Rainy Days and Mondays

I missed the April showers, but in my neck of the woods May is actually one of the wettest months on average, so if your May is rainy too, here are some of my favorite rainy day books titles, just for you.

• Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema - One of my all time favorite stories, especially for a rainy day. The repetition in this book is great for phonological awareness and pre-reading skill development.
• Just a Thunderstorm by Gina and Mercer Mayer - Little Critters can get scared by thunderstorms some times, this story shows how Little Critter and family deal with a storm.
• Lila and the Secret of Rain by David Conway and Jude Daly - If you like Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain then you will love this book too. It tells the story of how a Masai girl saves her village from drought.
• One Big Rain: Poems for Rainy Days compiled by Rita Gray - This book has poems for all the seasons, rain and shine. It is a good book for developing phonological awareness, as well as for teaching poetry.
• Rain Dance by Kathi Appelt - This short and simple rhyming book is great for 0-3 year olds as well as early readers. It help introduce numbers as well as having some great word choice!
• Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons - Gail Gibbons is an excellent author of children's non-fiction and this book does not disappoint. This book was one of my favorite weather books growing up, and it still holds up today.
• Wet Weather: Rain Showers and Snowfall by Jonathan D. Kahl - This is a great non-fiction book about the water cycle and precipitation, especially good for older kids.

Even though I love the rain and we need those showers every year for the plants to grow and for the water we all drink, it is also worth remembering those in the Midwest and South who have been hit hard by the weather so far this spring. Check out the Red Cross for information on how your family can donate money and supplies to the victims of the tornadoes and floods.