[nancy polette] teaching thinking skills with pict(bookzz.org)

Teach ing Think ing Skills with Pic ture Books, K-3

Teach ing Think ing Skillswith Pic ture Books

Grades K-3

Nancy Polette

Il lus trated by Paul Dillon

An im print of Li brar ies Un lim itedWestport, Con nect i cut • Lon don

Li brary of Con gress Cat a log ing-in-Pub li ca tion Data

Polette, Nancy. Teach ing think ing skills with pic ture books, K-3 / by Nancy Polette ; il lus trated by Paul Dillon. p. cm. In cludes in dex. ISBN-13: 978-1-59158-592-3 (pbk. : alk. pa per) 1. Thought and think ing—Study and teach ing (Pri mary) 2. Pic ture books for chil dren. I. Ti tle. LB1590.3.P654 2007 372.13—dc22 2007016195

Brit ish Li brary Cat a logu ing in Pub li ca tion Data is avail able.

Copy right © 2007 by Nancy Polette

All rights re served. No part of this book may be re pro duced in any form or by any elec tronic or me chan i cal means, in clud ingin for ma tion stor age and re trieval sys tems, with out per mis sion inwrit ing from the pub lisher, ex cept by a re viewer, who may quote brief pas sages in a re view. Re pro duc ible pages may be cop ied for class roomand ed u ca tional pro grams only.

Li brary of Con gress Cat a log Card Num ber: 2007016195ISBN-13: 978-1-59158-592-3

First pub lished in 2007

Li brar ies Un lim ited/Teacher Ideas Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881A Mem ber of the Green wood Pub lish ing Group, Inc.www.lu.com

Printed in the United States of Amer ica

The pa per used in this book com plies with the Per ma nent Pa per Stan dard is sued by the Na tionalIn for ma tion Stan dards Or ga ni za tion (Z39.48–1984).

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Con tentsCon tents

Contents

In tro duc tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Anal ogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Booktalks : The Farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Anal ogy Cut Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Anal ogy Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Anal y sis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Booktalks : Houses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6The Best House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Life in the Sea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

As so cia tive Think ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Booktalks : Frogs & Toads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Go-To gether Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Frog Rid dles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

At trib ute List ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Booktalks : Pump kins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14A Pump kin Chant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Pump kins and Ap ples: Dif fer ent and Alike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Brain storm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Booktalks : Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Help ing Farmer Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Veg e ta bles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Clas si fi ca tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Booktalks : Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Group ing Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Sen tences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Com par ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Booktalks : Feel ings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26What Can You Do With Peb bles? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Com par ing An i mals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

v

Com pre hen sion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Booktalks : Cats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Sto ries and Rhymes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Mil lions Of Cats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

De ci sion Mak ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Booktalks : Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Break fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35The Best Snack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

De duc tive Think ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Booktalks : An i mal Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Mys tery An i mals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39For est Sounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Elab o ra tion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Booktalks : Some thing Added . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Save the Worm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Miss Nel son’s Hat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Eval u a tion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Booktalks : School Sto ries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46What Would You Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Flex i bil ity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Booktalks : Chang ing Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Why Do We Dig Holes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51City Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Flu ency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Booktalks : Life On The Farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54How Many An swers?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55For Sale! For Sale! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Fore cast ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Booktalks : Fam ily Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Cause and Ef fect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59What Might Hap pen? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Gen er al iz ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Booktalks : Is lands and Sea sons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62What Is an Is land? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Sea sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

vi \ Contents

Hy poth e siz ing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Booktalks : Wild An i mals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66About Mos qui toes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67About Col ors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Imag i na tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Booktalks : Magic and Imag i na tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Imag i na tion Song. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Use Your Imag i na tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

In fer ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Booktalks : Farm An i mals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74What Hap pened? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75The Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

In ter pret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Booktalks : Mu sic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Get ting to the Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79What I’d Like to Be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Judg ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Booktalks : Birth days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Would You Rather… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83The Price of Fame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Knowl edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Booktalks : Fa mous Peo ple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86ABC Poem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Test Your Knowl edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Lan guage De vel op ment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Booktalks : About Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Sen tence Sub sti tu tion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Sen tence Ex pan sion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Orig i nal ity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Booktalks : Old Tales, New Twist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Orig i nal Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95An Orig i nal Tale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Pat tern ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Booktalks : Pat terns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98On the Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99In the Gar den . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Contents / vii

Pho ne mic Aware ness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Booktalks : ABC Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Sing ing Blends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Chang ing Let ters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Plan ning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Booktalks : Books by Tomie De Paola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Plan an Au thor Birth day Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Au thor Birth day Party Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Pre dict ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Booktalks : An i mal Clas sics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Tell What Will Hap pen. Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111What Would Hap pen If . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Prob lem Solv ing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Booktalks : Wild An i mals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114An nie’s Pet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115What to Do With a Big Bear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Ques tion ing: Higher Or der . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Booktalks : On Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118What If… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Com pare / Con trast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Re search For Be gin ners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Booktalks : Na ture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Things that Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Wood land An i mals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Re vers ible Think ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Booktalks : From Last to First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126I Won der Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127A Back wards Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Se quenc ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Booktalks : Play Ball!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Tell the Story I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Tell the Story II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Vo cab u lary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Booktalks : Big Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Mys tery Book Ti tles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135A Spell ing Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Ti tle/Au thor In dex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

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Introduction

Many of the most tal ented au thors and art ists of the past and pres enthave shared their thoughts and their gifts with young chil dren throughpic ture books. Many pic ture books al low young chil dren to ex plore im -por tant ideas and to stretch their minds far be yond rote mem o ri za tion.

Young chil dren ab sorb knowl edge at a very rapid pace. In an age ofin for ma tion over load, it is es sen tial that chil dren are taught those im por -tant think ing skills that are needed in deal ing with the mul ti tude of in for -ma tion they meet ev ery day. What better way to help chil dren gainim por tant think ing skills than ex po sure to qual ity lit er a ture.

Em pha sis in 21st cen tury schools is on test ing for rote knowl edge.While knowl edge is the start ing point, it is es sen tial that chil dren aretaught to eval u ate data, to solve prob lems, to make de ci sions based onev i dence, to be able to de ter mine cause and ef fect, to pre dict and fore cast based on ev i dence, to sup port or deny a hy poth e sis, to in fer, to in ter pret,to ques tion and an a lyze, and to use a host of other think ing skills.

Teach ing Think ing Skills with Pic ture Books is an easy-to-use guideto teach ing those think ing skills which have been iden ti fied as ap pro pri -ate for stu dents in the pri mary grades. Each skill is in tro duced with a def -i ni tion and oral prac tice ex er cise.

Qual ity pic ture books are in tro duced with booktalks and fol lowed by one or more think ing skills ac tiv i ties. Each ac tiv ity is com plete andneeds no other ma te ri als to use. All skills in tro duced can be im me di ately ap plied to other ar eas of cur ric u lum, as well as to real life sit u a tions.Here is a pain less ap proach to help ing stu dents be come better think erswith skills that will also im prove reading and writing ability.

ix

ANALOGY

An anal ogy is a com par i son that points out sim i lar i ties in two thingsthat might be dif fer ent in other ways.

Ex am ples:

Ant is to anthill as bird is to nest.

Fish is to swim as bird is to _____________.

STEPS:

1. Choose the items to be com pared. (Fish and bird)

Identify the connecting clue in the items. (swim)

2. Determine how the first two items are related.

(move ment)

3. Complete the analogy by choosing an item that relates tothe third item (movement). Fish is to swim as bird is to fly.

ORAL PRACTICE

Puppy is to dog as kit ten is to _______________ (cat)

Rain is to rain drop as snow is to _______________ (snow flake)

Bird is to feath ers as fish is to _______________ (scales)

Foot is to leg as hand is to _______________ (arm)

Meow is to cat as bow wow is to _______________ (dog)

Air plane is to sky as car is to _______________ (road)

1May be copied for classroom use. From Teaching Thinking Skills with Picture Books by Nancy Polette. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copyright © 2007.

BOOKTALKS : THE FARM

Click Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin. Illus.by Betsy Lewin. Si mon & Schuster, 2000.

Farmer Brown has a prob lem. His cows like to type. All day long hehears click, clack, click, clack, moo. But Farmer Brown’s prob lems re allybe gin when his cows start leav ing him notes. They de mand elec tric blan -kets be cause the barn is cold at night. Not only do they de mand the blan -kets, but they re fuse to give milk un til they re ceive them.

Farmer Brown is fu ri ous and re fuses to give the cows the blan kets,so the cows go on strike and will not give milk. The hens, who are cold,too, join in the strike and re fuse to lay eggs. Duck serves as the neu tralparty and takes the notes back and forth be tween the farmer and thecows. When the cows of fer to give up their type writer in ex change forthe blan kets, Farmer Brown agrees and the farm gets back to nor mal op -er a tion...al most!

The Mixed-Up Rooster by Pamela Duncan Ed wards. Illus. byMegan Lloyd. Kath er ine Tegen Books, HarperCollins, 2006.

What are the hens to do with a rooster who over sleeps and does notwake up the barn yard? The hens have an egg busi ness to run and de cide tocall in an other rooster. Ned be came a night bird play ing with the bats andrab bits and tree frogs. It was then he saw a long black snake slith er ing to -wards the hen house. Long black snakes love eggs! What is Ned to do?Crow, of course, and crow he did! The snake was fright ened off and theeggs were saved. As for the new rooster, he slept through it all!

Dance By the Light of the Moon by Jo anne Ryder. Illus. byGuy Fran cis. Hyperion, 2006.

Farmer Snow is giv ing his an nual barn yard party. The ex cited an i -mals are get ting ready. Buf falo Flo has an el e gant bow. Gertie Goose has new shoes. Cassie Sue Cat has a flip-floppy hat. Patty Ann Pig has apretty wig and they all come to dance by the light of the moon.

2 May be copied for classroom use. From Teaching Thinking Skills with Picture Books by Nancy Polette. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copyright © 2007.

ANALOGY CUT UP

Find the miss ing an i mals be low. Choose the cor rect an i mal, cut itout, and paste it in the empty box.


ANALOGY GAME

Part ners cut apart the word cards and place them face down. In turn,each child chooses two cards. If there is a match the child keeps thecards. If not, the child dis cards one of the cards. The game con tin ues un -til one player has four cards that form an anal ogy.

dog bone fish worm

day sun night moon

zoo lion farm pig

tree bird pond fish


ANALYSIS

Anal y sis re fers to the break ing down of data into its ba sic parts based on some rea son or plan. An anal y sis of two sto ries might be com par inglike nesses and dif fer ences in plot, char ac ters, set tings, or themes.

STEPS:

1. Read the material to be analyzed.

2. Break the material into separate parts.

3. Discover the relationship among ideas.

4. Develop a list of facts about each relationship.

ORAL PRACTICE

1. How many ways are Curious George and Clifford, the BigRed Dog alike?

2. If Clifford were to give Curious George a present, whatwould it be? Why?

3. What makes The Cat In the Hat fun to read?

4. Analyze the pattern in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Use the pattern to add more animals.

5. Did Max really leave his bedroom and frolic with the wildthings in Where the Wild Things Are? Why or why not?


BOOKTALKS : HOUSES

Is This a House for Her mit Crab? by Megan Mc Don ald. Illus.by S.D. Schindler. Or chard, 1990.

Her mit Crab is look ing for a new home. Scritch, scratch, he goes along the shore, by the sea, in the sand. But each home he finds hassome thing wrong with it. What could be wrong with a big rock? ared pail? a fish ing net? a tin can? While Her mit Crab is busy search -ing for a home he does not see the pricklepine fish com ing near.What do you sup pose a pricklepine fish eats? You are right! Her mitcrabs!

When Her mit Crab sees the fish, he goes “Scritch scratch,scritch scratch” as fast as he can and hides in a shell. Pricklepinefish swims around and around but can’t find Her mit Crab. Fi nally,the fish swims away. When Her mit Crab peeks out of the shell he ishappy about two things. One thing that makes him happy is that thepricklepine fish is gone. Can you guess the other?

A House Is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman. Illus. byBetty Fra ser. Vi king Press, 1978.

What would be a house for an ant? a bee? a mole? a mouse? Dopeo ple live in dif fer ent kinds of houses? What is a house for a spi -der? a bird? a dog? a flea? The more you think about houses themore houses you can see.

What would you find in these houses:

A husk A sty

A pod A hutch

A web The ocean

A coop


THE BEST HOUSE

Sup pose Her mit Crab had not found a shell for his new home. Whichof these homes might he choose? Why?


LIFE IN THE SEA

Use this pat tern to write about liv ing things in the sea. Sing to thetune of “Skip To My Lou.”

Her mit crabs

Scratch, scratch, scratch

Fat jel ly fish

Float, float, float

Sil ver dol phins

Dive, dive, dive

Liv ing in the sea.

___________________________________ (de scrib ing word & name)

____________ ____________ ____________ (what does it do?)


____________ ____________ ____________ (what does it do?)


____________ ____________ ____________ (what does it do?)

Liv ing in the sea.


ASSOCIATIVE THINKING

As so cia tive think ing re quires iden ti fy ing sim i lar at trib utes intwo or more items, events, or groups.

STEPS:

1. Identify basic attributes of the first items, event, or group.

2. Identify basic attributes of additional items, events orgroups

3. Identify those attributes similar to both items, events orgroups

ORAL PRACTICE

1. A hippopotamus is like an elephant because…

2. A hot air balloon is like an airplane because…

3. A bathtub is like an ocean because…

4. A window is like a picture because…

5. A tooth is like a knife because…


BOOKTALKS : FROGS & TOADS

Days with Frog and Toad by Ar nold Lobel. Harper & Row,1979.

