Elmer and the Hippos

Elmer teaches children a lesson in sharing and teamwork with the help of some hippos!

McKee, David.
Elmer and the Hippos.
September 2010.
Lerner Publishing Group.
Review copy provided courtesy of publisher.

When Elmer's relatives, the elephants come to him upset that the hippos have taken over their river, Elmer quietly handles matters on his own. Through his handling of the hippo problem, Elmer teaches children to handle issues calmly and rationally, to think things through. Instead of approaching the hippos all upset, Elmer decides to find out why exactly they took over the elephants river. The reasoning was really quite simple - their river had dried up. Upon discovering that their reasoning was indeed true, Elmer sets out to make a plan to help the hippos once again fill their river with water. While both groups of animals work together to create a solution to their problem, they also learn to become friends and see how teamwork pays off in the end!

This is a super story and I do believe I'm going to find myself using it in my Head Start classroom sooner, rather than later!

Learning/Reading Activity:

• Try the Hula Hoop Pass activity... this really gets everyone thinking and verbalizing about how to work together!

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