Clementine by Sara Pennypacker: Uploaded to Amazon.com
Clementine is a delightfully original romp through the wacky world of a sassy nine year old. I read it aloud to my 6 year old daughter and 4 year old son, and they both loved it. From the first page, we were all entertained by Clementine's interpretation of the world around her.
Clementine has had a rough week. No one told her she wasn’t supposed to answer the principal’s phone (she was only trying to be helpful), everyone told her to pay attention (she was paying attention, just to different things), and when she tried to help her best friend, Margaret, solve her hair problem, well, it was just a hard week. And the more Clementine tries to make things right, the harder her week seems to become. How was she supposed to know that glue wouldn’t stick hair back on? Or that cutting and coloring her hair to match Margaret’s was exactly the wrong thing to do? As she tries to sort out the messes she’s made, Clementine is ever cognizant of her role as “the hard one” (as opposed to her little brother, “the easy one”), which makes her worry that her position in the family lies precariously in the balance.
I loved how Pennypacker’s use of language made the text seem to flow right out of Clementine's own mind. For instance, when Clementine's art teacher calls her out for not paying attention, she is quick to step up for herself as she thinks,
"I was the only person in the whole art room who was paying attention. Which is why I could tell everyone in the middle of the Pledge of Allegiance that the lunchroom lady was sitting in the janitor's car and they were kissing. Again. No one else saw this disgusting scene because no one else was paying attention out the window!" (p. 4)
Marla Frazee’s hilarious illustrations, kept us in stitches. They were simple and uncluttered, showing a point of view beyond Clementine’s one-sided rendering of events. For instance, Clementine says that she “accidentally touched [Margaret’s] lamp,” but the illustration on pages 22 and 23 shows a different interpretation of the situation.
My daughter gave Clementine five stars, and I must concur. We can’t wait to read The Talented Clementine next!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Poetry Folder
I will be the first to admit that poetry never has been and probably never will be the genre of choice for my own personal ventures into literature. That said; I’ve enjoyed creating a poetry folder more than I expected. Many of my selections came from either Where the Sidewalk Ends or The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. The former, I actually read and enjoyed as a child, and the latter I recently acquired specifically for this assignment. I hope that this folder will sharpen my skills in searching for interesting poems and act as springboard for me to find creative ways to use poetry in my classroom.
1. “The New Kid on the Block” by Jack Prelutsky
2. “Sick” by Shel Silverstein
3. “Rhyme” by Elizabeth Coastworth
4. “Spring Rain” by Marchette Chute
5. “Thanksgiving Magic” by Rowena Bastin Bennett
6. “The Cares of a Caretaker” by Wallace Irwin
7. “Smart” by Shel Silverstein
8. “Boa Constrictor” by Shel Silverstein
9. “The Little Boy and the Old Man” by Shel Silverstein
10. “Gardner” by J.Patrick Lewis
11. “Little Miss Muffet” by Mother Goose
12. “Clickety Clack” by Rob and Amy Spence
13. “The Four Seasons” by Jack Prelutsky
14. “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore
15. “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket” by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
16. “Galoshes” by Rhoda W. Bacmeister
17. “Basketball’s My Favorite Sport” by Kenn Nesbitt
18. “My Normal Family” by Kathy Kenny-Marshall
19. “The Kindergarten Concert” by Robert Pottle
20. “My Teacher Sees Right Through Me” by Bruce Lansky
1.“The New Kid on the Block” by Jack Prelutsky
I’ve only recently discovered the poems of Jack Prelutsky. I enjoyed the ending of “The New Kid on the Block” because I knew some girls like this when I was in school. I might use it to teach rhyming couplets. But I think it would be more fun to use it in a lesson on following directions. I would ask my students to illustrate the poem only after reading it all the way through to the end, knowing that many of them would only get halfway finished before starting to draw a big, burly boy.
Prelutsky, Jack. “New Kid on the Block.” Children’s Literature, Briefly. Comp. Michael O. Tunnell and James S. Jacobs. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2008. 83.