Frog and Toad are best friends. Toad is some times lazy as hismessy house shows. There are clothes on the floor, dust on thechairs, win dows that need wash ing, and plants that need wa ter ing.Toad does not want to get out of bed. He says he will do the work“to mor row.” But then Toad thinks that if he did the work to day, hewould have all day to mor row to do what he likes to do best…sleep!In other sto ries, Frog helps Toad to fly a kite, Frog reads Toad ascary story, and Frog gives Toad a hat for his birth day that is toobig. No mat ter what the prob lem, Frog and Toad are al ways to -gether as good friends.

Froggy Plays T-Ball by Jon a than Lon don. Illus. by FrankRemkiewicz. Vi king, 2007.

It’s Froggy’s first day on the T-ball team, and he could n’t bemore ex cited. His dad is the coach and his whole fam ily is cheer inghim on. But when Coach Dad tells him to catch some flies out inright field, he takes the ad vice and catches some real flies (the kindthat fly around with wings). Froggy can’t seem to do any thing right, but once he starts pay ing at ten tion, his play ing im proves. He evenhits a home run, and runs all the way…to his house! Here is an otherfun book in the “Froggy” se ries that in cludes Froggy Gets Dressedand Froggy Rides a Bike.


GO-TOGETHER WORDS

Find two words that go to gether and tell why.

Froggy day team dad

coach T-ball flies field

fam ily ad vice gusto home

run play cheer shirt

head house hits catch


FROG RIDDLES

Think of words that rhyme with frog.

bog dog log flog hog jog

What does the word mean? Log: wood cut from a tree.

Ask a ques tion us ing the mean ing of the word.

Example: What would you call a frog lumberjack?

Answer: A Log Frog

More Riddles:

What would you call a frog that says bow-wow?

(dog frog)

What would you call a frog that lives in a swamp?

(bog frog)

What would you call a frog that runs ev ery morn ing? (jog frog)

What other rid dles can you make?

Think of words that rhyme with TOAD.

Write toad rid dles.


ATTRIBUTE LISTING

At trib ute listing is the pro cess of an a lyz ing and sep a rat ingdata by ob serv ing and iden ti fy ing a va ri ety of qual i tiesabout a par tic u lar ob ject, char ac ter, topic, or problem.

STEPS:

1. Select and state the object to be examined.

2. List the physical qualities and attributes.

3. List the social qualities or attributes.

4. List other objects or situations having many of the samequalities or attributes.

5. Combine attributes of different objects creating a newobject, product or solution.

ORAL PRACTICE

Choose an an i mal.

What phys i cal char ac ter is tics do you no tice about the an i mal?

(Phys i cal at trib utes)

Would the an i mal be a good pet? (So cial at trib utes)

Name an other an i mal that would be a good pet for the samerea sons.

What parts of two or more an i mals can be com bined to make a per fect pet?


BOOKTALKS : PUMPKINS

Too Many Pump kins by Linda Arms White. Illus. by MeganLloyd. Hol i day House, 1996.

An old woman had a great dis like for pump kins so imag ine hersur prise when a pump kin landed in her yard and scat tered its seeds.Be fore long she had a whole yard full of pump kins. First, she ig -nored them. She would not look at them. The pump kins kept grow -ing. There were far too many to pick and cart away. What ever wasshe to do? She would make pump kin treats, light up the path to herhouse with jack-o-lan terns, and in vite the whole town to en joy thetreats. Can you guess all the treats she made?

Pump kin Hill by Eliz a beth Spurr. Illus. by Whit ney Mar tin.Hol i day House, 2006.

One small pump kin grew on a hill. It grew and grew and grewun til one day it left its vine and rolled away. It hit a stone and scat -tered its seeds all over the hill. No one no tices when the seeds be ginto sprout. No one no tices when pump kins grow all over the hill. The pump kins get big ger and big ger. They break from their vines androll down the hill right into the town…the streets were filled withthou sands of pump kins. The mayor called a meet ing of all of the cit -i zens. What could they do with thou sands of pump kins? The chil -dren carved six thou sand jack-o-lan terns and car ried them onHal low een. Moth ers made three thou sand and five pump kin pies.

When the hill was en tirely clear of pump kins it made a greatplace for win ter sled ding. Pump kin seeds, of course, were neveragain al lowed in the town.


A PUMPKIN CHANT

List words to de scribe pump kins

_______________ pump kins

_______________ pump kins

_______________ pump kins

_______________ pump kins

Lots of pump kins, lots of pump kins, all in a row.

List uses for a pump kin

Pump kin _____________________________

Pump kin _____________________________

Pump kin _____________________________

Pump kin _____________________________

In a patch, on a hill, watch the pump kins grow!

Read the pump kin chant.


PUMPKINS AND APPLES:DIFFERENT AND ALIKE

Sing to the tune of “Mary Had a Lit tle Lamb.”

Mr. Lumpkin picked a pump kin

Picked a pump kin, picked apump kin


Picked it off a vine

Mrs. Dap ple picked an ap ple

Picked an ap ple, picked an ap ple


Picked it off a tree




In side he found ______________




In side she found _____________




Made a pump kin _____________




Made an ap ple _______________


Miss ing words: seeds, pie

BRAINSTORM

To brain storm is to elicit many re sponses to a ques tion or prob lemwith out eval u at ing each re sponse. Quan tity of re sponses is en cour agedand all re sponses are ac cepted.

STEPS:

1. State a specific problem or ask an open-ended question.

2. State the rules for brainstorming:

Accept all ideas, no criticism.

Include unusual and creative ideas.

Encourage “hitchhiking” on each other’s ideas.

3. At the conclusion of the brainstorming session, commenton the number and variety of responses.

ORAL PRACTICE

1. How many ways can you serve potatoes?

2. How many excuses can you give for being late to school?

3. Name wild things you would see if you took a walkthrough the woods.

4. How many foods can you name that begin with the letter C?


BOOKTALKS : FOOD

The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza. Putnam, 1987.

A hun gry wolf spies a chicken and de cides to fat ten her up for ade li cious chicken stew. Each morn ing he leaves good things to eatat her door: one hun dred de li cious pan cakes, one hun dred scrump -tious dough nuts, and a cake that weighs one hun dred pounds. When he de cides she is plump enough he makes his way to her cot tage and knocks on her door. He is greeted with thanks as the baby chicksgive him one hun dred kisses. The wolf’s plan for chicken stew dis -ap pears and he heads home to “bake the lit tle crit ters one hun dredscrump tious cook ies.”

One Po tato, Two Po tato by Cynthia DeFelice. Illus. by Andrea U’Ren. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006.

Imag ine a hus band and wife so poor that they had to share ev -ery thing. They share one chair, one blan ket and one po tato. Alsothey each have one wish. Each wants to have one friend. One daythey dug the last po tato from the ground and dis cov ered a big blackpot. It was a magic pot. What ever went into the pot came out as two. Soon, they had two po ta toes, two blan kets, and two chairs. Thencame the day that the wife trip ped and fell into the pot and her hus -band fell in as well. Out came two wives and two hus bands. Nowthat they had the friend they wished for, they bur ied the pot for oth -ers to find.


HELPING FARMER BROWN

Ev ery night Foxy Loxy sneaks into the hen house and takes one ofFarmer Brown’s chick ens. Soon all the chick ens will be gone.

Soon Farmer Brown won’t have eggs to sell.

Soon Mrs. Farmer Brown won’t have eggs to cook for break fast.

Brain storm ways the chick ens can keep Foxy Loxy away from thehen house.

Brain storm ways Farmer Brown can keep Foxy Loxy out of the henhouse.

Brain storm safe places Farmer Brown could keep the chick ens otherthan the hen house.

Brain storm things Farmer Brown could sell other than eggs.

Brain storm all the foods Mrs. Farmer Brown can fix for break fastother than eggs.


VEGETABLES

Sup pose a cook made a veg e ta ble stew rather than a chicken stew.Brain storm names of these veg e ta bles.

1. Vegetables that begin with the letter C.

2. Names of vegetables that have two or more syllables.

3. Vegetables that are the color green.

4. Vegetable names that rhyme.

5. Vegetables that grow above the ground.

6. Vegetables that grow below the ground.

7. Vegetables that come in cans.

8. Vegetables whose names begin with the same letter as thefirst name of each member of the group or class.


CLASSIFICATION

To clas sify is to iden tify or ar range ob jects or ideas ac cord ing to acom mon char ac ter is tic or a uni fy ing re la tion ship. The group of ob jectsor ideas would then have a com mon la bel.

STEPS:

1. Select a basis for grouping.

2. Examine each item to identify its characteristics orfeatures.

3. Identify similarities and differences.

4. Place items with common features in the same category orgroup.

ORAL PRACTICE

Name as many an i mal pets as you can.

What pets can be grouped by their cov er ing?

(fur, feath ers, scales)

What pets could be grouped by their num ber of legs?

(two legs, four legs, no legs)

What pets could be grouped by the way they move?

(walk, fly, swim)

What other groups can we think of for an i mal pets?


BOOKTALKS : PETS

Pet Show! by Ezra Jack Keats. Vi king, 1972.

On the day of the pet show, Archie could not find his cat. Therewas a prize for ev ery pet, “the hand som est frog, the friend li est fish,the lon gest dog and the fast est mouse.” When Archie brought a petin a jar he said it was a germ. It won a rib bon for the qui et est pet.Then an old woman ar rived with a cat. It won a rib bon as the catwith the lon gest whis kers. It was Archie’s cat. Archie was so happyto have his pet back that he told the woman to keep the rib bon. “Itlooks good on you,” he said. “See you around.”

Pea nut by Linas Alsenas. Scho las tic, 2007.

Mil dred was a very lonely se nior cit i zen un til she finds a mostun usual stray puppy. This puppy is rather large. He does n’t rollover. He never fetches and his nose is much big ger than any puppyshe has ever seen. He would not eat dog food or chew on bones. The only thing he liked were pea nuts so she named him Pea nuts. In herapart ment he wa tered her plants with his long nose. He squashed ce -real boxes. One day when Mil dred was tak ing Pea nuts for a walk, aman from the cir cus ran up to Pea nuts. The miss ing el e phant hadbeen found. Mil dred vis ited Pea nuts at the cir cus and knew he washap pi est there. She went look ing for an other pet…a kit ten, and de -cided to take it home. (The kit ten was re ally a camel.)


GROUPING PETS

Cut apart these pic tures and put them in groups. Give the name of each group.


SENTENCES

The pets who won prizes in Archie’s pet show were:

A par rot A frog A fish A ca nary An ant

A gold fish A dog A mouse A puppy A cat

Com plete these sen tences by find ing two pets alike and onedif fer ent.

Ex am ple:

A goldfish has scales. A goldfish can swim.

A fish has scales. A fish can swim.

A parrot does not have scales A parrot cannot swim.

A _____________________ has ___________________________.

A _____________________ has ___________________________.

A _____________________ does not have ___________________.

A _____________________ can ___________________________.

A _____________________ can ___________________________.

A _____________________ can not ________________________.


COMPARING

In com par ing two ob jects or sit u a tions, sim i lar i ties and dif fer encesare ob served and iden ti fied.

STEPS:

1. Select a basis for comparison. (size, shape, uses, order,behavior)

2. Describe the features or characteristics to be compared.

3. Describe similarities and differences.

4. Summarize major similarities and differences.

ORAL PRACTICE

1. How is a chair like a table?

2. How is a chair different from a table?

3. How is a dog like a cat?

4. How is a dog different from a cat?

5. How is an apartment like a house?

6. How is an apartment different from a house?


BOOKTALKS : FEELINGS

Alert! by Etienne Delessert. Hought on Mifflin, 2007.

Tobias, the mole, col lects shiny round peb bles and hides them in the tun nels to his bur row to keep them safe from rob bers. When afriend tells Tobias that there are rob bers on the prowl, he be gins toworry about the safety of his peb bles. Should he scat ter the peb blesthroughout the tun nels or keep them to gether in one room where hecan guard them? Day af ter day he be comes more wor ried and afraid.He moves his peb bles from one place to an other un til he dis cov ersthat he has been tricked into let ting his fears get the better of him.

Grumpy Glo ria by Anna Dewdney. Vi king, 2006.

Do pets have bad days? Do pets show their feel ings? What hap -pens when a pet’s best friend gets an other friend? Glo ria, the bull -dog, feels left out when a lit tle girl, her best friend, plays with otherfriends. The chil dren set about to make grumpy Glo ria happy again. They give her a dog gie chew, brush her hair, take her jog ging, giveher a bath, a toy, and a bone. Glo ria only gets grump ier. Noth ingworks un til a spill from a bi cy cle finds Glo ria with her best friend’sarms around her.

I Love You Lit tle Mon key by Alan Durant. Illus. by Kath er ineMcEwen. Si mon & Schuster, 2007.

Lit tle Mon key wants to play but Big Mon key has too manychores to do. Lit tle Mon key de cides to help Big Mon key. Lit tleMon key proves not to be help ful at all. Rather than col lect ing figsfor din ner, Lit tle Mon key uses the figs for play; he messes up thebed and can’t be quiet when Big Mon key wants to nap. No mat terwhat mis chief Lit tle Mon key gets into, Big Mon key may not likethe an tics, but he never stops lov ing Lit tle Mon key.


WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH PEBBLES?

Think of many things you can and can not do with ten shinypeb bles.

What can you do with ten shiny peb bles?

You can ________________________________________

You can ________________________________________

You can ________________________________________

That’s what you can do with ten shiny peb bles.

What can’t you do with ten shiny peb bles?

You can’t _______________________________________

You can’t _______________________________________

You can’t _______________________________________

No, you can’t do that with ten shiny peb bles.


