Blog, Week of October 6
(Teachers please tell your parents about this blog series. It will encourage quality reading at home.)
My definition for reading: “Reading is interacting with the printed page to make meaning.”
The key word is interacting. And the interaction comes from the children’s own past experiences. Young children need to interact if they are to find meaning. Reading is not a passive act. We must set up connections between the child and the story so they can see its meaning in their own lives.
Remember the “gist”. The gist is how expert readers function. They find the meaning, the key idea. Don’t let your beginning reader get bogged down in the words or sounds. After they check out the sounds take them right back to the meaning.
The Kinds of Questions to Use When Reading Together
Use guiding questions that lead to self-discovery. Ask questions that go deeper than specific facts. Use the 4MAT Question Framework: Why? What? How? and If?
- Why do you think (so and so felt that way or did that or said that)?
- What was the single most important part of the story to you and why?
- How could this have turned out differently if ... ?
- If this story were about you, what might you have done?
And so on, questions that send the child into his or her own place to imagine possible reactions. Notice how these kinds of questions call for more than simple recall. You are asking the child to invest his or her way of being into the action; asking them to transfer the story into their own lives. You are making them more aware of how they think.
This is a super technique for enhancing imagination.
The story for today is the The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci with pictures by Jerry Pinkney.
Winner of a Caldecott Honor as one of the best illustrated children's books in 1990. The story itself is a cross between several favorite fairy tales, most significantly Cinderella, and represents a retelling of a Creole story from the American South.
A widow has two daughters, and lives with them on a poor farm that "looked like the tail end of bad luck." Rose, the older one, unpleasant, mean, lived with her younger sister, Blanche, who was "sweet and kind and sharp as forty crickets." Guess who does all the work in the house?Sweet Blanche.
One day, Blanche was getting water and ran into an old woman who asked for a drink. Blanche immediately gave it to her with great kindness and soon they are in a magical place where all kinds of strange things happen. At the end, Blanche is told to bring back certain talking eggs and throw them over her shoulde r. When she does, a nice set of surprises occurs.
“Robert D. San Souci's lively, humorous retelling of this Creole folktale abounds with colorful expressions, and Jerry Pinkney's full-page illustrations make us believe in the magic that Blanche finds, square-dancing rabbits, and rainbow-colored chickens! This inspired 1989 Caldecott Honor Book, will delight young readers who like a captivating story with a strong heroine and a dash of mystery.” —Publishers Weekly.
The Concept I have chosen for this book is: Kindness is its own reward.
Activity 1: Have the children go and find something that is hidden that they think is beautiful.
Activity 2: Share what they found, what makes it beautiful and where the beauty was hidden.
Activity 3: Have the child/children draw a picture of “What kindness looks like.” Have them share their pictures an d initiate a discussion of the beauty to be found in kindness.
Activity 4: Read The Talking Eggs.
Activity 5: Have the children list five things Blanche found that were strange.
Answers:
- Bramble bushes that opened and closed behind her
- A cow with two heads and horns like corkscrews
- Chickens of multiple colors
- Dancing rabbits who played music
- Talking eggs.
Activity 6: Have the children create a kindness book with pictures and words of three kind things to say, three kind things to do, and three kind things to be. Have them use the pictures they drew of what kindness looked like in Activity 3 as their cover. Share their kindness books with another adult.
Activity 7: Ask the children to write or discuss their thoughts on the following:
“Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.”
Activity 8: Have the children do one kind thing for someone and either tell you about it or write what happened in their kindness book or both.
The more children and adults talk (and really listen to each other) concerning compassionate behavior, the more chances they will grow into compassionate folks themselves.
The book for next week is Frederick by Leo Lionni.