2. "Sick” by Shel Silverstein
Who couldn’t relate to this poem as a child? I envied little Peggy Ann McKay and her creative ailment on days when I did not feel like going to school. But I was neither a good faker nor good storyteller. I would use this poem to teach rhyme and rhythm and just to keep poetry fun.
Silverstein, Shel. “Sick.” Where the Sidewalk Ends. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. 58-9.
.
3. “Rhyme” by Elizabeth Coatsworth
One of the things I love about living in Lubbock is the storm activity in the spring. I love to watch storm clouds rolling in and the lightning streaking across the sky. So it makes sense that “Rhyme” appeals to me. I love the imagery and the sound of rolling thunder it makes when you read the poem out loud. I would use it in class to teach the use of words to create sound sensations in poetry.
Coatsworth, Elizabeth. “Rhyme.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 30.
4. “Spring Rain” by Marchette Chute
“Spring Rain” amuses me because the last line changes the tone for the rest of the poem. What seems to be a regrettable mistake turns into something fun. I would let students take turns reading it out loud to practice hearing the poetic rhythm.
Chute, Marchette. “Spring Rain.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 42.
5.“Thanksgiving Magic” by Rowena Bastin Bennett
Thanksgiving was a very important holiday in my family. We almost always either hosted extended family or travelled to visit them, and there was always lots of food. “Thanksgiving Magic” reminds me of my mom and granny, both of whom were amazing cooks. The change in the rhyme scheme at the end of the poem surprised me, so I think I would use it to illustrate rhyme scheme in my class.
Bennett, Rowena Bastin. “Thanksgiving Magic.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 46.
6. “The Cares of a Caretaker” by Wallace Irwin
“The Cares of the Caretaker” reminds me of the futility I feel at trying to keep my home dust free in Lubbock. It is an exercise in futility. And yet, I keep on . I would use this poem because I like how Wallace placed a lady cleaning her house in an abnormal context. This twist on what is expected would make a good lesson on imagery and tone.
Irwin, Wallace. “The Cares of a Caretaker.” Oh, What Nonsense!. Comp. William Cole. New York: Viking, 1966. 16.
7. “Smart” by Shel Silverstein
This was one of my favorite poems as a child. I loved the irony, especially the obvious misunderstanding of the dad’s silence. I would use “Smart” to introduce the concept of irony in literature, as it is smart, catchy and very easy to understand.
Silverstein, Shel. “Smart.” Where the Sidewalk Ends. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. 35.
8. “Boa Constrictor” by Shel Silverstein
The ending of this poem engaged my imagination as a child. I put myself in the place of the poor kid being eaten by a snake and wondered what I would do if it happened to me. For teaching purposes, obviously the rhyme and imagery are terrific. But I think I might rewrite it in narrative form and use it to teach the punctuation that goes along with exclamatory remarks.
Silverstein, Shel. “Boa Constrictor.” Where the Sidewalk Ends. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. 45.
9. “The Little Boy and the Old Man” by Shel Silverstein
Although I read a lot of Shel Silverstein’s poetry as a child, I did not discover this one until recently. It touches me as an adult because I remember what it felt like to be young, and yet I still sometimes find myself too busy, important, uncaring, etc. to pay attention to young people and old people. I think this poem would be a good one to use in a social studies unit about the elderly. It’s cute and would probably make the kids laugh, but there is also honest emotion in it that I think some students will be able to appreciate.
Silverstein, Shel. “The Little Boy and the Old Man.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 161.
10. “Gardner” by J. Patrick Lewis
This poem just makes me laugh. The imagery conveyed in the words “uprooted” and “transplanted” is so witty. I would use it just for its entertainment value and also maybe to explore imagery and metaphor.
Lewis, J. Patrick. “Gardner.” Once Upon a Tomb: Gravely Humorous Verses. Illus. Simon Bartram. Cambridge: Candlewick, 2006.
11. “Little Miss Muffet” by Mother Goose
I loved this rhyme when I was little. It did not matter that I did not understand all the words, such as tuffet and curds and whey. I would use this poem, along with others by Mother Goose, to teach rhyming words.
Mother Goose. “Little Miss Muffet.” Richard Scarry’s Best Storybook Ever. Comp. Richard Scarry. New York: Golden Book, 1968.