COMPARING ANIMALS

Use these words:

larger smaller lon ger shorter fat ter faster slower taller

1. An elephant is ______________________ than a mole.

2. A mouse is ______________________ than a mole.

3. A giraffe is ______________________ than an elephant.

4. A pig is ______________________ than a cat.

5. A giraffe’s neck is ______________________ than ahorse’s neck.

6. A pig’s tail is ______________________ than a horse’stail.

7. A turtle moves ______________________ than a mouse.

8. A deer runs ______________________ than a pig.

Answer Key: 1. larger 2. smaller 3. taller 4. fatter 5. longer 6.shorter 7. slower 8. faster


COMPREHENSION

Com pre hen sion re quires es tab lish ing re la tion ships amongideas which are then sum ma rized and in ter preted.

Steps:

1. Remember, recall, or read information from a story or on a topic.

2. Relate the information to previous knowledge.

3. Explain and/or summarize information.

4. Interpret the relationship between information andprevious knowledge.

5. Encode the information in a new format.

ORAL PRACTICE

1. How many words can we use to describe Curious George?

2. What is the best word to describe Curious George otherthan the word, curious?

3. After sharing a story, ask these comprehension questions:

A. Who did you like best in the story? Why?

B. Was there a character you did not like in the story? Why?

C. Give three words to describe a character in the story. Why did you choose these three words?


BOOKTALKS : CATS

Mil lions of Cats by Wanda Gag. (Re is sue) Putnam’s, 1996.

One day a lit tle old man sets out to find a cat for his wife. Hewalked a very long time over hills and through val leys un til he came to a hill that was cov ered with mil lions of cats. There were so manycats that the old man could not choose just one to take home…so hechose them all. On the way home the mil lions of cats drank all thewa ter in a pond and ate all the grass from a hill side. The lit tle oldwoman was dis mayed to see her hus band ar rive with mil lions ofcats. “We can’t feed them all,” she said. “Let the cats de cide whichis the pret ti est. That is the one we will keep.” As you can imag ine,the cats fought and fought un til they ate each other up. Only oneugly lit tle cat was left who did not fight. He be cause the cou ple’smost cher ished pet.

The Cat Who Would n’t Come In side by Cynthia von Buhler.Hought on Mifflin, 2006.

On a cold win ter day a lady sees a cat out side with snow on itsback. She in vites the cat in side but the cat runs away. Day af ter daythe cat re turns and takes each of the good things she leaves on herporch. Day one the woman leaves warm milk and each day she adds some thing else a cat would like: tuna, a cat nip mouse, a soft rug, acozy arm chair, a ball of yarn, cur tains, and a warm fire. Each timethe cat re fuses to come in side un til at last the porch is so cozy thatthe cat makes it her home.


STORIES AND RHYMES

Read the Mother Goose Rhyme and the booktalk.

How many ways are the rhyme and the story alike?

The Kil kenny Cats

There once were two cats of Kil kenny.

Each thought there was one cat too many;

So they fought and they fit,

And they scratched and they bit,

Till, ex cept ing their nails,

And the tips of their tails,

In stead of two cats, there were n’t any.

The Lit tle Old Woman and the Hun gry Cat by Nancy Polette.Illus. by Frank Modell. Greenwillow Books, 1991.

One morn ing a lit tle old woman baked cup cakes and told her catto leave them alone while she went to the mayor’s house with hersew ing bas ket. The cat gob bled down the cup cakes, then went for awalk where he met and swal lowed down a one-legged man and hissqueal ing pig, a groom, a bride, a best man, a maid of honor, andfour horses. When the lit tle old woman came home, the cat swal -lowed her, sew ing bas ket and all. She used her scis sors to cut a holein the cat’s side big enough for all to step out.

In stead of at tend ing the wed ding party, the cat had to spend thewhole day sew ing up the hole in his side.


MILLIONS OF CATS

Add the miss ing words. Sing the song to the tune of “Mary Had ALit tle Lamb.” Some words will be used more than once.

fight kit ten cat one hills wife cats pet

A hus band went to find a (1) ________________________________

Find a (2) _______________________________________________

Find a (3) _______________________________________________

A hus band went to find a (4) ________________________________

And found a mil lion (5) ____________________________________

His wife said “We must choose just (6) ________________________

Choose just (7) ___________________________________________

Choose just (8) ___________________________________________

His wife said “We must choose just (9) ________________________

That one will be our (10) ___________________________________

The cats got into a big (11) __________________________________

A big (12) _______________________________________________

A big (13) _______________________________________________

The cats got into a big (14) __________________________________

And ate each other up.

Left by the door was one small (15) ___________________________

One small (16) ___________________________________________

One small (17) ___________________________________________

Left by the door was one small (18) ___________________________

And it be came their (19) ____________________________________

An swer Key: 1, 2, 3, 4. kit ten 5. cats 6, 7, 8, 9. one 10. pet 11,12, 13, 14. fight 15, 16, 17, 18. cat 19. pet


DECISION MAKING

De ci sion mak ing is the pro cess lead ing to the se lec tion of one ofsev eral op tions af ter con sid er ation of facts, ideas, pos si ble al ter na tives,prob a ble con se quences, and per sonal val ues.

Steps:

1. Identify the problem.

2. List alternative solutions.

3. Establish criteria for weighing each alternative.

Ex am ple: 1 = no 2 = maybe 3 = yes

4. Choose the alternative with the highest rating.

5. Give reasons for your choice.

ORAL PRACTICE

Listing Alternatives

Prob lem: You are hun gry.

1. Name three foods healthier to eat than pizza.

Which food should you choose to eat?

Prob lem: You must cross a busy street to get home.

2. Name three ways to cross a street safely.

Which way is best?

3. Name three reasons NOT to swim alone in a pond.

Which rea son is best?


BOOKTALKS : FOOD

Cloudy With A Chance of Meat balls by Judy Barrett. Illus. byRon Barrett. Alad din Books, 1978.

There were no su per mar kets in the town of Chewandswallowsince break fast, lunch, and din ner fell from the sky. Break fast be gan with a shower of or ange juice fol lowed by low clouds of sunny-sideup eggs and toast. Lunch might be frank furt ers al ready in their rollsfol lowed by mus tard clouds. Peo ple lis tened to the weather re port to find out what they would be eat ing the next day.

It was quite a nice ar range ment un til one day the weather took aturn for the worse. The food that fell from the sky got larger andlarger and so did the por tions. The res i dents of Chewandswallowfeared for their lives and had to es cape. They floated on large slicesof stale bread for a week un til they reached a town that wel comedthem. This is the tall tale Grand fa ther loves to tell.

Pan cakes for Sup per! by Anne Isaacs. Illus. by Mark Teague.Scho las tic, 2006.

Toby is all dressed up and on her way to town when she falls outof the wagon and lands in a deep, dark for est. She meets five wildan i mals but trades them a piece of her cloth ing for her safety. Thean i mals ar gued about which was the grand est and ran around andaround the ma ple tree so fast that they turned into a golden brownpud dle. Toby and her par ents found each other and un der the warmsun the tree soaked up the pud dle. Toby got a bucket and caught thesweet ma ple syrup that trick led down. “Pan cakes for sup per!” sheshouted.


BREAKFAST

Sup pose you got up late and needed a good break fast to give you en -ergy dur ing the day. You will have to hurry so you won’t be late forschool.

Score each break fast 1 = no 2 = maybe 3 = yes

The first food is scored for you.

Break fastEasy tomake

FastGood forEn ergy

To tal

Eggs 2 1 2 5

Ce real

Pan cakes

Toast

The best break fast is _______________________________________

________________________________________________________


THE BEST SNACK

Some times hav ing too much food to choose from is not a good thing. Some foods are health ier to eat than oth ers.

What would be the best thing to bring for a snack at school?

Score each item 1 = no 2 = maybe 3 = yes

The first item is scored for you.

FoodEasy tomake &

take

Good foryou

Tastesgood

To tal

Pop corn2 3 3 8

Cup cakes

Ice Cream

Ap ple


DEDUCTIVE THINKING

De duc tive think ing is the abil ity to ar rive at one cor rect an swer af ter ex am in ing sev eral clues. De lay ing judg ment un til all clues have beenex am ined is es sen tial.

Steps:

1. Examine the question to be answered.

2. Carefully examine and reflect on the data (clues) available.

3. Identify relationships among clues.

4. Arrive at a conclusion supported by the data.

ORAL PRACTICE

Where does this story take place?

It does not take place in the city.

It does not take place on the ocean.

It does not take place in the jun gle.

The an i mals in this story hide be hind trees.

The story must take place in the ________________________


BOOKTALKS : ANIMAL FRIENDS

My Friend Rab bit by Eric Rohmann. Roar ing Brook Press,2002.

When Mouse lets his best friend, Rab bit, play with his brandnew air plane, trou ble is n’t far be hind. Rab bit means well but he ismuch big ger than Mouse and when he tried to launch the plane itends up in a tree, too high to reach. Rab bit tells Mouse not to worrysince he has an idea. Rab bit gath ers to gether lots of an i mals andgets them to climb on each other. A tall tree of an i mals re sults withrhino on top of el e phant, hippo on top of rhino, an te lope on top ofhippo, croc o dile on top of an te lope, bear on top of croc o dile, gooseon top of bear, and squir rel on top of goose hold ing mouse. Reach -ing for the plane proves to be a di sas ter when the an i mal lad der col -lapses send ing the an i mals bounc ing ev ery which way. Mouse isleft hang ing on to the wing of the plane which is still stuck in thetree. Fi nally the plane is res cued but trou ble looms again when Rab -bit tries to take a plane ride with Mouse.

Where Is Bear? By Lesléa Newman. Illus. by ValeriGorbachev. Har court, 2004.

The for est an i mals be gin a game of hide and seek. While Bunnycounts to ten, Fox and Frog hide be hind a log. Tur tle hides in hisshell. Chip munk, Skunk, Snake, Ant, Bee tle, and La dy bug all findplaces to hide. So does Bear. When Rab bit fin ishes count ing hefinds all of the hid den an i mals ex cept Bear. The an i mals join in thesearch. They look be hind rocks and trees, along the creek and in thewoods, but no Bear. Last they look in a deep, dark cave. Sureenough they find Bear sound asleep. They wake Bear up with a kissbut Bear can’t stay awake long enough to play the game again.


MYSTERY ANIMALS

Lis ten to the clues one at a time. Guess the mys tery an i mal.

1. Clues

A. I live in the for est.

B. I have four legs.

C. I have a long tail.

D. My name rhymes with BOX.

2. Clues

A. I live in the for est


C. I sleep through the win ter.

D. My name rhymes with CARE.

3. Clues

A. I live in the for est.


C. I am black and white.

D. My name rhymes with SHRUNK.

Write your own an i mal rid dles for oth ers to guess.

An swer Key: 1. fox 2. bear 3. skunk


FOREST SOUNDS

Skunk, Rab bit, Tur tle, and Snake heard dif fer ent sounds while play -ing hide and seek. Which an i mal heard which sound?

CLUES

1. Skunk hid by a small stream.

2. Turtle heard a sound that begins with the first letter of hisname.

3. Snake hid in a bird’s nest.

4. Rabbit hid in a dark cave.

SOUND ANIMAL

A. Wa ter rip pling ______________________________

B. Bear snor ing ______________________________

C. Trees sway ing ______________________________

D. Wings flap ping ______________________________

An swer Key: Skunk: wa ter rip pling; Tur tle: trees sway ing; Rab bit: bear snor ing; Snake: wings flap ping


ELABORATION

Elab o ra tion is the pro cess of add ing de tails to an ex ist ing prod uct.

Steps:

1. Examine the basic object or idea to be changed orimproved by elaboration.

2. Define the basic idea.

3. Decide how to add or expand on the basic idea to make itmore interesting or complete.

4. Add details to develop a more interesting or usefulproduct or idea.

ORAL PRACTICE

1. What could you add to your classroom to make it easy toget out during a fire drill?

2. What could you add to your pencil to make it easier to dohomework?

3. If you added an eye to the end of your finger, what couldyou do that you cannot do now?

4. What could you add to Humpty Dumpty so that he wouldnot break into pieces if he fell off a wall?


BOOKTALKS : SOMETHING ADDED

Miss Nel son is Miss ing! by Harry Allard. Illus. by James Mar -shall. Hought on Mifflin, 1977.

The kids in Room 207 were about the worst kids in the school.They threw spitballs, were rude dur ing story hour, and never didtheir home work. Their teacher, Miss Nel son, was a very kind per -son but even kind peo ple don’t like be ing taken ad van tage of. Shestopped com ing to school and her re place ment was the dreadedMiss Vi ola Swamp. No one mis be haved in Miss Swamp’s class.Ev ery one did home work. Not a spitball was thrown and there wasNO story hour. The chil dren went to the po lice for help in find ingMiss Nel son but the po lice could n’t help. They were just about togive up hope when Miss Nel son re turned. She dis cov ered that herstu dents had changed for the better and smiled to her self as she putaway Miss Vi ola Swamp’s clothes in her closet that night.

Imogene’s Ant lers by Da vid Small. Crown Pub lish ers, 1985.

Sup pose you woke up one morn ing to dis cover you had ac -quired part of an an i mal! This is what hap pens to Imogene when she awak ens to find she has sprouted ant lers. They do cause SOME dif -fi culty for her in get ting dressed and go ing through doors. Hermother faints at the sight of Imogene with ant lers. None of the ex -perts con sulted could help Imogene but she did dis cover that ant lers have some use ful pur poses. They are an ex cel lent place to hang anddry tow els. They make an out stand ing bird feeder. But Imogenedoes n’t re ally want to be a towel rack or a bird feeder. HowImogene’s prob lem is solved makes for funny read ing.


SAVE THE WORM

Imogene’s ant lers made an ex cel lent bird feeder. Sup pose she losesher ant lers and the birds go look ing for worms. What can you add to thispic ture to save the worm from be com ing the bird’s break fast?


MISS NELSON’S HAT

What can you add to Miss Nel son’s new hat so that ev ery one will no -tice it?


