Mr. L's Book Selection

It’s not just a box. It’s Pre-K!!!!!

Sometimes you find a book that immediately makes you believe that it’s perfect for what you want to accomplish with your little pre-k students regarding imagination. “Not a Box” by Antoinette Portis is just that book. A book with a simple cover that just from the start will leave plenty of room to fill in the blanks with your student’s imagination… just like a cardboard box. How many times have we have seen in our own family, pictures or videos of kids having so much fun just with a cardboard box? Well, the character of the book is a little bunny who reminds us as adults how fun it is to believe that a box is not just a box, it’s whatever you want it to be, from a car to a mountain or even a submarine. However, people keep telling the bunny that it is just a box. This little bunny does not give up and on each page he shows that the box can be transformed into something different.

This little bunny and his idea of transforming the box into whatever his imagination wants it to be, is an example of how people who are not familiar with the pre-k classroom, may perceive the interaction between the students and teacher, as chaotic, and “just play time.” The students at each center are using and applying what they know, not what someone else with a worksheet is telling them to do. In pre-k we are not just a box, we are what we want to be, we are hope, and we really are the future. In Pre-k we want to believe that every kid has the potential of being a talented and gifted student. For that reason, our instruction needs to reach every student. This book has that potential. I recommend this book to anyone, no matter the grade level or the age. Imagination is for everyone, not just for little kids.

As a follow up to the reading, we asked the students in what they will like to transform a box. After brainstorming, the students (as a family project) will come back home with their “box revolution”. We will ask them to explain, what their box is and why they choose that specific idea. I will have to confess, that I made a mistake. I asked the students what they will like to transform their box into after I read the book. Next year I will show them a box and I will ask in what they will transform the box, take notes of that and then read the book.  What do you think? What would you suggest?