Where in the Wild?

Where in the Wild? by David Schwartz and Yael Schy has to be one of the coolest books I have come across in a long while! I just know your child will love this book.

Where in the Wild is jam packed with learning.  It combines thought provoking poetry, beautiful photography and easy to read non-fiction text about ten different animals. The poems offers context clues about the identity of each animal as well as it's location in the picture.  The animals are camouflaged on the corresponding page.  When you think you have spotted an animal, just lift the page.  The animal is highlighted against the photo's background.  Well written informational text is provided for each animal.

This book is great because you cannot read it without creating inferences. The context clues within the poems, plus your child's background knowledge will help your chid infer the name of the hidden animal.   Your child will love guessing what animal the authors are describing. 

When you read this book to your child, I suggest  you cover up the photo while you are reading the poem.  Make your child rely on the text and the context clues to try and figure out the name of the animal.  After reading and discussing the poem, show your child the picture and see if they can find the camouflaged animal!  

Start with the title of the poem.  Read it and ask your child:  What could this title mean?  After reading each poem have your child complete the following stem:  My guess is.... or I predict....  Be sure to share your thinking too.  You can point out different parts of the poem that offer up clues to the animal's identity.  

If you cover up the picture, you can also practice visualizing with your child.  The descriptive language used in the poetry is perfect to practice visualizing!  Encourage your child to use the following stems when reading the poems:  I can imagine.... and I am picturing....

This is also a great book to work on determining importance.  When you read the informational text about each animal, you and your child can determine what information you think is important to remember. Have your child complete the following stem after reading about each animal:  I want to remember...  

I told you this book is jam packed with learning.  

Let me know your thoughts on the book!

Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant

I love poetry!  It is so fun to read and it does not take much time to share a poem or two with your child.  Jack Prelutsky is one of my favorite poets and he is usually a kid favorite.  One of his newest collections, Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant is so much fun to read.

In this collection Prelutsky plays with words and combines an animal name with an inanimate object.  Some of his creations are pop-up toadsters, shoehornets, zipperpotamuses and a clocktopus! He takes his readers on a journey into a world of imagination and creation.

This collection of poetry is great to help children visualize. Children should always have a movie playing in their mind when they hear a story.  They should be able to create mental pictures.  However, this skill is challenging for many students.  Prelutsky uses a descriptive vocabulary to help paint a picture in the reader's mind.   He offers the readers clues as to what each of his creatures might look like.

To help your child visualize, pick one poem to read aloud.  Do not let them see the picture.  As you read the poem have your child close his/her eyes and focus on creating a mental picture of the creature.  Give your child a piece of paper and a pencil.  Read the poem again and let your child sketch the creature.  Have a discussion with your child about the descriptive words that are helping to create a picture.  After your child has finished their drawing share the picture the illustrator created.  Discuss how the images are alike and different.

It is always fun to change roles. Let your child read a poem to you and see what type of images you can create!

What is Comprehension?

Comprehension is simply making meaning of text. Reading is an interactive process between the words on the page and the reader.  Children need to understand what the words and sentences mean in order to make sense of a story. Comprehension is all about thinking and it is the key to reading.

Good readers constantly interact with a text using one of six strategies that aid in understanding.

1. Visualizing: Creating mental images as one reads through the five senses.
2. Using Schema (Background Knowledge): Making connections and retrieving prior knowledge before during and after reading.
3. Inferring: Drawing conclusions, making predictions and forming interpretations by using prior knowledge and information read in the text.
4. Questioning:  Generating questions about text before, during and after reading.
5. Determining Importance: Identifying the theme of a text and distinguishing between important and unimportant information
6. Synthesizing: Continually changing thinking as one reads through the text.

In this blog I will share some of my favorite stories from children's literature.  Along with each story, I will post guiding questions for you to ask your child.  Each story's questions will focus on one or two reading strategies.  Remember, reading with your child is a fun experience.  Do not focus too much on the questions.  They are just meant to help guide a conversation between you and your child!