EVALUATION

Eval u a tion re quires the weigh ing of pos i tive and neg a tive fac tors in choos ing the best plan of ac tion.

Steps:

1. Identify what is to be evaluated.

2. Define the standards of appraisal.

3. Collect data related to the defined standards.

4. Collect an equal number of positive and negative points toavoid prejudice.

5. Make a judgment.

ORAL PRACTICE

Share: Hor ton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss. Ran dom House, 1940. Hor ton, the el e phant, agrees to sit on lazy Mayzie’s egg

while she takes a va ca tion. She does not re turn all through thefall, win ter and spring. Hunt ers cap ture Hor ton and put him ondis play in a cir cus. Just as the egg is about to hatch Mayzieshows up. She wants her egg back.

Give an equal num ber of rea sons why Hor ton should get theegg and why Mayzie should get the egg. Af ter ex am in ing all of therea sons for and against, vote on who should get the egg.

Fin ish the story to dis cover the de ci sion that the au thor (Dr.Seuss) made.


BOOKTALKS : SCHOOL STORIES

Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester. Illus. by LynnMunsinger. Hought on Mifflin, 1999.

Wodney Wat had a prob lem. He could not pro nounce words that be gan with or con tained the let ter, R. Wodney’s friends don’t seemto mind. The ro dents in Miss Fuzzleworth’s class got along fine un -til the day Camilla Capybara showed up. She bragged that she wasbig ger, meaner, and smarter than any one in the class. The small ro -dents trem bled in fright.

For af ter noon re cess Wodney is cho sen to be the leader of “Si -mon Says.” His di rec tions to “weed the sign, wake the leaves and go west” are eas ily un der stood by his class mates. Camilla, how ever,tries to pull up weeds, wake up the leaves, and fi nally head westnever to be seen again. Wodney Wat saves the day and be comes ahero.

Chry san the mum by Kevin Henkes. Greenwillow Books, 1991.

Be cause her par ents thought she was an ab so lutely per fect babythey gave her a very spe cial name. Chry san the mum. Chry san the -mum loved her name es pe cially when mother used it to wake her upor fa ther used it to call her to din ner. But go ing to school for the firsttime was a shock. The other chil dren made fun of her name. Theysaid it was too long and would not fit on her name tag. They said she was a flower to be picked and smelled. Each day Chry san the mumtook lon ger and lon ger to get to school. When she was cho sen to bea daisy in the school mu si cal the chil dren laughed again. But themu sic teacher saw noth ing funny about be ing named for a flowersince her name was Del phin ium. When the girls heard this, they allwanted flower names as well. Chry san the mum bloomed!


WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Wodney Wat was very shy and bash ful. The teacher wantshim to lead the game of “Si mon Says.” Give rea sonsWodney should say yes and rea sons he should say no.

There is a bully in your school who takes things, and hitsother chil dren. Give rea sons to ig nore the bully and rea -sons to try to make friends with the bully.

Give rea sons you would like to be a bully and rea sons youwould not like to be a bully.

Your par ents want to name your new baby sis ter af ter aflower. Give rea sons why this is a good idea and rea sonswhy it is not a good idea.

The chil dren are teas ing a child in your class about his or herun usual name. Give rea sons to join in the teas ing and rea -sons not to join in the teas ing.


CHOICES

Tell which you would rather have and why.

new clothes

new name

new school

new shoes

__________________________

__________________________

__________________________

a rose

a pe tu nia

a vi o let

a tu lip

___________________________

__________________________

__________________________

a dragon

a ham ster

a pony

a mon key

__________________________

__________________________

__________________________

a good friend

a lot of money

a big house

a kind teacher

__________________________

__________________________

__________________________


FLEXIBILITY

Flex i bil ity is the abil ity to re spond in a va ri ety of cat e go ries, to findnew uses for fa mil iar ob jects or new ways of deal ing with fa mil iar sit u a -tions. Flex i bil ity re quires think ing be yond the usual and ob vi ous to thenew and orig i nal.

Steps:

1. Identify the information to be used.

2. Examine the items to be used.

3. Identify many categories for the material.

4. Respond with new and creative categories or uses.

ORAL PRACTICE

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Illus. by four teen art -ists. Dial 2006.

Four teen dif fer ent art ists an swer the ques tion, “Why did thechicken cross the road?” Tedd Ar nold said, “To show the pos sum itcould be done.” Da vid Shan non said, “The chicken crossed the road be cause the light was green.”

How many funny rea sons can you give to an swer the ques tion:Why did the chicken cross the road?


BOOKTALKS : CHANGING PLACES

Mike Mul li gan and His Steam Shovel by Vir ginia Lee Bur ton.Hought on Mifflin, 1967.

Mike Mul li gan and his steam shovel, Mary Anne, had workedto gether for many years. They dug ca nals, tun nels, and road ways.Mike bragged that Mary Anne could dig as much in a day as onehun dred men could dig in a week. The years pass and Mary Anne isno lon ger needed to dig ca nals and tun nels. Mike has to find a newplace for her to dig. The two are put to the test and asked to dig abase ment for the Town Hall. Mike and Mary Anne are so busy dig -ging that they for get to plan how to get out of the large hole. Then ayoung boy thinks of a per fect so lu tion. Mary Anne will be needed in a new place for years to come!

What do you sup pose the so lu tion was?

The Lit tle House by Vir ginia Lee Bur ton. Hought on Mifflin,1942.

The lit tle house sat on a hill in the coun try side and was happywatch ing the chang ing sea sons and the ac tiv i ties she saw with each.The farmer planted and har vested his crops. In the sum mer the chil -dren swam in the pond and in the fall they went to school. She likedwatch ing the chil dren on their sleds in the win ter and see ing the ap -ples trees bloom in the spring. But roads were built, ma chines cameand soon houses, then tall build ings and a whole city grew uparound her. She missed the dai sies and the ap ple trees and see ingthe chil dren at play. She was for got ten un til one day a lady saw her.The lady had played in the house as a child. She bought the houseand had it moved to the coun try where once again the lit tle housecould watch the sea sons come and go.


WHY DO WE DIG HOLES?

How many rea sons can you give to dig a hole in the ground?

Write your ideas on the lines in this poem.

Steam shovel, steam shovel, dig all day

Steam shovel, steam shovel, dig away

Dig a hole to __________________________________

Dig a hole to __________________________________




Dig a hole to __________________________________

Dig a hole to __________________________________




CITY LIFE

A lit tle house was un happy when tall city build ings and busy, noisystreets were built all around it.

Help the lit tle house feel better by com plet ing these sen tences.

1. Seeing tall buildings all around you is bad, but seeing

____________________________________________

all around you is worse.

2. Hearing noisy cars go by all day is bad, but hearing

____________________________________________

go by is worse.

3. Smelling garbage trucks all day is bad, but smelling

____________________________________________

all day is worse.

4. Being lost in a crowd of people is bad, but

_________________________________________ in a

crowd of people is worse.


FLUENCY

Flu ency is the abil ity to pro duce com mon re sponses to a given sit u a -tion. The em pha sis is on quan tity rather than qual ity. The in tent is tobuild a large store of in for ma tion or ma te rial for fur ther se lec tive use.

Steps:

1. Define the situation and determine the category.

2. Ask for many responses.

3. Do not allow evaluation of responses.

4. Accept all ideas given.

ORAL PRACTICE

1. Name all the jobs that need to be done on a farm.

2. Name many signs of fall.

3. Name all the things children can do for fun in the winter.

4. Name many forms of transportation used today to buy andsell.

5. Make a list of all the things class members could make totake to town to trade or sell.


BOOKTALKS : LIFE ON THE FARM

The Ox-cart Man by Barbara Cooney. Vi king Press, 1979.

A farmer in New Hamp shire loaded his cart with all the prod ucts he and his fam ily made or grew dur ing the past year that they did not use them selves. The farmer’s ox-cart was loaded with wool, ashawl, mit tens, can dles, linen, shin gles, brooms, po ta toes, ap ples,cab bages, and other prod ucts of this farm fam ily’s la bors. Thefarmer was ready to travel to Portsmouth to trade and sell. Af ter aten day jour ney, he ar rived at the mar ket where he sold ev ery thingin clud ing the ox cart, yoke, har ness, and ox. The farmer then bought an iron ket tle, an em broi dery nee dle, a whit tling knife and win ter -green can dies. He then re turned home to his fam ily with gifts and apock et ful of coins. Once again, the ox-cart man and his fam ily re -peated the sea sonal cy cle, pre par ing for the next trad ing trip totown.

From Dawn till Dusk by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock. Illus. byMary Azarian. Hought on Mifflin, 2002.

A farmer’s fam ily has work to do all year around but there aremany fun times as well. The chil dren gath ered by a warm fire andlis tened to sto ries on cold win ter nights. They made ma plesugar-on-snow, dug tun nels, made snow forts, and had snow ballfights. In the spring they made mud pies and splashed through pud -dles. They dug worms and went fish ing. Sum mer was time forswim ming in the pond, wel com ing new kit tens, and plates andplates of fresh veg e ta bles. Fall was har vest time, climb ing ap pletrees to shake the ap ples down, and, of course, time for school. Asthe sea sons re peat them selves year af ter year, the chil dren are surethey would not want to live any where else.


HOW MANY ANSWERS?

How many an swers can you give?

1. The branches of an apple tree are like…

2. A wool shirt is as scratchy as…

3. Feathers remind me of…

4. Mittens could be used for…

5. You can put honey on…

6. At night, light can come from…

7. A farmer can travel to town in/on a…

8. A shawl could be used to…

9. Other uses for a big bag of potatoes are…

10. Uses for an apple other than to eat are…


FOR SALE! FOR SALE!

Here are things a farmer might take to town to sell. Add a de scrib ingword to each and read the chant.

For Sale! For Sale!

_____________________________________________ wool

_____________________________________________ shawl

_____________________________________________ can dles

_____________________________________________ brooms

All for sale, all for sale

And mit tens to keep you warm.

_____________________________________________ ap ples

_____________________________________________ pump kins

_____________________________________________ cab bages

_____________________________________________ tur nips

All for sale, all for sale

All come from the farm.


FORECASTING

Fore cast ing re quires look ing at both the causes and ef fects of an ac -tion be fore de ter min ing the best ac tion to take.

Steps:

1. Consider all possible causes of a given situation.

2. Consider all possible effects of a given situation.

3. Choose the best cause and effect.

4. Determine appropriate action(s) based on the choice.

5. Give reasons for choosing the action.

ORAL PRACTICE

1. Think of reasons people do not want to get out of bed inthe morning.

2. What would happen if these workers did not get out ofbed?

A. Fireman

B. Nurse

C. Policeman

D. Farmer

E. Teacher


BOOKTALKS : FAMILY LIFE

Bed time for Fran ces by Rus sell Hoban. Illus. by Garth Wil -liams. HarperCollins, 1960.

Fran ces, the badger, like many chil dren, has prob lems at bed -time. She needs a glass of milk and many kisses be fore be ing tucked into bed with her teddy bear and doll but it is not yet time for sweetdreams. Up she pops to tell her par ents that there is a ti ger in herroom, a gi ant in the cor ner, and a crack in the ceil ing that is get tingwider. But fi nally a dif fer ent kind of bump ing and thump ing putsFran ces to sleep. Can you guess what it is?

A Baby Sis ter for Fran ces by Rus sell Hoban. Illus. by LillianHoban. HarperCollins, 1964.

With Glo ria, her new baby sis ter at home, no one seems to payat ten tion to Fran ces. Mother does n’t have time to wash her fa vor itedress or go shop ping for rai sins for her oat meal. Fran ces de cidesthat eve ning to run away. She takes her nick els and pen nies, her fa -vor ite toys, and her spe cial blan ket and tells her par ents that she hasfound the per fect place to run away to . . . un der the din ing room ta -ble. She lis tens as her par ents talk about how they miss her songs.They talk about how Glo ria will miss hav ing a big sis ter to teach her things. They men tion how much they would like to hear from Fran -ces so she calls them on a pre tend tele phone. She has de cided tocome home. Mother says that is a very good thing since she is mak -ing a choc o late cake and Glo ria is too lit tle to have some. And af terall, one new baby does n’t make a fam ily.


CAUSE AND EFFECT

Fran ces, the badger, took her book to bed each night. She took aflash light, too. She hid un der the cov ers and read her book.

One night her flash light went out. She shook it and shook it but the lightwould not come on. She put her book away in a crack in the wall of herbadger hole be tween two pieces of wood.

It rained all night long. In the morn ing, the book was so wet Fran cescould not turn the pages.

An swer these ques tions.

1. What caused Frances to read under the covers with aflashlight?

2. What caused the flashlight to go out?

3. What was the effect of not having a flashlight thatworked?

4. What caused Frances to put the book away?

5. What was the effect of putting the book in a crack in thewall?


WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN?

Tell what might hap pen if:


The sun did notshine for one year.

Hens stoppedlay ing eggs.

Cows stoppedgiv ing milk

GENERALIZING

To gen er al ize is to make a state ment based on ev i dence that ap pliesto a group.

Steps:

1. Collect, organize, and examine data about the group.

2. Identify the common characteristics of the groupmembers.

3. State a general statement that applies to the group basedon common characteristics.

4. Find other instances in which the generalization is true ornot true.

5. Determine if there is sufficient evidence to support thegeneralization.

ORAL PRACTICE

Are these gen eral state ments true or false? Why or why not?

1. All kittens have four legs.

2. All islands are surrounded by water.

3. Every picnic basket contains fried chicken.

4. Everyone likes to go on a picnic.


BOOKTALKS : ISLANDS AND SEASONS

The Lit tle Is land by Golden Mac Don ald. Illus. by Leon ardWeisgard. Doubleday, 1946.