12. “Clickety Clack” by Rob and Amy Spence
Clickety Clack is published in picture book form, but it has an amazing rhythm when read aloud. I love how the words feel rolling off my tongue when I read it to my children. I would use it in my classroom teach rhythm and sound in poetry.
Spence, Rob and Amy. Clickety Clack. New York: Scholastic, 1999.
13. “The Four Seasons” by Jack Prelutsky
This poem is spilling over with elements of poetry. Imagery, descriptive words, onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhythm, and rhyme abound. I might use it in my class to teach any or all of these things. Or I might just use it in a social studies unit about the four seasons. I like that this poem is versatile, having broad educational potential.
Prelutsky, Jack. “The Four Seasons.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 35.
14. “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore
My dad read “A Visit from St. Nicholas” to my sister and me every Christmas Eve before bed time – only I did not realize that it was a poem. It was bound and illustrated like a children’s book. I only recently discovered that it was poetry in disguise. I would use this poem in my classroom to sneak in poetry unbeknownst to the less than eager poetry readers. I would “prove” that it is a poem by pointing out elements like rhyme scheme, poetic language, and alliteration.
Moore, Clement Clark. “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 50-51.
15. “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket” by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
I like this poem for several reasons. It’s leaves me feeling inspired by the quality of a good poem that has the power to stick with you even into your dreams. I like how the verses flip flop between the first and last stanzas – “keep a poem in your pocket and a picture in your head” becomes “keep a picture in your pocket and a poem in your head.” I just think it’s clever. I also like the image of a poem singing a little one to sleep. I would use this poem in my class in a social studies lesson about making choices. The image of filling your head with a poem to fill loneliness is powerful and I think it can be extended to filling one’s head with thoughts that build up instead of tear down. I believe that you are what you think, and what you think is a choice.
Regniers, Beatrice Schenk de. “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 226.
16. “Galoshes” by Rhoda W. Bacmeister
I love the alliteration and rhyme in this poem. The tongue twister-feeling of the first and third stanzas make reading it aloud a satisfying challenge. In a classroom setting I would use it to demonstrate alliteration.
Bacmeister, Rhoda W. “Galoshes.” http://www.k12.hi.us/~shasincl/poems_prop_cycle_weather.html#galoshes
17. “Basketball’s My Favorite Sport” by Kenn Nesbitt
I like this poem because of its sports theme, which I think would make it appeal to the boys in my class, and because of its storyline. I would use it in class to show that students can write about anything that interests them, even athletics.
Nesbitt, Kenn. “Basketball’s My Favorite Sport.” www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=522&CategoryID=22.
18. “My Normal Family” by Kathy Kenny-Marshall
The “normal” family in this poem does an awful lot of odd things, but normal is often defined by our own personal experiences. I like the last two lines, “We’re very special, can’t you see? We’re just a normal family.” I would use this poem in a unit about what makes families special and how that is different from the way friends are special.
Kenny-Marshall, Kathy. “My Normal Family.” http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=85&CategoryID=28
19. “The Kindergarten Concert” by Robert Pottle
This poem is so true to life! I have lived it. I would use it in a third or fourth grade classroom to get my students’ minds warmed up for an autobiographical writing assignment about first memories of school.
Pottle, Robert. “The Kindergarten Concert.” http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=342&CategoryID=28
20. “My Teacher Sees Right Through Me” by Bruce Lansky
The surprise ending of this poem amuses me because my son is in my class this year. He’s too young to understand the disadvantage his situation poses for him, but when I reread the poem, I could picture an older version of him writing it. I would use it in my class for practice in identifying rhyme scheme, ABCB in this case.
