BOOK GUIDE sheet:Up, Down, and Around, by katherine ayres

Supporting literacy development & school readiness.

Up, Down, and Around is an exciting way for the children in your care to learn all about vegetables and how they grow! This book will provide opportunities for children to learn the names, shapes, and growing patterns of vegetables, supporting cognitive development through scientific inquiry and spatial awareness. It also features bright colors and rhyming language, which promote early literacy development. You and the children in your care will have fun perhaps adding movement and making plans to try some of these foods!

INtroducing the book

Sing a story time song!

  • This increases engagement and builds a routine, so children know what to expect.

Discuss the book cover before reading.

  • Invite children to use their “magic fingers” to point to and name what they see. As if they can name any of the vegetables shown, their colors, etc. How many children are there?

Introduce characters and concepts beforehand.

  • Who here likes vegetables? What kinds do you like? Where do they grow? Have you ever been to a garden? This story is all about how to grow and prepare yummy, colorful vegetables…
Reading the book

Use the illustrations to discuss:

  • Colors:Brownsoil;orangepumpkin;redwatering can;yellowcorn;greydog
  • Shapes and sizes:Roundtomatoes;tallcorn;smallseeds;ovalpotatoes
  • Numbers:Twochildren;oneshovel;fivecarrots;manyseeds
  • Relationships:The seeds go under the soil; The ___ grows up; The ___ grows down; The vines curve around; The water splashes on top of the boy’s head

Invite children to relate parts of the story to their own experiences.

  • Have you ever seen any of these vegetables? What is your favorite to eat?
  • Have you ever been to a garden? Have you ever grown something?

Have the children reason things out, predict, and make choices.

  • What do you think will happen after the seeds are planted?
  • Why do you think they are watering the plants?
  • What do you think they will do with the vegetables?

Break up the reading and increase engagement by providing opportunities for group movement.

  • Invite the children to jump up everytime they hear the word “up” and crouch down when they hear the word “down.” For “around and around” they can turn in circles.

© The Parent-Child Home Program, 2017