The lit tle is land lived alone in the ocean watch ing the changesthe sea sons brought to the plants and an i mals of the is land. One daya kit ten came to the is land with some peo ple on a pic nic. The kit tenthought the is land was very lit tle and must be very lonely. But thekit ten dis cov ered that the is land was not sep a rated from the rest ofthe world at all, but con nected to the rest of the land un der the wa ter. The lit tle is land was con tent with its life as part of the world, yet,hav ing a life of its own, sur rounded by the bright blue sea.

Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thomp son. Illus. by BuketErdogan. Si mon & Schuster, 2006.

Mouse and his friend, Minka, go out to play on a cool fall day.They see leaves of all shapes and col ors that have fallen from thetrees. They run through the leaves and make a big pile of leaves.Minka jumps in the leaves and dis ap pears. Mouse searches for herand out she jumps from the leaf pile. What fun on a beau ti ful fallday.


WHAT IS AN ISLAND?

What makes an is land? What else can you call an is land? Whatgen eral statement can you make about is lands?

Which of these is an is land? Why?


SEASONS

What pic tures can you draw that are true of each sea son?

Sum mer is… Fall is…

Win ter is… Spring is…


HYPOTHESIZING

To hy poth e size is to for mu late a state ment to sup port or deny withev i dence show ing how two or more items or sit u a tions are re lated.

Steps:

1. State and give reasons for the hypothesis.

2. Identify the needed data and procedures needed to test thehypothesis.

3. Conduct the data-gathering procedures.

4. Examine the data to see if the hypothesis is supported.

ORAL PRACTICE

Hy poth e sis: Most stu dents in the class would rather read non fic tionthan fic tion.

Ask for a show of hands:

How many pre fer to read nonfic tion?

_____________________________________________________

How many pre fer to read fic tion?

_____________________________________________________

Most stu dents pre fer

_____________________________________________________

The hypothesis was _________________ right ___________ wrong


BOOKTALKS : WILD ANIMALS

Why Mos qui toes Buzz In Peo ple’s Ears by Verna Aardema.Illus. by Leo and Di ane Dillon. Dial Press, 1975.

One morn ing a mos quito tells an iguana a fool ish tale that hedoes n’t want to hear. The iguana puts sticks in his ears and stormsoff. He passes a py thon and does n’t say good morn ing. The py thonthinks the iguana is mad at him, so he slith ers down into a rab bit’sden. This be gins con fu sion through out the jun gle, which ends in the death of Mother Owl’s owlet. Mother Owl, who is both an gry andsad, re fuses to wake the sun. When the an i mals who do not like thedark days, find out that mos quito is guilty, Mos quito has to pay forhis fool ish ness. Mother Owl again wakes the sun.

Cha me leon’s Col ors by Chisato Tashiro. North-South Books,2007.

Cha me leon is tired of con stantly chang ing col ors. He blends inwher ever he goes and no one ever sees him! Hippo, how ever, is en -vi ous of Cha me leon. He would love to be a dif fer ent color. Sur pris -ingly, all of the other an i mals of the jun gle would, too. So,Cha me leon sets to work paint ing stripes on the lion and polka-dotson the el e phant. He uses ev ery color and pat tern un der the sun. But,as the an i mals soon learn, chang ing their orig i nal ap pear ancecauses prob lems they never ex pected.


ABOUT MOSQUITOES

Hy poth e sis:

When mos qui toes buzz in peo ple’s ears, most peo ple would slap at it.

Check your hy poth e sis by ask ing your class mates what they woulddo. Place a check mark un der each head ing for each an swer you re ceive.

Go In side Buzz Back Slap Spray Other

BUZZ POLL RESULTS

Most peo ple:

____________________ Go in side

____________________ Buzz back

____________________ Slap at the mos quito

____________________ Spray bug spray

____________________ Other

My hy poth e sis was: __________ Right __________ Wrong


ABOUT COLORS

Hy poth e sis:

The fa vor ite color of boys is red. The fa vor ite color of girls is blue.

Check your hy poth e sis by ask ing your class mates their fa vor itecolor. Place a check mark un der each head ing for each an swer youreceive.

B = Boys G = Girls

Red Yel low Blue Green Other

B

G

COLOR POLL RESULTS

BOYS GIRLS

______________________ Red ______________________________________________ Yel low ____________________________________________ Blue _______________________________________________ Green ______________________________________________ Other _______________________

My hy poth e sis [for boys] was: _______ Right _______ Wrong

My hy poth e sis [for girls] was: _______ Right _______ Wrong


IMAGINATION

With out imag i na tion noth ing could ever be cre ated by peo ple.

With imag i na tion, we can:

In vent new things

Make pic tures in the head

Make up char ac ters

Look into the fu ture

ORAL PRACTICE

What could you do if you had eyes in the back of your head?

What could you do if you had wings?

If you were twenty feet tall, what could you do that you can not donow?

If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?

If your fa vor ite book char ac ter vis ited your house, what new ad ven turewould you ask him or her to have?


BOOKTALKS : MAGIC AND IMAGINATION

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. HarperCollins, 1963.

Max has mis be haved. He is sent to his room to think things overand his imag i na tive mind dreams up a river, a boat and a for est. Hesails away to an imag i nary king dom where there are no par ents tosend you to your room. Max’s room be comes a king dom with talltrees and wild things. Max, as king of the wild things, or ders therum pus to be gin and romps through the for est with the scary look -ing crea tures. Af ter the romp he re turns to his room where sup permight be wait ing af ter all.

Sylvester and the Magic Peb ble by Wil liam Steig. Si mon &Schuster, 1969.

Sylvester Duncan, a don key, col lects peb bles. One day he findsan un usual peb ble in the meadow. He is rub bing the peb ble when itbe gins to rain. He wishes the rain to stop and it does. He re al izes that the peb ble is magic and will grant his ev ery wish. He meets a lion inthe meadow and wishes to be come a stone. His wish is granted, butthe peb ble rolls away from the stone. When Sylvester does notcome home, his fran tic par ents search ev ery where for him but donot find him. In the spring, Mr. Duncan takes Mrs. Duncan on a pic -nic to cheer her up. She finds the peb ble and lays it on the stone.Sylvester be comes him self again and has a happy re union with hispar ents.


IMAGINATION SONG

Choose from these words to com plete the song.

book boat head blow bed things trees

Tune: “Twin kle, Twin kle, Lit tle Star”

Just imag ine you could float

One a cozy, cozy b_______________ (1)

See the for est, see it grow

Hear the wind, oh, hear it b_______________ (2)

Danc ing round and round in rings

Danc ing with the wild, wild t_______________ (3)

Would you be lieve what [your name] sees

A for est filled with lots of _______________ (4)

You don’t have to leave your _______________ (5)

See the wild things in your _______________ (6)

Open a page and take a look

You can travel in a _______________ (7)

An swer Key: 1. boat 2. blow 3. things 4. trees 5. bed 6. head 7. book


USE YOUR IMAGINATION

1. What is the donkey’s name?

2. Where did he get the car?

3. Where is he going?

4. Who will he meet on the way?

5. What will go wrong with his trip?

6. Who will help? How?

7. What will the donkey do with the car at the end of the trip?


INFERRING

In fer ring means draw ing a pos si ble con se quence, con clu sion, orim pli ca tion from a set of facts.

Steps:

1. Read carefully the available facts.

2. Note the question to be answered.

3. Determine those facts that fit the question.

4. Draw a conclusion or inference.

ORAL PRACTICE

1. How do you suppose that your teacher gets to schoolbefore the children arrive?

2. How would the school day be different if there were noschool bells throughout the day?

3. Why do you think you should not run during a fire drill?

4. Why do you suppose the principal has a special office?


BOOKTALKS : FARM ANIMALS

Henny Penny by Vivian French. Illus. by Sophie Windham.Blooms bury Books, 2006.

One morn ing Henny Penny was out side shak ing her dust clothwhen the dust made her sneeze so hard that an acorn fell from a treeright on to her head. “The sky is fall ing,” she shrieked. “I must goand tell the king.”

On her way to the pal ace she met friends who joined her, CockyLocky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Tur key Lurky. Theystop by the den of Foxy Loxy and he in vites them to din ner. HennyPenny sees bones, feath ers, and only one plate on the ta ble. Sheknows that she and her friends will BE Foxy Loxy’s din ner. Shemust think fast. How can she get ev ery one home safely?

How did Henny Penny know that Foxy Loxy was go ing to eather and her friends for din ner?

The King’s Cho rus by Linda Hay ward. Illus. by Jennifer P.Goldfinger. Clar ion Books, 2006.

As King of the Barn yard, Kadoodle struts his stuff and crows atall hours of the day and night. No one on the farm can get any sleep.The cows and hens are kept awake all night. Fi nally, Honketta, thegoose tells Kadoodle a story about an other king and his no ble cho -rus. The roost ers in her story are heard around the world be causethey all crow at the same time, when the “King’s eye” ap peared inthe sky. Kadoodle is im pressed with the story and de cides to waitun til morn ing to join the “King’s” cho rus.

Who or what is the “King’s eye”?


WHAT HAPPENED?

If a rooster crowed all night and kept the farm an i mals awake, whatmight or might not hap pen on the farm?

Com plete each verse with the miss ing word.

Choose from these words:

story eggs wagon cow food

1. The farmer, too tired to plow,

For gets to milk the _______________________.

2. His wife is in a bad mood

And de cides not to fix any _______________________.

3. The chickens asleep on their legs

For get to lay any _______________________.

4. The donkey whose hind legs are draggin’

Re fused to pull the farm _______________________.

5. Honketta in all her glory

De cided to tell a _______________________.

An swer Key: 1. cow 2. food 3. eggs 4. wagon 5. story


THE TREE

Draw things other than an acorn that might fall from the tree to scareHenny Penny.


INTERPRET

To in ter pret is to get the mean ing from a source.

Steps:

1. Ask: What are the main ideas?

2. What are the supporting details?

3. What relationship do you find between ___________ and____________?

4. Explain the main idea in a new way or in your own words.

ORAL PRACTICE

Read aloud:

Once there was a girl and her name was Mary

She had a gar den that was most con trary

Now Mary was lazy and she would not plant a seed

So all that she grew was weed af ter weed.

No won der the gar den was so con trary

Looked af ter by a girl called lazy Mary.

1. What do you know about Mary’s garden?

2. What do you know about Mary?

3. Why do you think the garden was full of weeds?

4. What is the main idea of this verse?


BOOKTALKS : MUSIC

Berlioz the Bear writ ten and il lus trated by Jan Brett. G.P.Putnam’s Sons, 1991.

Sup pose you were asked to play at a ball. Sup pose you wereasked to bring the en tire or ches tra. Sup pose you had trou ble get tingto the ball. That is what hap pened to Berlioz. First, he heard astrange noise in his dou ble bass. It did n’t sound like mu sic at all.Next, af ter all the play ers climbed in the wagon, the wheel got stuckin a hole. None of the mu si cians could pull the wagon out of thehole. The mule did not want to pull the wagon. The mule sat down.The play ers were not dis cour aged. They used the time to put ontheir tail coats and tune up their in stru ments. Other an i mals whosaw the wagon wheel in the hole stopped to help. A rooster, a cat, abilly goat, a plow horse, and an ox pulled and pulled on a rope to getthe mule up. The mule would not budge. Time is quickly pass ing. Itis al most time for the ball. The danc ers are ready but there is no mu -sic. Then a bee who was hid ing in the dou ble bass flies out. The beestings the mule. The mule jumps up and be gins to pull the wagon.The mu si cians make it just in time to play for the danc ers at the ball.

Jake, the Phil har monic Dog by Ka ren LeFrak. Illus. by Marcin Baranski. Walker, 2006.

Jake, the dog, loves mu sic and play ing fetch. He goes to workwith Richie, a stagehand for the Phil har monic or ches tra. Jake“woofs” with the wood winds and “ruffs” with the horns, but knowsto be quiet when the whole or ches tra plays. Jake proves he is truly amu si cian’s dog when the con duc tor loses his ba ton. He can not leadthe or ches tra! Then Jake be comes the star of the eve ning when hefinds the ba ton and fetches it on stage.


GETTING TO THE BALL

Com plete the last lines to this poem.


ball rear horn that ditch stung

The or ches tra was readyReady one and allThey climbed in the wagonTo go to the (1) ________________________

They started their tripEarly in the mornThe drums and the fid dlesAnd the bear with a (2) ________________________

The wagon was so fullIt be gan to sway and pitchThe wagon wheel turnedAnd slid into a (3) ________________________

They pushed and they pulledBut the mule just satThe wagon would not moveAnd that was (4) ________________________

But help was near by,Yes, help was near.A bee flew downAnd (5) _________________ the mule on the (6) _____________

An swer Key: 1. ball 2. horn 3. ditch 4. that 5. stung 6. rear


WHAT I’D LIKE TO BE


mu sic vi o lin con duc tor stage

A mu si cian is what I’d like to be

And this is what I’d do, you see

Prac tice many hours at home

Go on (1) ________________ and find my seat (Where do you sit?)

Warm up my (2) ____________________ (What in stru ment?)

Fol low the (3) _____________________ (Who leads the or ches tra?)

Read the (4) _____________________ to know what notes to play.

Play my in stru ment

Fill the con cert hall with mu sic.

But be fore I can do all this I have to get out of bed in the morn ing.

An swer Key: 1. stage 2. vi o lin 3. con duc tor 4. mu sic


JUDGING

To judge is to make an in formed eval u a tion based on stan dards.

Steps:

1. Decide what is to be judged.

2. List the standards that apply.

3. Gather evidence to the extent to which each standard is met.

4. Consider evidence and make a judgment.

ORAL PRACTICE

Should chil dren be re quired to go to school

A. All year round?

B. Only six months of the year?

C. Nine to ten months of the year?

Check off fac tors to con sider. Mark A, B, or C.