Lansky, Bruce. “My Teacher Sees Right Through Me.” http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=350&CategoryID=1
1. “The New Kid on the Block” by Jack Prelutsky
2. “Sick” by Shel Silverstein
3. “Rhyme” by Elizabeth Coastworth
4. “Spring Rain” by Marchette Chute
5. “Thanksgiving Magic” by Rowena Bastin Bennett
6. “The Cares of a Caretaker” by Wallace Irwin
7. “Smart” by Shel Silverstein
8. “Boa Constrictor” by Shel Silverstein
9. “The Little Boy and the Old Man” by Shel Silverstein
10. “Gardner” by J.Patrick Lewis
11. “Little Miss Muffet” by Mother Goose
12. “Clickety Clack” by Rob and Amy Spence
13. “The Four Seasons” by Jack Prelutsky
14. “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore
15. “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket” by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
16. “Galoshes” by Rhoda W. Bacmeister
17. “Basketball’s My Favorite Sport” by Kenn Nesbitt
18. “My Normal Family” by Kathy Kenny-Marshall
19. “The Kindergarten Concert” by Robert Pottle
20. “My Teacher Sees Right Through Me” by Bruce Lansky
1.“The New Kid on the Block” by Jack Prelutsky
I’ve only recently discovered the poems of Jack Prelutsky. I enjoyed the ending of “The New Kid on the Block” because I knew some girls like this when I was in school. I might use it to teach rhyming couplets. But I think it would be more fun to use it in a lesson on following directions. I would ask my students to illustrate the poem only after reading it all the way through to the end, knowing that many of them would only get halfway finished before starting to draw a big, burly boy.
Prelutsky, Jack. “New Kid on the Block.” Children’s Literature, Briefly. Comp. Michael O. Tunnell and James S. Jacobs. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2008. 83.
2. "Sick” by Shel Silverstein
Who couldn’t relate to this poem as a child? I envied little Peggy Ann McKay and her creative ailment on days when I did not feel like going to school. But I was neither a good faker nor good storyteller. I would use this poem to teach rhyme and rhythm and just to keep poetry fun.
Silverstein, Shel. “Sick.” Where the Sidewalk Ends. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. 58-9.
.
3. “Rhyme” by Elizabeth Coatsworth
One of the things I love about living in Lubbock is the storm activity in the spring. I love to watch storm clouds rolling in and the lightning streaking across the sky. So it makes sense that “Rhyme” appeals to me. I love the imagery and the sound of rolling thunder it makes when you read the poem out loud. I would use it in class to teach the use of words to create sound sensations in poetry.
Coatsworth, Elizabeth. “Rhyme.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 30.
4. “Spring Rain” by Marchette Chute
“Spring Rain” amuses me because the last line changes the tone for the rest of the poem. What seems to be a regrettable mistake turns into something fun. I would let students take turns reading it out loud to practice hearing the poetic rhythm.
Chute, Marchette. “Spring Rain.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 42.
5.“Thanksgiving Magic” by Rowena Bastin Bennett
Thanksgiving was a very important holiday in my family. We almost always either hosted extended family or travelled to visit them, and there was always lots of food. “Thanksgiving Magic” reminds me of my mom and granny, both of whom were amazing cooks. The change in the rhyme scheme at the end of the poem surprised me, so I think I would use it to illustrate rhyme scheme in my class.
Bennett, Rowena Bastin. “Thanksgiving Magic.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 46.
6. “The Cares of a Caretaker” by Wallace Irwin
“The Cares of the Caretaker” reminds me of the futility I feel at trying to keep my home dust free in Lubbock. It is an exercise in futility. And yet, I keep on . I would use this poem because I like how Wallace placed a lady cleaning her house in an abnormal context. This twist on what is expected would make a good lesson on imagery and tone.
Irwin, Wallace. “The Cares of a Caretaker.” Oh, What Nonsense!. Comp. William Cole. New York: Viking, 1966. 16.
7. “Smart” by Shel Silverstein
This was one of my favorite poems as a child. I loved the irony, especially the obvious misunderstanding of the dad’s silence. I would use “Smart” to introduce the concept of irony in literature, as it is smart, catchy and very easy to understand.
Silverstein, Shel. “Smart.” Where the Sidewalk Ends. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. 35.
8. “Boa Constrictor” by Shel Silverstein
The ending of this poem engaged my imagination as a child. I put myself in the place of the poor kid being eaten by a snake and wondered what I would do if it happened to me. For teaching purposes, obviously the rhyme and imagery are terrific. But I think I might rewrite it in narrative form and use it to teach the punctuation that goes along with exclamatory remarks.
