. show less