Stan dards: The best amount of time to:

________ learn to read, write and do math

________ get to know the teacher

________ be a part of a school sports team

________ learn sub jects other than read ing and math

Ap ply the stan dards and make a judg ment. ________________


BOOKTALKS : BIRTHDAYS

A Let ter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats. Harper & Row, 1968.

Pe ter wrote a let ter to Amy to in vite her to his birth day party. Hewent out side to mail it but the wind blew it out of his hand. Pe terchased the let ter but could n’t catch it. It be gan to rain. Pe ter bumped into Amy but caught the let ter and quickly put it in the mail box.Amy ran off cry ing and Pe ter was afraid she would not come to hisparty. All the oth ers who were com ing were boys. On party dayAmy did come and brought a talk ing par rot. Hav ing Amy at theparty was the best gift of all.

Happy Birth day, Jamela! by Niki Daly. Farrar, Straus &Giroux, 2006.

Jamela went shop ping with her mother for birth day clothes andshoes. She wanted the sparkly prin cess shoes, but mother said theywould not do for school. Mother bought strong, black shoes forJamela. When Jamela got home she got out her beads and glit terybits. Mother was not happy with the glit tery shoes but an art ist whosaw them asked Jamela to help her make more. They sold them at amar ket stand and made enough money to buy an other pair of schoolshoes. On birth day party day there were new school shoes, butimag ine Jamela’s sur prise when she opened a box with the prin cessshoes. It was a very happy birth day!


WOULD YOU RATHER…

Would you rather . . .

Choose one item in each group. Cir cle your choice. State your stan -dard for the choice.

1. Have an all boys’ birth day party? Have an all girls’birth day party? Have a birth day party with both boys andgirls?

Stan dard (Why?)__________________________________

_________________________________________________

2. Have sturdy school shoes? Have sparkly prin cess shoes?Not have to wear shoes at all?

Stan dard (Why?)__________________________________

________________________________________________

3. Be given ten dol lars? Find ten dol lars? Earn ten dol lars?

Stan dard (Why?)__________________________________

________________________________________________

4. Do the dishes? Mop the floor? Take out the trash?

Stan dard (Why?)__________________________________

_________________________________________________


THE PRICE OF FAME

Share: The Tor toise and the Hare Race Again by DanBernstein. Illus. by An drew Glass. Hol i day House, 2006.

Tor toise is very sorry he won the race with Hare. Now he has tomarch in pa rades which means six hours of smil ing. He is chal -lenged to races by the young tor toises who want to beat the cham -pion. He can not go any where with out be ing sur rounded byad mir ers. All Tor toise re ally wants is “sleep ing long hours andslurp ing juicy worms.” When Hare chal lenges Tor toise to an otherrace, Tor toise was de lighted. This time he would make sure thatHare wins.

If Hare wins the race, will he be happy as the new Rac ingCham pion of the for est?

Stan dards: (Write yes or no af ter each stan dard.)

1. Will enjoy being much admired by others. ______________

2. Will enjoy marching six hours in parades. ______________

3. Will like being frequently challenged to races. __________

4. Will like not having a lot of quiet time alone. _____________

Af ter look ing at your an swers to each stan dard, should Hare let Tor toise win the race or try to win it him self? Why?


KNOWLEDGE

Knowl edge is the ac cu mu lated sum of facts ac quired by a per son.

IN KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION, THE LEARNER:

1. Is attentive

2. Absorbs information

3. Remembers

4. Practices, drills, recites

5. Discovers information

6. Recognizes information that has been previously learned.

ORAL PRACTICE

Dem on strate your knowl edge of ABC or der.

1. Name the letter that comes after D.

2. Name the letter that comes before L.

3. Name the two letters that follow N.

4. Name the one letter that comes before the one letter thatcomes after K.

5. Say the ABCs in order.


BOOKTALKS : FAMOUS PEOPLE

Mae Jemison by Nancy Polette. Chil dren’s Press, 2004.

Mae Jemison was the first Af ri can-Amer i can woman to travelinto space. Mae was born in 1956 in Decatur, Al a bama, but grew up in Chi cago, Il li nois. When she was thir teen she saw the first as tro -nauts walk on the moon. It was then she dreamed that she would bean as tro naut, too. In high school, Mae liked math and sci ence best.Af ter col lege, she went to med i cal school and be came a doc tor. Sheap plied to NASA to join the as tro naut pro gram and was ac cepted. In 1992 Mae trav eled in space for eight days. As an en gi neer and adoc tor Mae did ex per i ments in space. She wanted to find a way tokeep the as tro nauts from get ting sick in space. She wanted to find away to keep their bones strong. The shut tle went around the Earth127 times. When Mae looked at the Earth from space, what do youthink she saw? She saw Chi cago! The place where her dream be gan.

John, Paul, George & Ben writ ten and il lus trated by LaneSmith. Hyperion, 2006.

This is a partly true and partly un true story of four boys be forethey be came fa mous men. John Han cock, Paul Re vere, GeorgeWash ing ton, and Ben Frank lin. The au thor says that John Han -cock’s hand writ ing was so large that it took up the whole chalk -board; that Paul Re vere was partly deaf so he had to shout atev ery one; that George Wash ing ton’s fa ther ad mired his hon esty inad mit ting he chopped down the cherry tree; and that Ben Frank lingave so much ad vice that peo ple told him to be quiet.

On the last page the au thor tells us that John Han cock wrote hisname in very large let ters on the Dec la ra tion of In de pend ence; thatPaul Re vere warned peo ple that the Brit ish were com ing; that George Wash ing ton did not chop down his fa ther’s cherry tree; and that BenFrank lin did write down his ad vice in Poor Rich ard’s Al ma nac.


ABC POEM

Dem on strate your knowl edge of ABC or der by cut ting the stripsapart and putt ing them in ABC or der by the first word on each strip.

If you are cor rect, you can read a poem about Mae Jemison.

Best in her class, that was Mae

Her dream to be come an as tro naut

Ea ger now to earn a place

Col lege brought her a de gree

Al ways learn ing, no time for play

Fly ing off into space

Giv ing her best, soon Mae got

Doc tor Jemison she would be


TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Cover the bot tom half of the page.

An swer Yes or No to each of these state ments.

Un cover the page to see cor rect an swers.

1. __________ When John Hancock was a boy, he used the

whole chalkboard to write his name.

2. __________ When Paul Revere was a boy, he belonged to

a bell ringing club.

3. __________ Paul Revere made a midnight ride shouting,

“The British are coming.”

4. __________ George Washington wore silver buckles on

his shoes.

John Han cock did not use the whole chalk board to write his name but his name was the big gest name on the Dec la ra tion of In de pend ence.

Paul Re vere did be long to a bell ring ing club. He also made a mid -night ride to warn peo ple that “The Red coats [not the Brit ish] werecom ing.”

Most of the men who lived in George Wash ing ton’s time wore sil verbuck les on their shoes. George did, too.


LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

1. Patterns of written language must be stored in the brainbefore they can unlock print on a page.

2. A storehouse of language patterns is acquitted by hearingthe written word read aloud.

3. Language patterns are stored more rapidly with the use ofmusic or rhythm.

4. Repetition is essential. Young children are rarely bored by repetition.

ORAL PRACTICEAdd the miss ing words.Choose from the fol low ing words:

man boo hoo bit hook day snake

Fishy, Fishy in the brookDaddy caught him with a (1) ___________________Mama fried him in a panBaby ate him like a (2) ___________________

Fishy, Fishy in the lakeDaddy caught him with a (3) ___________________Mama caught a fishy, tooBaby cried and said (4) ___________________

Fishy, Fishy swam awayTo come back an other (5) ___________________Mama cooked a goose in steadBaby cried and went to (6) ___________________

An swer Key: 1. hook 2. man 3. snake 4. boo hoo 5. day 6. bed


BOOKTALKS : ABOUT WORDS

Cat Up A Tree writ ten and il lus trated by John and AnnHassett. Hought on Mifflin, 1998.

When Nana Quimby saw a cat up a tree she rang the fire house.“Help,” she cried. “Cat up a tree.”

“Sorry,” said the fire house. “We do not catch cats up trees any -more. Call back if that cat starts play ing with matches.”

More and more cats climb up Nana Quimby’s tree but no mat terwho she calls she gets no help. Each of these com mu nity help erstold her to call back if she had a dif fer ent kind of prob lem: the po lice sta tion, the pet shop, the zoo, the li brary, and City Hall. It seems that no one will help Nana Quimby.

Af ter Nana Quimby res cues forty cats from the tree she gets aphone call from City Hall.

“Help,” cried City Hall. “We have mice ev ery where. We need a cat.”“Sorry,” said Nana Quimby, “the cats do not catch mice any -

more.”

Max’s Words by Kate Banks. Illus. by Boris Kulikov. Farrar,Straus & Giroux, 2006.

Max’s brother col lected stamps and coins. Max de cided to col -lect words. He cut them out of mag a zines and news pa pers. He col -lected large words and small words, food and color words andwords that made him feel good. When his broth ers added to theircol lec tions they had more stamps and coins. When Max addedwords to his col lec tion he had sen tences. With lots more words hewould have a story. Max’s broth ers wanted to help with the story by mov ing words around. It was such an ex cit ing story that theywanted to do an other. They traded Max stamps and coins for morewords. He gave them a few but kept the rest for him self. Now hecould make lots of sto ries.


SENTENCE SUBSTITUTION

Read this sen tence.

The cat sat in the big tree.

Ask: What word could we use rather than tree?

Ex am ples: chair, car, bath tub

Read the new sen tence.

The cat sat in the big bath tub.

What word could we use rather than cat?

Ex am ples: dog, mon key, bear


The mon key sat in the big bath tub.

What word could we use in stead of big?

Ex am ples: lit tle, pur ple, wet


The mon key sat in the pur ple bath tub.

Con tinue by sub sti tut ing words for cat and saw.

What word could we use in place of sat?

Ex am ples: danced, sang, ate


The mon key danced in the pur ple bath tub.

What other sen tences can we make by chang ing words?


SENTENCE EXPANSION

Read this sen tence.

Max col lected words.

What de scrib ing words can be put in front of “words?”

Ex am ples: funny, sad, crazy, silly


Max col lected _______________ words.

What de scrib ing words can we put in from of Max?

Ex am ples: busy, chubby, sweet


_______________ Max col lected _______________ words.

Make the sen tence lon ger by tak ing away the pe riod and add -ing words that be gin with “which.”

Ex am ples: which made sen tences, which he liked


_________ Max col lected __________ words which __________

_____________________________________________________

What other sen tences can you make by add ing dif fer entwords?


ORIGINALITY

Orig i nal ity is the abil ity to gen er ate novel, non-tra di tional, or un ex -pected ideas.

Steps:

1. Determine and define the situation.

2. Define what is to be accomplished.

3. Brainstorm for original and unique ideas.

4. Interpret the ideas in clever and unique ways.

ORAL PRACTICE

Share: The Lit tle Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Any thing byLinda Wil liams. Illus. by Megan Lloyd. Harper Col lins, 1986.

Once upon a time there was a lit tle old lady who was not afraidof any thing un til one windy au tumn night, while walk ing in thewoods, she hears two shoes go CLOMP CLOMP. “I’m not afraid of you,” says the lit tle old lady. But the noises keep grow ing. Pants gowig gle, wig gle; a shirt goes shake, shake; gloves go clap, clap; a hatgoes nod, nod. . . . and the lit tle old lady who was not afraid of any -thing has the scare of her life.

Sup pose in stead of meet ing cloth ing, the lit tle old lady met parts of a bi cy cle on the path. What parts would she meet? What soundwould each part make?

What else could she meet on the path?


BOOKTALKS : OLD TALES, NEW TWIST

The True Story of the Three Lit tle Pigs by Jon Scieszka. Illus.by Lane Smith. Vi king, 1989.

Here is the tra di tional Three Lit tle Pigs tale re told by A. Wolfwho wants read ers to know what re ally hap pened. It seems that hewanted to make a birth day cake for his granny and needed to bor -row some sugar from his clos est neigh bors, the pigs. How ever, A.Wolf had a bad cold and just be fore he could make his re quest forsugar, he sneezed so hard that he blew down the houses of the firsttwo pigs. Not want ing to waste a per fectly good ham din ner, thewolf ate the pigs. How ever, when he tried to bor row sugar from thethird pig with a house of bricks, the third pig called the po lice andthe wolf ended up in jail. Not his fault at all, to hear him tell it.

Cinderella Skel e ton by Rob ert D. San Souci. Illus. by Da vidCatrow. Har court, 2000.

At first glance, Boneyard Acres might seem like any run-down,de cayed grave yard. But if you look more closely, you’ll meetCinderella Skel e ton, as sweetly foul as she can be. You might thinkthat Cinderella Skel e ton is the hap pi est ghoul in the land. But hertwo evil step sis ters treat her with scorn and leave her with all thehouse work and more. En ter Prince Char nel, the heart throb of Hal -low een. As sure as bats fly and witches moan, Cinderella Skel e tonsteals his heart.

Out of the Egg writ ten and il lus trated by Tina Matthews.Hought on Mifflin, 2007.

Here is a new twist to the fa mil iar tale of The Lit tle Red Hen. In thisstory ev ery thing changes when the hard-work ing Red Hen lays a per fect white egg. Out of the egg co mes a chick with very dif fer ent ideas thanthose of its mother who does all the work. In a charm ing man ner, chickchooses not to fol low her mother’s tra di tion of “go ing it alone.”


ORIGINAL IDEAS

Look at these book ti tles. An swer each ques tion as if you were theau thor. Give an an swer you think no one else will give.

