My Doctor and Me ABC: Children's Book Review

** I received a digital copy of this book to preview as a gift. After reading and enjoying, I agreed to write a review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own. I was not compensated financially in any way. Also included in this post are my Amazon Affiliate links to the book.**

If you are a regular follower of little illuminations, you know that one of my passions is children's literature. I love collecting it, reading it and especially sharing it! I try to provide my students with a wide variety of reading material on our bookshelf relating to the topic we are currently discussing. Just before beginning our study on community helpers, the stars aligned and I received a message asking if I would like to preview an e-copy of a new book for children about going to the doctor called "My Doctor and Me ABC" written by Dr. Stephanie Cox, M.D. and illustrated by Emily Burger. Score!!!

Photos from "My Doctor a.nd Me ABC" used with permission from author

"My Doctor and Me ABC" is an adorably fun book that presents a healthy habit, body part, instrument or  medical exam component using a medical vocabulary word that goes with each letter of the alphabet, along with a little rhyme. It is like taking a mini field trip to the doctor's office!

Photos from "My Doctor a.nd Me ABC" used with permission from author

The illustrations are adorable and illustrate each concept well.

Photos from "My Doctor a.nd Me ABC" used with permission from author

Photos from "My Doctor a.nd Me ABC" used with permission from author

Dr. Stephanie Cox is a Family Physician in Iowa and enjoys caring for the children in her practice. She wrote the book in an effort to ease fears for children experiencing a doctor's visit. 

"My Doctor and Me ABC" has already received some notable attention. It has just won an Honorable Mention from the 2014 Readers' Choice 2014 International Book Awards. I'm sure it will be on some of the other book award lists soon!

I love the rhyming text and the use of common medical jargon. I think it is never too early to start helping children learn correct terminology--and this book does this beautifully without going over their heads!

Photos from "My Doctor a.nd Me ABC" used with permission from author

I read the book to my class and they LOVED it! I would definitely recommend getting this book for children before visiting the doctor's office or for teachers to use when learning about health and wellness or doctors/community helpers.

If you would like to purchase the book, you may click on my Amazon Affiliate link below:

Dr. Cox also has a facebook page for the book: "My Doctor and Me ABC" on which she shares about the book and posts and articles about kids' health. Stop by and give her page a "like" and be sure to let her know little illuminations sent you!

I love to read your thoughts and comments! Please share them in the "Comments" section below this post!

Going To The Doctor: Our Community Helpers

****Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.****

Going to the doctor can be scary for kids. When we talk about community helpers, I always include discussions and books about people in the medical profession. We talk about why it is important to have regular check-ups, going for sick visits and even immunizations. No one likes getting a shot, and preschoolers are often even more apprehensive since they are precisely at an age where many of the booster immunizations are administered. I think helping children know what to anticipate during a visit can be reassuring and helps to alleviate some of the fear. Whenever possible, I try to have parents (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) come in and share what they do. 

One of our parents (a doctor) came to visit and shared a sweet book called "What's In A Doctor's Bag?" by Neil Shulman and Sibley Fleming. She then pulled out items from her doctor's bag and demonstrated each item. Later, she let the kids explore and experiment with the items. The children listened to their heartbeats and had their reflexes tested. 

In our small groups later in the week, children made a little doctor kit, placing some of the first aid supplies inside while discussing what each item was used for.

 

We had a pharmacist (another parent) come to speak to our class. She talked about medicines, first aid and spreading germs. We did a great little experiment on spreading germs. She added some fine glitter to a bottle of hand sanitizer to simulate germs and gave two children a little squirt to rub on their hands. Each child shook hands with another student and that student continued to pass on the handshake. After everyone had finished, we looked at our hands. Even though only two people had the hand sanitizer germs, almost everyone had a little glitter on their hands! This really helped illustrate the concept of spreading germs in a concrete way. 

After talking about simple wound care (such as bug bites, cuts and scrapes), she gave use a little first aid kit for our class. We already have a pretty extensive first aid kit both in our classroom and in our school office, but this one is perfect to use on the fly for field trips. 

One of our neighboring classes did a cute craft about x rays. The students traced around their arms with chalk on black paper and glued cotton swabs to represent bones on the x ray. Too cute!!!!

I am so fortunate to have such great parents that are willing to come in to share their occupations with the class! I think many of the children's fears were eased by getting to know our community helpers and asking questions. Thank you, Dr. Syed, and Mrs. Williams for sharing your time and expertise with us!