Silverstein, Shel. “Boa Constrictor.” Where the Sidewalk Ends. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. 45.
9. “The Little Boy and the Old Man” by Shel Silverstein
Although I read a lot of Shel Silverstein’s poetry as a child, I did not discover this one until recently. It touches me as an adult because I remember what it felt like to be young, and yet I still sometimes find myself too busy, important, uncaring, etc. to pay attention to young people and old people. I think this poem would be a good one to use in a social studies unit about the elderly. It’s cute and would probably make the kids laugh, but there is also honest emotion in it that I think some students will be able to appreciate.
Silverstein, Shel. “The Little Boy and the Old Man.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 161.
10. “Gardner” by J. Patrick Lewis
This poem just makes me laugh. The imagery conveyed in the words “uprooted” and “transplanted” is so witty. I would use it just for its entertainment value and also maybe to explore imagery and metaphor.
Lewis, J. Patrick. “Gardner.” Once Upon a Tomb: Gravely Humorous Verses. Illus. Simon Bartram. Cambridge: Candlewick, 2006.
11. “Little Miss Muffet” by Mother Goose
I loved this rhyme when I was little. It did not matter that I did not understand all the words, such as tuffet and curds and whey. I would use this poem, along with others by Mother Goose, to teach rhyming words.
Mother Goose. “Little Miss Muffet.” Richard Scarry’s Best Storybook Ever. Comp. Richard Scarry. New York: Golden Book, 1968.
12. “Clickety Clack” by Rob and Amy Spence
Clickety Clack is published in picture book form, but it has an amazing rhythm when read aloud. I love how the words feel rolling off my tongue when I read it to my children. I would use it in my classroom teach rhythm and sound in poetry.
Spence, Rob and Amy. Clickety Clack. New York: Scholastic, 1999.
13. “The Four Seasons” by Jack Prelutsky
This poem is spilling over with elements of poetry. Imagery, descriptive words, onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhythm, and rhyme abound. I might use it in my class to teach any or all of these things. Or I might just use it in a social studies unit about the four seasons. I like that this poem is versatile, having broad educational potential.
Prelutsky, Jack. “The Four Seasons.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 35.
14. “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore
My dad read “A Visit from St. Nicholas” to my sister and me every Christmas Eve before bed time – only I did not realize that it was a poem. It was bound and illustrated like a children’s book. I only recently discovered that it was poetry in disguise. I would use this poem in my classroom to sneak in poetry unbeknownst to the less than eager poetry readers. I would “prove” that it is a poem by pointing out elements like rhyme scheme, poetic language, and alliteration.
Moore, Clement Clark. “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 50-51.
15. “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket” by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
I like this poem for several reasons. It’s leaves me feeling inspired by the quality of a good poem that has the power to stick with you even into your dreams. I like how the verses flip flop between the first and last stanzas – “keep a poem in your pocket and a picture in your head” becomes “keep a picture in your pocket and a poem in your head.” I just think it’s clever. I also like the image of a poem singing a little one to sleep. I would use this poem in my class in a social studies lesson about making choices. The image of filling your head with a poem to fill loneliness is powerful and I think it can be extended to filling one’s head with thoughts that build up instead of tear down. I believe that you are what you think, and what you think is a choice.
Regniers, Beatrice Schenk de. “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket.” The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Comp. Jack Prelutsky. New York: Random House, 1983. 226.
16. “Galoshes” by Rhoda W. Bacmeister
I love the alliteration and rhyme in this poem. The tongue twister-feeling of the first and third stanzas make reading it aloud a satisfying challenge. In a classroom setting I would use it to demonstrate alliteration.
Bacmeister, Rhoda W. “Galoshes.” http://www.k12.hi.us/~shasincl/poems_prop_cycle_weather.html#galoshes
17. “Basketball’s My Favorite Sport” by Kenn Nesbitt
I like this poem because of its sports theme, which I think would make it appeal to the boys in my class, and because of its storyline. I would use it in class to show that students can write about anything that interests them, even athletics.
Nesbitt, Kenn. “Basketball’s My Favorite Sport.” www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=522&CategoryID=22.