1. Zuzu’s Wishing Cake by Linda Michelin. HoughtonMifflin, 2006. What is a wishing cake?

2. The Cake that Mack Ate by Rose Robart. Little Brown,1986. Who is Mack?

3. Flannel Kisses by Linda Crotta Brennan. HoughtonMifflin, 1997. What are flannel kisses?

4. A Very Full Morning by Eva Montanari. HoughtonMifflin, 2006. What things will happen on a very fullmorning?

5. When Owen’s Mom Breathed Fire by Pija Lindebom. R &S Books, 2006. Who is Owen? Who is Owen’s mother?Why would she breathe fire?

6. Brave Bitsy and the Bear by Angela McAllister. Clarion,2006. Who is Bitsy?

7. Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss. Random House,1940. Who is Horton? What hatches out of the egg?


AN ORIGINAL TALE

On each line add one or more words to cre ate an orig i nalCinderella tale.

There once was a girl named ______________________________

who lived in a _______________________. The _________________

was giv ing a __________________________________. She could not

go be cause she had no ____________. Late that night, a

_________________________ came and said to the girl, “Here are

__________________________________. Now you can go to the

__________________________________.”

At the __________________, she lost her ___________________

and ran back to her ________________ leav ing the ________________

be hind.

When the _____________________ found the ________________,

it led him to the girl. He asked her to leave her home and go with him.

She said, “________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________.”


PATTERNING

Pat tern ing is the rep e ti tion of words, sounds, im ages, or ac tions.

To rec og nize pat terns:

1. Listen carefully for repeating sounds or words.

2. Look for the same action repeated over and over again.

3. Look for repeating lines or colors.

4. Identify the repeating pattern.

ORAL PRACTICE

Hickory Dickory

Hick ory, dickory dot,The mouse climbed in a pot,Don’t stop to stareHere co mes a _______________Hick ory, dickory dot.

Hick ory, dickory dole,The mouse hid in a hole.Then would n’t you know,Here co mes a _______________Hick ory, dickory dole.

Hick ory, dickory day,It’s time to run away.So pack your trunk,Here co mes a _______________Hick ory, dickory day. An swer Key: bear, crow, skunk


Fol low the pat tern.

Write your own Hick ory,Dickory verse.

BOOKTALKS : PATTERNS

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Mar tin,Jr. Holt, 1992.

The first line is re peated on ev ery other page while a new an i mal is in tro duced. “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?” “I see a____________________ look ing at me.” The end of the book in tro -duces the teacher who sees happy chil dren.

The Wheels on the Bus by Maryann Kovalski. Lit tle Brown,1987.

“The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round,round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, allaround the town.” The pat tern is re peated us ing the horn on thebuss, the wip ers on the bus, the peo ple on the bus, the ba bies on thebus, and more.

Banjo Granny by Sa rah Mar tin Busse and Jac que line BriggsMar tin. Illus. by Barry Root. Hought on Mifflin, 2006.

Granny who lived a long way away, sets out to see her newgrandbaby but the trip is full of chal lenges. Granny hears that thenew baby is “wig gly, jiggly, all-around giggly and tip over tum blefor blue grass mu sic.” Granny takes along her banjo case that con -tains not only her banjo for a fast river which slows down and lis -tens. She played her banjo for a high moun tain which leaned downand lis tened. Each song she plays is for her grandbaby who goes“wig gly, jiggly, all-around giggly and tip over tum ble for blue grassmu sic.” At last she reaches her grandbaby’s house ready to playhim a blue grass tune. Chil dren will en joy chim ing in the re peat ingpat tern.


ON THE ROAD

Help Granny on her long trip to her grandbaby’s house. Name an i -mals or ob jects she might see on the way. They do not have to be fromthe story.

Sing to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell.”

A _________________________ was in the river

A _________________________ was in the river

That’s what Banjo Granny saw

A _________________________ was in the river.

A _________________________ was on the moun tain

A _________________________ was on the moun tain


A _________________________ was on the moun tain.

A _________________________ was in the desert

A _________________________ was in the desert


A _________________________ was in the desert.

A _________________________ was down the street

A _________________________ was down the street


A _________________________ was down the street.


IN THE GARDEN

Use the names of dif fer ent flow ers in each verse.

Read the verses.

The _______________________ in the gar den grows and grows,

Grows and grows, grows and grows.

The _______________________ in the gar den grows and grows,

All day long.

The _______________________ in the gar den dances in the wind,

Dances in the wind, dances in the wind.

The _______________________ in the gar den dances in the wind,

All day long.

The _______________________ in the gar den wel comes the bees,

Wel comes the bees, wel comes the bees.

The _______________________ in the gar den wel comes the bees,

All day long.

The _______________________ in the gar den loses its pet als,

Loses its pet als, loses its pet als.

The _______________________ in the gar den loses its pet als,

All day long.


PHONEMIC AWARENESS

Pho ne mic aware ness is the abil ity to rec og nize the sounds of let ters and to com bine let ter sounds to make words.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS MEANS:

1. Rhyming: Identify and form rhyming words.

2. Sound Matching: Identify similar word patterns(example: words beginning or ending with the samesound).

3. Syllable Counting: Count the syllables heard in words.

4. Phoneme Blending: Blend the sounds individual lettersmake to form words.

5. Phoneme Isolation: Identify the beginning, middle, andending sounds in a word.

6. Phoneme Addition/Deletion: Add or delete a beginning,middle, or ending sound to a word.

7. Phoneme Substitution: Substitute a new sound for thebeginning, middle, or ending sound of a word.


BOOKTALKS : ABC BOOKS

Al bert B. Cub and Ze bra by Anne Rockwell. Crowell, 1995.

On the A page, Al bert’s friend ze bra has been ab duc ted. To findhim, Al bert trav els in an air plane and an au to mo bile pass ing an ac -coun tant’s sign, an Aire dale, and a lit tle girl cry ing in an guish. How many other A words can you find?

Pot luck by Anne Shelby. Dial, 1998.

Each child is bring ing one or more foods to a feast. The food and the way they bring the food (ac tion verb) both be gin with the firstlet ter of the child’s name. “Chris tine came with car rot cake and corn on the cob.”

Alison’s Zin nia by Anita Lobel. HarperCollins, 1998.

A fun book to use in a plant unit. “Beryl bought be go nias forCrys tal. Dawn dug daf fo dils for Em ily.” Study the pat tern and write a sim i lar sen tence that be gins with YOUR name. Try the same ideain a dif fer ent set ting.

The Hole by the Ap ple Tree by Nancy Polette. Greenwillow, 1989.

An ABC fairy tale ad ven ture where Har old and his friends meetmon sters in moats, ques tion a queen, and try to save Snow White. Ac -tiv ity: Brain storm all the fairy tale char ac ters you can that be gin witheach let ter of the al pha bet. See how many you can find in this book.

To mor row’s Al pha bet by George Shan non. Illus. by Don aldCrews. Greenwillow, 2002.

“A is for seed, to mor row’s ap ples.”“B is for egg, to mor row’s birds.”Take two of the words from this book and use them in this pat tern:

Eggs are just eggs un til they hatch and then they be come birds. Scrapsare just scraps un til they are sewn to gether and then they be come a quilt.


SINGING BLENDS

Phoneme Blending

Blend the sounds in di vid ual let ters make to form words.

Tune: “Old Mac Don ald Had a Farm”

S/T are the let ters that make this blend

Stoop, stop, stair

With an S/T here and an S/T there

S/T, S/T ev ery where

S/T are the let ters that make these blends

Stoop, stop stair.

C/H are the let ters that make this blend

Cheese, chop, chair

With an C/H here and a C/H there

C/H, C/H ev ery where

C/H are the let ters that make these blends

Cheese, chop, chair.

Add more verses us ing: B/R, C/R, F/R, G/R, B/L, F/L, S/K, S/P, W/R


CHANGING LETTERS

Tune: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”

A /D/ in the front of ATE makes ________________ (DATE)

A /T/ in the front of APE makes ________________ (TAPE)

Add a /B/ to URN get ________________ (BURN)

Add a /T/, and it’s your ________________ (TURN)

Add ing let ters makes new words

For us to hear.

A /C/ in front of lock makes ________________ (CLOCK)

An /S/ in front of HOT makes ________________ (SHOT)

Take away the /P/ in POT

Add an /H/, the POT gets ________________ (HOT)

Add ing let ters makes new words

For us to hear.


PLANNING

Plan ning means or ga niz ing a method for achiev ing a spe cific out -come or goal.

Steps:

1. State the problem, project, or task.

2. List and locate needed materials.

3. List steps necessary to complete the project or task.

4. Identify problems.

5. Follow the planning steps.

ORAL PRACTICE

Pro ject: To make a pea nut but ter sand wich.

1. What materials are needed?

2. List the steps in making the sandwich.

3. Suppose your guests like smooth peanut butter and youhave only crunchy peanut butter. What will you do?


BOOKTALKS : BOOKS BY TOMIE DEPAOLA

Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola. Scho las tic, 1975.In the town of Calabria, there lived an old lady ev ery one called Strega

Nona, which meant “Grandma Witch.” The town would go to see her if theyhad trou bles. Since Strega Nona was get ting old she needed help. So she putup a help-wanted sign in the town square. Big An thony who did n’t pay at ten -tion went to see her and started work ing for Strega Nona. But there was onecon di tion, he must never touch her cook ing pot. How ever, in her ab sence hesays the magic words that cause the pot to cook. Pasta is ev ery where! Un for -tu nately, Big An thony does not know the words to turn the pot off. Imag inewhat hap pens when Strega Nona re turns!

Strega Nona’s Magic Les sons by Tomie dePaola. Har court, 1982.Strega Nona had two pu pils for her magic les sons. One was Bambolona,

the town baker’s daugh ter, and the other was “Antonia,” who was re ally StregaNona’s helper, Big An thony, dressed up like a girl. Bambolona learned quickly and well. Big An thony was not a very good stu dent. When Strega Nona givesBambolona a book con tain ing more magic spells, Big An thony tries to sur priseStrega Nona by learn ing magic on his own. All he man ages to do is turn her into a frog, which did not please her at all. Big An thony again learns an im por tantles son…not to do magic un til you have learned very well.

The Leg end of the In dian Paint brush by Tomie dePaola. Putnam, 1988.A very small Plains In dian boy longs to grow tall and strong and to join

the brave war riors and hunt ers. But he was too small to keep up with the otherboys and was not strong at all. He was not con soled by the wise sha man of thetribe who told him that he would be re mem bered by the Peo ple for an otherrea son. Af ter a time, as the boy grew, he had a vi sion in which an old man anda young girl spoke to him, tell ing him that it was his task to paint the deeds ofthe war riors and the vi sions of the sha mans. The boy then be came the re -corder of the tribe’s his tory but was not sat is fied with the dull col ors withwhich he had to work. The vi sion came again and he was told here to find hiscol ors. He fol lowed the di rec tions and found brushes filled with paint that al -lowed him to cre ate a sun set in vivid color. When his paint ing was fin ished,he left the brushes be hind and the next morn ing the hill was filled with coloras the brushes had taken root in the earth.


PLAN AN AUTHOR BIRTHDAY PARTY

Tomie dePaola

1. Decide on the author. (Example: Tomie dePaola)

2. Decide who will be invited.________________________________________________

3. Decide on the day and the time.________________________________________________

4. Who will prepare the invitations? What will they look like?________________________________________________

5. List and locate the author’s books. Problem: Where can youfind books not in your library?________________________________________________

6. Where can we find information to share about the author?________________________________________________

7. What decorations are needed? Who will make the decorations?________________________________________________

8. What games will be played? Who will prepare or obtain thegames?________________________________________________

9. Decide on refreshments. Problem: Who will preparerefreshments? What cost is involved? Where will the moneycome from?________________________________________________

10. Who will clean up after the party?________________________________________________


AUTHOR BIRTHDAY PARTY GAME

How many ti tles by Tomie dePaola can you find and un der line?

Ol i ver But ton is a sissy. You can imag ine how he felt, eat ingpan cakes for break fast, when the ra dio said T-Rex is miss ing! Ol i -ver lived at 26 Fairmount Av e nue with his grand mother, Nana Up -stairs. Nana Down stairs was his other grand mother.

Ol i ver de cided to take Strega Nona’s magic les sons to make theT-Rex dis ap pear. “An art les son would be better,” his mother said.“You can wipe the T-Rex off the can vas af ter paint ing it.”

Kit and Kat, Ol i ver’s other neigh bors asked Ol i ver where hewas go ing.

“I’m on my way to see Strega Nona. Her magic will keep me and my baby sis ter safe from the T-Rex.”

“You should go see Big An thony and the magic ring he wears,”Kit called. “You can rub the ring and wish the T-Rex away. If youcan’t find Big An thony, ask Finn M’Coul, the gi ant ofKnockmanny Hill to help.

Titles to find: Oliver Button is a Sissy; Pancakes for Breakfast; T-Rex is Missing; 26 Fairmount Avenue; NanaUpstairs, Nana Downstairs; Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons; Art Lesson; Kit and Kat; Baby Sister; Strega Nona; BigAnthony and the Magic Ring; Finn M’Coul, the Giant of Knockmanny Hill.


PREDICTING

Pre dict ing is to fore cast or an tic i pate what might hap pen based onev i dence.

Steps:

1. Clarify what is to be predicted.

2. Analyze data to find a basis for predicting.

3. Make a tentative prediction.

4. Consider related data and modify predictions asnecessary.

ORAL PRACTICE

Predict:

What will happen when the sky turns gray and big clouds formin the sky? Why?

What will happen to a snowman when the sun comes out? Why?

What will happen if a skunk wanders into the schoolyard atrecess? Why?


BOOKTALKS : ANIMAL CLASSICS

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. Illus. by Rob ert Law son.Vi king Press, 1984.

Ferdinand is a gen tle bull who likes to sit and smell the flow ers.When men come to pick the fierc est bull for the bull fight, Ferdinand is stung by a bee. He stomped and roared and puffed and snorted.The men thought he was the fierc est bull and chose him. What doyou think will hap pen when Ferdinand en ters the bull ring?

