The Teeny Tiny Teacher

Title: The Teeny Tiny Teacher

Author: Calmenson, Stephanie

Illustrator: Roche, Denis

Publisher: Scholastic Inc., 1998

Genre: Picture Book

Age Range: k-1



Summary: This book is all about the "teeny tiny teacher and her teeny tiny class." The class decides to go on a "teeny tiny walk." While outside, the teacher finds a teeny tiny bone and decides to take it back with her to use during a science lesson. When the teeny tiny class gets back in the teeny tiny classroom, the teeny tiny teacher forgets all about the bone. Mysterious utterances like, "give me my bone!" are heard. The teeny tiny teacher thinks it is a student, but learns it is coming from their teeny tiny closet. The teacher ends up telling the voice to take the bone. The ghost disappears and all is happy in the teeny tiny world.



Response: One of my first impressions was that the teeny tiny teacher sure does have a BIG voice! I loved this book! The repition of "teeny tiny" really made this book fun for me. One of my favorite things about this book were the pictures. I loved the idea of the teeny tiny school actually being "teeny tiny." The school made from a a notebook, pencils, and eraser was very intelligent. Even the library and recreation center were made from materials that were used in them. This book reminded me a lot of the kids game "Doggie Doggie Where's Your Bone?" and also of the book/movie Thumbelina.



Teaching Ideas: This book could be read for pure enjoyment, or could be used to pull different elements from. For example, this would be a great book to just read to students. However I can see it being used as more. Students could actually build their own teeny tiny houses, out of the materials shown in the teeny tiny village. Students could explore the idea of perception. The pictures in this book tell a great story. Teeny tiny people see things different than we do. Students could discuss and write a whole story of their own about what these teeny tiny people see. I could also see this being used in the high school classroom. Older students could learn about the effects of repition and alliteration. This would be a great story to introduce those two elements.