18. “My Normal Family” by Kathy Kenny-Marshall
The “normal” family in this poem does an awful lot of odd things, but normal is often defined by our own personal experiences. I like the last two lines, “We’re very special, can’t you see? We’re just a normal family.” I would use this poem in a unit about what makes families special and how that is different from the way friends are special.
Kenny-Marshall, Kathy. “My Normal Family.” http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=85&CategoryID=28
19. “The Kindergarten Concert” by Robert Pottle
This poem is so true to life! I have lived it. I would use it in a third or fourth grade classroom to get my students’ minds warmed up for an autobiographical writing assignment about first memories of school.
Pottle, Robert. “The Kindergarten Concert.” http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=342&CategoryID=28
20. “My Teacher Sees Right Through Me” by Bruce Lansky
The surprise ending of this poem amuses me because my son is in my class this year. He’s too young to understand the disadvantage his situation poses for him, but when I reread the poem, I could picture an older version of him writing it. I would use it in my class for practice in identifying rhyme scheme, ABCB in this case.
Lansky, Bruce. “My Teacher Sees Right Through Me.” http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=350&CategoryID=1
Craft Lesson 9
Resource Materials:
Banyai, Istvan. Zoom. New York: Puffin Books, 1998.
Target Audience:
First Grade
Discussion:
In wordless books like Zoom by Istvan Banyai, details in the illustrations are extremely important to notice. Just before a major setting change, Banyai gives the reader a hint of what is to come. In this lesson, students will focus on finding clues in the pictures that indicate impending change. Such attention to detail is important to develop in young readers because it aids in comprehension of the story.
How to Teach It:
Show students to first picture in Zoom, and let them talk about what they think it is. Then move to the second picture and talk about whether or not they were right. Move on to the third picture and talk about whether or not they think their answer is correct. Follow this pattern of look, think, evaluate and talk through the seventh picture. Then ask the students what they think of the picture now and why did or why did they not change their answers. On the ninth picture, ask the students if they notice anything that indicates a change might be coming. Keep looking, thinking, evaluating and talking throughout the book, being sure to guide students to visual clues in the fourteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth pictures. At these pictures, allow each student to predict what the new setting will be.
1st Grade Standards Taught:
1) connect personal experiences and ideas with information and ideas presented in print, 2) make and explain inferences from texts such as determining important ideas and causes and effects, making predictions and drawing conclusions, 3) identify the importance of setting to a story’s meaning.
Banyai, Istvan. Zoom. New York: Puffin Books, 1998.
Target Audience:
First Grade
Discussion:
In wordless books like Zoom by Istvan Banyai, details in the illustrations are extremely important to notice. Just before a major setting change, Banyai gives the reader a hint of what is to come. In this lesson, students will focus on finding clues in the pictures that indicate impending change. Such attention to detail is important to develop in young readers because it aids in comprehension of the story.
How to Teach It:
Show students to first picture in Zoom, and let them talk about what they think it is. Then move to the second picture and talk about whether or not they were right. Move on to the third picture and talk about whether or not they think their answer is correct. Follow this pattern of look, think, evaluate and talk through the seventh picture. Then ask the students what they think of the picture now and why did or why did they not change their answers. On the ninth picture, ask the students if they notice anything that indicates a change might be coming. Keep looking, thinking, evaluating and talking throughout the book, being sure to guide students to visual clues in the fourteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth pictures. At these pictures, allow each student to predict what the new setting will be.
1st Grade Standards Taught:
1) connect personal experiences and ideas with information and ideas presented in print, 2) make and explain inferences from texts such as determining important ideas and causes and effects, making predictions and drawing conclusions, 3) identify the importance of setting to a story’s meaning.
Read Aloud Plan #3
For this read aloud, I will use Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe. The story is about two daughters, one loving and kind, Nyasha, and the other greedy and selfish, Manyara, who vie for the proposal of the king. I will read it to Mrs. Sevigny’s first grade class at Wheelock Elementary. Parts of this story sound a lot like Cinderella, so I want to see if any of the children find the connection between the two folktales.
