All Kinds of Families by Mary Ann Hoberman

In "All Kinds of Families" Mary Ann Hoberman introduces children to the notion of family and tries to show us in her poetry that all the things around us can belong to some sort of family. All sorts of objects from celery stalks to bottle caps, silverware, animals when grouped together in specific relations can form groups of families. It teaches children to see various relationships between objects and animals, its size, color and shape. Children get insight and understanding of their own family and the relationships withing it. As we grow our families grow too.

I would like to use this picture book to introduce children to poetry, different ways of associating things in this world, and to teach them about relationships within the family. I loved the illustrations and the rhyme.  It makes me think about all possible combinations we can make by grouping objects with various criteria in mind.  I would have students ask questions about the family groups Marry Ann Hobberman mentions.  We would discuss characteristic of a family  throughout the reading of the book.  We would then find some things in our classroom  that we could group together to form a family.  I would also have students draw and write about their own families.