Title: “I Love to Brush My Teeth”

Author: Shelley Admont

Date of Publication: March 5, 2014

Publisher: Shelley Admont Publishing; Kids Kiddos Books Ltd.

• Description and Reason for Choosing:
  • This book is about a bunny named Jimmy who doesn’t like to brush his teeth and lies about doing so. One day Jimmy’s toothbrush comes to life and talks to him about the importance of brushing his teeth. Still, he refuses to brush his teeth and through a series of unfortunate events, Jimmy realizes that he has to brush his teeth in order to be healthy. This is the best book for kids because it helps them learn that it is important to take care of their teeth. This book can be read before a mini-lesson on Brushing Our Teeth, and can be followed by a class discussion of why brushing is important and what the class learned from reading the book.

• YouTube video of read-aloud:
  • “Children’s book read aloud I Love to Brush My Teeth”

• Comparison to Other Books:
  • “The Tooth Book” by Dr. Seuss also talks about the importance of brushing one’s teeth, but the beginning of the book is all about who has teeth. The beginning of “I Love to Brush My Teeth” is about how Jimmy really doesn’t like to brush his teeth. This makes “I Love to Brush My Teeth” a stronger book because of the drastic character change in Jimmy. That change is convincing and it’s easy to see the difference in Jimmy from the beginning to the end, when he does want to brush his teeth.
  • “The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist” by Stan and Jan Berenstain is a book about two young bears going to the dentist. In this book, the dentist filled Brother’s cavity and pulled out Sister’s tooth. It also referenced that lollipops aren’t good for one’s teeth. This isn’t as strong as “I Love to Brush My Teeth” because the “Berenstain Bears” book focuses more on the sister losing her tooth rather than on dental health. Even while it does talk about cavities and how sugar isn’t good for one’s teeth, “I Love to Brush My Teeth” focuses on the importance of daily brushing, which is what we want the kids to know.

• Core Integration for 2nd Graders:
  • As a follow up assignment to our discussion about teeth brushing, we could have the kids write a narrative answering this prompt: “What made Jimmy decide to finally brush his teeth? Describe the events in order.” This would cause the students to recount an event, use temporal words to signal event order, and include details to describe actions. It would also cause them to describe how Jimmy responded to the events. In many classrooms, teachers will do a read-aloud and then have students do an assignment similar to this, so ideally this would be something the kids are used to doing. By doing this assignment, they would learn the importance of brushing their teeth and develop their writing and comprehension skills.

• Health Learning Objective:
  • Students will be able to understand the importance of brushing their teeth daily through class discussion.

• Common Core Standards for 2nd Graders:
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.3: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, a
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges and provide a sense of closure.

• NHES Standards Applicable:
  • NHES 1: “Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to
    enhance health.”
  • PHW1.2.1 “Identify the proper steps for daily brushing and flossing teeth.”
    • HBO 1: “Brush and Floss Teeth daily.”
  • • HBO 2: “Practice appropriate hygiene habits.”
  • PHW1.2.2 “State why hygiene is important to good health.”
    • HBO 1: “Brush and Floss Teeth daily.”
    • HBO 2: “Practice appropriate hygiene habits.”
  • PHW1.2.10 “Describe what it means to be healthy.”
    • HBO 6: “Practice behaviors that prevent infectious diseases.”
  • PHW1.2.11 “Identify different ways that disease-causing germs are transmitted.”
    • HBO 6: “Practice behaviors that prevent infectious diseases.”
  • PHW1.2.12 “Identify ways to prevent the spread of germs that cause common infectious diseases.”
    • HBO 6: “Practice behaviors that prevent infectious diseases.”