Favorite Children's Author: Tedd Arnold

Hi y'all!  
I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!  I am so excited about our blog post this month!  Actually, I was in turmoil over which author to write about.  I have sooo many favorite authors and to choose one was really tough.   

Who did I choose?   TEDD ARNOLD!!!   If you have ever read any of his stories, you know what I am talking about!!!   Oh, Tedd!!  You always have me and my firsties in stitches with your awesome stories.  My students LOVE this guy!  His illustrations are hysterical, and I love his use of rhyming words.  Plus, who in the world has characters like Green Wilma, Fly Guy, and Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan???? 

(You can click below on the picture to go to his website!)

Just take a look at some of his achievements!!!  Wow!!  He is really rockin' and rollin'! 

I fell in love with Tedd Arnold's work when he wrote Parts!  
It's the cat's meow! 

I even had him sign my own copy of Parts...even his signature is hysterical!  Seriously, I laughed my head off!

The sequel to Parts is called More Parts and it is an absolute hysterical way to introduce idioms to your students, even firsties like mine.  

Here is a video of More Parts so you can check it out!    

Don't you just love his illustrations?  I am cracking up!  

Look at the idiom above!  Have you ever screamed your lungs out? ;) 

Here are some fun idioms you can use in your lessons and with your students!  

Give it a shot - Try
Speak your mind - Say what you really feel
Slipped my mind - I forgot
Be in hot water - Be in trouble
It cost an arm and a leg - It was expensive
It’s in the bag - It’s a certainty
Get cold feet - Be nervous
A rip off - Too expensive
Read between the lines - Find the hidden meaning
Have mixed feelings - Unsure how you feel
Draw a blank - Can’t remember
His head was spinning - Confused person
Get your act together - Behave properly
A basket case - A crazy person
Have a shot at - Have a chance
Be in the same boat - Be in the same situation

A great way to introduce idioms is to capture them in the story.   Drawing and writing about an idiom is also a great way to see how literal the phrase really is!!

Come one!  Try it!!  It's a piece of cake!!  

A great activity is to journal idioms that you read in More Parts.  Just have the students draw and write their idiom in their journal.  I just slap some paper together with a cover and staple it.  It's a journal!!  Encourage them to write idioms in their journals that they may hear at home with family and friends.  

They will get a kick out of it! 

Check out these puzzles you can use to practice idioms!  It's yours!  FREE!!  Give it a whirl!  

You are going to love idioms to pieces!  And you are going to love Tedd Arnold to death.   :)

And don't forget our giveaway!!!  You gotta enter...these are the cutest pencil signs in the world!!!!  :)   

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