Before I even read the book one little boy surprised me with a text to text connection. As soon as he saw the cover he said, “Ooh, ooh, that’s a Jesus book.” What do you say to that? On one hand, it’s true. Part of the story parallels the Biblical parable of the sheep and the goats. As the daughters travel independently to meet the king, they each encounter a hungry boy and an old woman. Manyara treats them with contempt and hostility while Nyasha treats them with compassion. The king, who is also the hungry boy and the old woman, knows the heart of each daughter by how she treated him. I saw the connection as soon as I read it, but I thought it would be over the heads of 1st graders. Not wanting to get sucked into a theological discussion, I said, “Oh, you think so?” and changed the subject.
The reading didn’t quite go as I had planned. Mrs. Sevigny had forgotten that I was going to read, but she really wanted me to do it, so my read aloud cut into their outside play time. Since the kids were anxious to get out, I didn’t spend as much time as I should have setting up the story. Several of the students had a hard time following the plot, because it is an African folktale with native names. They kept getting stuck on which daughter was which instead of hearing the action of the story. If I had to do it again, I would spend time discussing the girls’ names, personalities and physical characteristics before reading the story.
I did ask them to be thinking about parts of the story that sound like other stories they know, but most of them didn’t get it. When I got to the part where the king asks for all of the most beautiful and worthy daughters in the land to be brought to the castle, I asked the class if they knew any other stories that were similar. Only one student responded appropriately. She surprised me, because she wasn’t thinking about Cinderella, but about Shrek. It was a completely valid text to text connection that I had not thought of on my own. I had intended to spend a little bit of time explaining the similarities between Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters and Cinderella, but I could see that I was on the brink of completely losing about half of the class, so I just let it go.
I was a little bit disappointed with this read aloud. I wasn’t as well prepared as I thought I was, and I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked. The students who actually paid attention to the story said that they really liked it. One little girl even said it was her favorite. So I think the selection was appropriate, the delivery just wasn’t all that great.
Steptoe, John. Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. New York: Scholastic, 1987.
Before I even read the book one little boy surprised me with a text to text connection. As soon as he saw the cover he said, “Ooh, ooh, that’s a Jesus book.” What do you say to that? On one hand, it’s true. Part of the story parallels the Biblical parable of the sheep and the goats. As the daughters travel independently to meet the king, they each encounter a hungry boy and an old woman. Manyara treats them with contempt and hostility while Nyasha treats them with compassion. The king, who is also the hungry boy and the old woman, knows the heart of each daughter by how she treated him. I saw the connection as soon as I read it, but I thought it would be over the heads of 1st graders. Not wanting to get sucked into a theological discussion, I said, “Oh, you think so?” and changed the subject.
The reading didn’t quite go as I had planned. Mrs. Sevigny had forgotten that I was going to read, but she really wanted me to do it, so my read aloud cut into their outside play time. Since the kids were anxious to get out, I didn’t spend as much time as I should have setting up the story. Several of the students had a hard time following the plot, because it is an African folktale with native names. They kept getting stuck on which daughter was which instead of hearing the action of the story. If I had to do it again, I would spend time discussing the girls’ names, personalities and physical characteristics before reading the story.
I did ask them to be thinking about parts of the story that sound like other stories they know, but most of them didn’t get it. When I got to the part where the king asks for all of the most beautiful and worthy daughters in the land to be brought to the castle, I asked the class if they knew any other stories that were similar. Only one student responded appropriately. She surprised me, because she wasn’t thinking about Cinderella, but about Shrek. It was a completely valid text to text connection that I had not thought of on my own. I had intended to spend a little bit of time explaining the similarities between Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters and Cinderella, but I could see that I was on the brink of completely losing about half of the class, so I just let it go.
I was a little bit disappointed with this read aloud. I wasn’t as well prepared as I thought I was, and I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked. The students who actually paid attention to the story said that they really liked it. One little girl even said it was her favorite. So I think the selection was appropriate, the delivery just wasn’t all that great.
Steptoe, John. Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. New York: Scholastic, 1987.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Craft Lesson 8
Resource Material:
Holm, Jennifer and Matthew Holm. Babymouse: Our Hero. New York: Random House, 2005.
