Three Little Beavers

Diehl, Jean Heilprin.
Three Little Beavers.
Sylvan Dell Publishing.
February 2012.
Review copy provided courtesy of publisher.

In Three Little Beavers, children are introduced to beaver siblings, Beatrix, Bevan and Beverly, who live with their parents near the lodge at Beaver Creek.  As is true in nearly all families, the beaver siblings all strive to hold a place and purpose in their life.  Bevan is an expert with twigs and mud (a must-do for these dam builders)!  Beverley performs all kinds of underwater flips and tricks (a well-known characteristic of beavers).  Poor Beatrix is struggling to find her place in the family - she tries hard at everything she does, but it seems as though everything goes wrong - mud patches fall off the dam and her tumbling and diving need practice.  Beatrix sets off on a trip with the intention of discovering her skills and talents but ultimately finds more wrong, as she gets caught in a trap... along with her siblings once they discover she is missing and try to go about finding her.  It is then that Beatrix discovers her skills and talents - staying calm in frightening situations and facing them head on with bravery!

There is much to be learned about dam-building creatures in Three Little Beavers.  Along with all the knowledge for little ones to pick up on, children are likely to quickly pick up on the "moral" of the story - everyone has a special gift/talent of some sort - you just have to be persistent in finding it and not give up looking just because it's taking you longer than someone else!

Reading/Learning Activities:

• Sylvan Dell Publishing has provided a Teaching Activities guide available on their website to use as a companion to Three Little Beavers.   An activity that I could see using with preschoolers is on page 6: Language Arts & Science: Five Senses, in which children share words that they heard in the story relating to each of the five senses.  
• There are also other books available to use if children take a further interest in beavers: Look Inside a Beaver's Lodge by Megan Cooley Peterson and The Adventures of Buddy the Beaver: Buddy Explores the Pond by Carson Clark are just a couple that are very informative, yet simple enough for young children.

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Guidecraft Educators Review and Giveaway Link: High Rise Step-Up

Each month, the Guidecraft Educators will share our honest feelings about a Guidecraft product(s) and how these products would fare in an early childhood classroom. This month's selection is from the Household Helpers line - the High Rise Step-Up.   This product would make a wonderful addition to any household with young children or a classroom with "average" size sinks/counters.  Unfortunately, our sink is child level, so I didn't have the opportunity to put this to use in my own room, but rather passed it along to our Early Head Start program for use in one of their classrooms.  I did not however, receive any photos of the High Rise Step-Up in use... :(

Thoughts on the High Rise Step-Up

The High Rise Step-Up was a very sturdy piece of furniture and easy to construct.  It seems as though it would be very useful in a kitchen or bathroom, in which children tend to have limited accessibility to sink and counter space.  The non-slip padding on the stairs is especially handy, as the high rise step up would most likely be used in an area where it could quickly become wet and slippery.

If I were placed in a classroom where furniture was at "average" height I would have been thrilled to put this product to use, as it has received raving reviews from other reviews of the Guidecraft Educators group!

So... what do other 'Guidecraft Educators' have to say about the High Rise Step-Up?

Maureen at Simply Stacie
Andrea at MommyPR
Deborah at Teach Preschool
Carrie from Huppie Mama
Jody from Mommy Moment
Candace at Mamanista!
Lisa from Planet Weidknecht
Vanessa from Pre-K Pages

The Giveaway

Guidecraft is generously offering ONE lucky reader of the Guidecraft Educators group a High Rise Step-Up!!! To enter, head on over and check out Lisa's post at Planet Weidknecht before midnight ET on June 17th.


Or... if you just can't wait to win it and NEED it now, it can be purchased online at:
Guidecraft.com or Amazon.com

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If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!