If you'd like more information about the book Dr. Syed read to our class, click the link below.  My Amazon Affiliate link:

And a few links for "medical" supplies for doctor/medical play:

           

I'd love to read your thoughts or comments! Please share them below the post!

14 "Must-See" Sunday School Bulletin Boards, Doors and More!

While the norm here on little illuminations is posting about our adventures in Pre-K, I have recently started teaching Sunday School. We've had a small team of angels (especially Kristy and Lori) that worked tirelessly to make our Sunday School rooms bright, energetic and inviting. The decor is just SO fabulous, that I had to share them here with you! 

Our Sunday School program is centered around stations that the children (ages K-5) rotate through on various weeks. Stations include art, drama/storytelling, science, games and cooking. We also have  nursery, preschool and middle school rooms.

I just love this rainbow and cloud! It makes the room such a cozy place for children to curl up with a book!

This cross is just beautiful! Made by placing tape in the shape of a cross and painting stripes of color over it. When dry, remove the tape. I want to make one of these to hang in my home!

I love this Noah's Ark wall mural! Even the youngest members of our church are blessed with gorgeous surroundings!

The theme in our art/cooking/science is "God is the Master Artist…Master Chef…Master Scientist…Master of All Creations".

Don't you just love this giant paint brush and palette in our art area?

These decorations in our cooking area are just too sweet!!!

In our drama room, this is a great way to "spotlight" our learning focus each week.

I love the Imagination Station! It just pops with color and creativity! The theme is "Gears...Setting our minds on God."

The pièce de résistance is this FABULOUS 3-D Albert Einstein bulletin board! 

We are SO blessed to have such creative folks leading the way for our Christian Education program! They have done such a wonderful job to make this an exciting and inviting space for our younger members of the church family. 

I love to hear your thoughts---share them in the comment section below! 

Brand New!

We started back to school earlier this month and everything seems BRAND NEW! The students are all new to Pre-K and some of them are new to the school. My assistant and I are BRAND NEW teachers to the students, even though we've been in the school for several years. I've changed our class mascot from fish to owls, so there are new owl decorations everywhere! There is just something about things being new that seems to make life just a little more exciting!

On the first day of school, I took pictures of the students that will go in a memory book for them at the end of the year. I posed them in front of one of the bulletin boards that will have seasonal changes, but basically remain the same. At the end of the year, we'll take another picture in the same place and be able to see how much they've changed and grown!

Also in the first week, I had each of them color a circle to decorate a large owl in our room. Later, these circles will be placed in their memory books, as well.

My classroom received a refurbishment grant this year to replace worn out materials and classroom supplies. One of the big things I got was a new rug! Isn't it bright and beautiful? It is humongous and has spots for everyone to have a little personal space.

We also got a few new bikes for our playground. I chose the "big wheel" style and they have been a big hit! There are always friends waiting for a turn!

I have wanted MagnaTile blocks for a long time, but frankly, they are very expensive and there are always so many other things I need. I was able to use some of the grant money to purchase a set. I am amazed at the creativity and imaginative things the children create with them. I picked the translucent blocks with the plan of using them with light box I'm making. They will look great when lit up, I think!

We got some new foam blocks that are great for building and perfect for use with the new animals we got for the block center!

Some of our dramatic play costumes had seen much better days. We ordered several new ones. This is the NASA astronaut uniform that we got! (It is especially nice paired with awesome cowboy boots! ;)

I love this little couch and chair set that we purchased with refurbishment funds! I broke the set up and now have a cozy spot to curl up with a book in reading center and added the sofa to our dramatic play area.

One of the things that was a combination of new and not-new was our old sensory table. It was so bulky that often I use big bins or a tabletop sensory table in the classroom. I repurposed our old bulky table to the playground for outdoor sensory fun. The kids are really enjoying having it outside!

Even the way the children are experimenting with familiar materials seems "brand new". Watching this new class explore in centers and try new techniques brings me a little joy each day.

I'm sure that as time goes by, these things will all become worn, well loved and lack their "new" appeal, but for now we are enjoying the discovery of "brand new"! I have a few more items that I haven't put out right away, just to savor the excitement of having something fresh for later on. Hope your "brand new" school year is off to a good start!

If you'd like to read more about our first day of Pre-K, hop on over to PreK+K Sharing and read "On The First Day of Pre-K..."