Target Audience:
Fourth Grade
Discussion/ How to Teach It:
The ability to multi-task, or perform two or more tasks at the same time, is important in American culture. Rare is the opportunity to devote all of one's attention to a solitary endeavor. Because Babymouse: Our Hero is a graphic novel, students must multi-task in their reading in order to successfully interpret the illustrations, narration and dialog simultaneously. This "literary multi-tasking" is important to develop because it trains students to integrate information from multiple sources into a single idea. Students will independently read Babymouse: Our Hero. To assess comprehension of the plot, students will group-write a paraphrase of one part of the story, such as missing the bus, math class, or dodge ball, and then act out their paraphrase for the rest of the class.
4th Grade Standards Taught:
1) paraphrase and summarize text to recall, inform and organize ideas, 2) use his/her own knowledge and experience to comprehend, 3) interpret text ideas through such varied means as journal writing, discussion, enactment and media, 4) determine a text's main ideas and how those ideas are supported by details, 5) draw on experiences to bring meaning to words in context such as interpreting figurative language and multiple-meaning words
Zoom
Banyai, Istvan. Zoom. New York: Puffin Books, 1998.
I left all the books for this course out on the coffee table right after I bought them. Almost immediately, my kids started flipping through them. They were enjoying themselves, so I took advantage of the opportunity to get some other things done. (I love it when I can let books be my babysitter.) A little while later, by 5 year old came into my room holding Zoom. "Mom, Mom! This is the best book ever!"
Right away I was excited about Zoom because my daughter was so excited about it. We liked how the scene kept changing. As soon as we thought we knew what was going to happen next, the perspective changed the "story." And I like how each chunk of related pictures was from such a dramatically different part of the world - a farm, a cruise ship, the Arizona desert, a native island. I do wish that he had added a little bit of detail to the illustrations at the end, like little planet and star dots to accompany the earth as the perspective zoomed back into outer space. But overall, Iiked it a lot.
I left all the books for this course out on the coffee table right after I bought them. Almost immediately, my kids started flipping through them. They were enjoying themselves, so I took advantage of the opportunity to get some other things done. (I love it when I can let books be my babysitter.) A little while later, by 5 year old came into my room holding Zoom. "Mom, Mom! This is the best book ever!"
Right away I was excited about Zoom because my daughter was so excited about it. We liked how the scene kept changing. As soon as we thought we knew what was going to happen next, the perspective changed the "story." And I like how each chunk of related pictures was from such a dramatically different part of the world - a farm, a cruise ship, the Arizona desert, a native island. I do wish that he had added a little bit of detail to the illustrations at the end, like little planet and star dots to accompany the earth as the perspective zoomed back into outer space. But overall, Iiked it a lot.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Craft Lesson 7
Resource Materials:
Pennypacker, Sara. Stuart's Cape. Illus. Martin Matje. New York: Scholastic, 2002.
Target Audience:
3rd Grade
Discussion:
By the third grade, students should be able to listen critically to interpret and evaluate material presented in class. The line between fantasy and reality is not always easy for students to discern, and Pennypacker blends the two seamlessly in Stuart's Cape. In this craft lesson, students will use critical listening and thinking skills to pick out events of fantasy as opposed to the events that could really happen.
How to Teach It:
After reviewing comprehension strategies like visualization, self-questioning and evaluating, read one chapter of Stuart's Cape aloud to the class. On a chart tablet, make a "real" column and a "fantasy" column, and remind students that "real" means it could happen in real life and "fantasy" means it could not really happen. Give students a chance to share orally what they remember from the story and whether or not it was real or fantasy. The students then write their responses in the appropriate column on the chart tablet. Repeat the process each day of the week, combining the last two chapters. Each day before reading time review the previous days' chart tablet entries to help students focus on the story and the concept of real vs. fantasy.
3rd Grade Standards Taught:
1) listening critically to interpret and evaluate, 2) listening responsively to stories and other texts read aloud, 3) distinguish fiction from nonfiction, including fact and fantasy, 4) ask and answer relevent questions and make contributions in small or large group discussions.
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