Fred er ick by Leo Lionni. Pan theon, 1967.The mouse fam ily is pre par ing for win ter, gath er ing corn, nuts,

wheat, and straw. They worked day and night to store enough foodto last through the cold win ter months. But Fred er ick did not gatherfood or straw. He gath ered col ors and words which the other micethought were fool ish things to gather. Then win ter co mes and whenthe cold seeps through the gra nary and the food sup ply is al mostgone. What do you think Fred er ick will do?

Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne. Hought on Mifflin, 1944.Imag ine a mother kan ga roo with out a pocket. Where will she carry

her baby? This is Katy No-Pocket’s prob lem. Her baby, Freddy, needsa warm pocket to ride in when Katy goes from one place to an other.All the other mother kan ga roos have pock ets for their ba bies so Katyhas to find one. Where do you sup pose Katy will find a pocket?

Rain bow Fish by Marcus Pfister. North-South Books, 1995.Rain bow Fish had no equal in the ocean for beauty. He is talked

about and greatly ad mired by all the other sea crea tures for hisscales spar kle and shine with many col ors—pur ple, green, sil ver,and blue. The more he was ad mired, the prouder he felt. Then camea day when a very small blue fish asked Rain bow Fish for one of hisscales. Pre dict what Rain bow Fish will do.


TELL WHAT WILL HAPPEN. WHY?


WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF . . .

Share: The Very Hun gry Cat er pil lar by Eric Carle. Philo mel,1969.

This cat er pil lar was very hun gry so he ate ev ery thing he couldfind, in clud ing cake and pick les. He ate and ate and ate. Pre dictwhat will hap pen to the cat er pil lar.

Share: The Tale of Pe ter Rab bit by Beatrix Pot ter. Fred er ickWarne, 1905.

Be fore go ing out one day, Pe ter’s mother, Mrs. Rab bit, tells herfour bun nies they must not go into Mr. McGregor’s gar den wheretheir fa ther once strayed and ended up in a pie. Pe ter be ing an ad -ven tur ous sort, heads straight to the gar den. Pre dict what will hap -pen to Pe ter.

Share: Blue ber ries for Sal by Rob ert McCloskey. Illus. byBetty Fra ser. Vi king, 1978.

A mother and her child go berry pick ing on Blue berry Hill.Mother wants to can the ber ries for win ter. A mother bear and hercub go berry eat ing on Blue berry Hill at the same time. Mother Bear wants her cub to eat lots of ber ries to get ready for win ter. Imag inethe sur prised moth ers when they turn around to find each other’schil dren be hind them! Pre dict what will hap pen next.


PROBLEM SOLVING

In prob lem solv ing, so lu tions to a prob lem are weighed us ing se -lected cri te ria.

Steps:

1. Identify and define the problem.

2. List important facts about the problem or situation.

3. List alternative solutions to the problem.

4. List criteria for appraising each solution.

5. Apply criteria to each solution, giving a numerical valueto each. A value of one is low, a value of three is high.

6. Total the values for each alternative.

7. State the solution.

8. Devise a plan to gain acceptance of the solution by others.


BOOKTALKS : WILD ANIMALS

An nie and the Wild An i mals writ ten and il lus trated by JanBrett. Hought on Mifflin, 1995.

It had been a long win ter and the snow was fall ing again. An niecould not find her cat, Taffy, any where. She waited and waited forTaffy to re turn but Taffy was not to be seen. So An nie de cided tomake some corn cakes and leave them at the edge of the woods toat tract an other small an i mal to be her pet. An nie could not be lievethe an i mals that ap peared…a moose, a wild cat, a bear, and a stag.None of these an i mals would make a good pet. They snarled androared even louder when An nie ran out of corn meal and had nocorn cakes to give them. What will An nie do?

The Big gest Bear by Lynd Ward. Hought on Mifflin, 1952. Re -newed 1980.

Ev ery one in Johnny Or chard’s town had huge bear skins hang -ing on the sides of their barns. Ev ery one’s, that is, ex cept forJohnny’s barn. Their barn did n’t have one, and this was very hu mil -i at ing for Johnny. He was de ter mined to have a skin hang ing on thisbarn as well, so Johnny went hunt ing for his own bear—the big gestbear. Johnny did come back with his bear, but it was far from big, infact it was a lit tle cub. But that lit tle cub brought big trou ble as itgrew big ger and big ger. It went places it was not sup posed to go.Neigh bors com plained that the bear was de stroy ing their prop erty.It was time to get rid of the bear. What will Johnny do?


ANNIE’S PET

An nie’s cat, Taffy, has dis ap peared. An nie lives near the woods. An -nie wants a new pet. How can An nie find a new pet?

List three ideas. One idea is listed for you.

Rank each idea 1 = no 2 = maybe 3 = yes

IDEAS FAST EASY SAFE FOR ANNIE

WILLWORK

TOTAL

Put outfood

2 2 3 2 9

The best idea for An nie to try to get a new pet is

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________


WHAT TO DO WITH A BIG BEAR

Johnny found the bear when it was a small cub. Johnny takes suchgood care of the bear that it grows into a big bear. Johnny’s neigh bortells Johnny he must find a new home for the bear. What will he do?

List three ideas. One idea is listed for you.

Rank each idea 1 = no 2 = maybe 3 = yes

IDEAS FAST BEARWILLSTAY

SAFEFORTHE

BEAR

BEARGONEFOR

GOOD

TOTAL

Turn thebear loose

2 1 3 1 7

The best idea way to find a new home for the bear is

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________


QUESTIONING: HIGHER ORDER

Higher or der ques tions can have more than one right an swer.

QUANTITY QUESTIONS

How many...How many ways...List all... [parts, uses, ways]

COMPARE/CONTRAST QUESTIONS

How is ______________ like ______________?How is ______________ dif fer ent from ______________?

FEELINGS / OPINIONS QUESTIONS

Would you rather...How did or would you feel about...

“WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF” QUESTIONS

What if...What would hap pen...

“IF YOU WERE” QUESTIONS

Sup pose that...What if you...

ORAL PRACTICEHow many an i mal sto ries can you name?

How is The Cat in the Hat like Hor ton in Hor ton Hatches the Egg?How are the two sto ries dif fer ent?

Would you rather play the part of Char lotte or Wilbur in a class playof Char lotte’s Web? Why?

What would hap pen if there were no books?

Sup pose that you could make things move by look ing at them. Whatwould you do?


BOOKTALKS : ON STAGE

The Gold Miner’s Daugh ter by Jackie Mims Hopkins. Illus. by Jon Goodell. Peachtree Books, 2006.

Pa and Gracie live deep in the heart of gold min ing coun try, buttheir mine is dry, not a nug get to be found. To make mat ters worse,if they can’t find a way to pay the rent by sun set to mean old Mr.Bigglebottom, he will take back their land and house and forceGracie to marry him.

Gracie hitches up her mule and heads into town hop ing to findthe money some where. She passes three pigs, tied to train tracks byMr. Bigglebottom be cause they could n’t pay their rent. The store -keeper told Gracie that the goose that laid golden eggs was gone.She had no luck find ing a spin ning wheel that could spin straw intogold. She re turns to Pa empty handed. Then who shows up but Mr.Bigglebottom de mand ing the rent. Will Gracie and Pa lose theirhome? Will Gracie have to marry Mr. Bigglebottom? Who knows?Per haps there is un ex pected wealth just be neath their feet.

Ella Sets the Stage by Carmela and Ste ven D’Amico. Ar thurA. Le vine Books, 2006.

All of the el e phant chil dren on El e phant Is land are ex cited. Theschool is hav ing a tal ent show and all of Ella’s friends plan to be partof the show. Belinda will dance. Daisy will sing. Frankie will put on a pup pet show. Tiki and Lola will do ac ro bat ics. Ella is sad be cause she has no tal ent to share. On the night of the show she takes cup cakesand lem on ade for her friends. She sews a rip in Belinda’s tutu. Sheuses her hat to catch a dis ap pear ing mon key. She helps each per -former so that the show is a great suc cess. When prizes are given outthere is a spe cial prize for Ella. Her tal ent was be ing a spe cial friendto ev ery one, a tal ent she did not know she had.


WHAT IF…

What if you found your self in a gold mine?

And you could hear __________________________________

And you could see ___________________________________

And you could smell _________________________________

You would pick up a

___________________________________________ and

_______________________________________________

What if you found your self at a tal ent show?

And you can hear ____________________________________

And you can see_______________________________________________

And you can smell_______________________________________________

You would step on stage and __________________________

__________________________________________________


COMPARE / CONTRAST

A gold mine is like a su per mar ket be cause_______________________________________________

A gold mine is dif fer ent from a su per mar ket be cause_______________________________________________

A train track is like a road be cause_______________________________________________

A train track is dif fer ent from a road be cause_______________________________________________

A spin ning wheel is like a car be cause_______________________________________________

A spin ning wheel is dif fer ent from a car be cause_______________________________________________

An egg is like an or ange be cause_______________________________________________

An egg is dif fer ent from an or ange be cause_______________________________________________

Oil is like a pot of cof fee be cause_______________________________________________

Oil is dif fer ent from a pot of cof fee be cause_______________________________________________


RESEARCH FOR BEGINNERS

Young chil dren do well with re search if given a clear un der stand ingof what is to be found and a pat tern to fol low in re port ing the re search.

Steps:

1. Present the research task. (Finding information about ananimal)

2. Give specific items to be found. (What the animal eats,where it lives, what it looks like, and what it does)

3. Tell how many items must be listed under each heading.

4. Provide books/articles on the child’s reading level thatcontain the needed information.

5. Use the information in a song [Tune: “London Bridge”]

Wood chucks have short legs and brown fur

Wood chucks eat grass and hay

Wood chucks whis tle and climb trees

And live in the for est


BOOKTALKS : NATURE

Is n’t It Strange? by Nancy Polette. Kaeden Books, 2005.When nature makes magic, many things change. “Deep deep

down in a swampy bog, a tad pole grows legs and be comes a frog. In the gar den hour by hour, a tiny seed bursts and be comes a flower.”How many other things can chil dren name that change from oneform to an other? Beau ti ful pho to graphs show each mag i cal change.

Grow ing Like Me by Anne Rockwell. Illus. by Holly Keller.Har court, Inc., 2001.

A de light ful book that shows change in na ture and re lates thechanges to the reader with the phrase “just like me.” “Here in themeadow, by the woods and the pond, ev ery thing is grow ing, just likeme. White blos soms will grow into ber ries, black and juicy and sweet.”

For more books about change, see: How Things Grow se ries byJane Kottke. Chil dren’s Press, 2000.

A level one read ing se ries that in cludes: From Acorn to OakTree, From Cat er pil lar to Moth, From Egg to Robin, From Seed toDan de lion, From Seed to Pump kin, and From Tad pole to Frog.

White Bear, Ice Bear by Jo anne Ryder. Illus. by Mi chaelRotham. Mor row, 1989.

Ex pe ri ence one day in the life of a po lar bear. The book be ginswith a child who awak ens in the morn ing and goes out side to be -come a po lar bear. The child lives the life of the bear for one day asit moves along the icy peaks with only its small black nose to beseen. It hunts by find ing a hole in the ice, but the seal, its prey,quickly swims away. Near the end of the day the bear senses a fa -mil iar smell and peeks through a win dow at an other world wait ing.It pushes open the door and en ters the house as the child once again,“hun gry and happy to be home.” This is one of a se ries of booksabout wild an i mals, beau ti fully told and il lus trated. Oth ers in the se -ries in clude: Win ter Whale and Jag uar in the Rain For est.


THINGS THAT CHANGE

Com plete these sen tences:

A tiny seed be comes a _______________________________.

From an egg there co mes a ____________________________.

From cat er pil lar to __________________________________.

A green tad pole be comes a ____________________________.

A brown acorn be comes a ____________________________.

Use the in for ma tion in a song. [Tune: “Mary Had a Lit tle Lamb”]

Ex am ple:

A tiny seed be comes a flower

Be comes a flower, be comes a flower

A tiny seed be comes a flower

And it grows in the gar den.

A _____________________ be comes a __________________

Be comes a ______________, be comes a _________________

A _____________________ be comes a __________________

And it _____________________ ______________________

(does what?) (where?)


WOODLAND ANIMALS

1. Name four woodland animals

_______________________ _______________________

_______________________ _______________________

2. What might you see or hear each doing?

_______________________ _______________________

_______________________ _______________________

Use the words in this pat tern.

Walk ing through the woods what do I see?

I see a rab bit hop ping for me

In the _____________________________________________

What do I see? I see a _______________________________

_________________________________________ at / for me.

Be tween the ________________________________________


_________________________________________ at / for me.

Be hind the _________________________________________


________________________________________ at / for me.

On the ____________________________________________

What do I see? I see a ______________________________

________________________________________ at / for me.


REVERSIBLE THINKING

Re vers ible think ing is the abil ity to think back through a story or anop er a tion from the end to the be gin ning.

Steps:

1. Read or tell a story or situation that includes sequentialsteps.

2. Retell the events, steps, or story in reverse order, from theend to the beginning.

ORAL PRACTICE

1. Describe in detail the route from the classroom to thelunchroom or school library. Then tell how to reverse thetrip to return to the classroom.

2. Describe an accident you have had from the end of theaccident to the beginning.

3. Describe the process of feeding your pet from the thingyou do last to the thing you do first.

4. Recount a day in your life from the last thing you do to thefirst thing you do.


BOOKTALKS : FROM LAST TO FIRST

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff. Illus.by Felicia Bond. HarperCollins, 1985.

Giv ing a mouse a cookie should be a sim ple mat ter but it doeslead to com pli ca tions in this story. Cook ies and milk go to gether so, of course, the mouse has to have some milk. In wip ing the milk offhis whis kers, he re al izes that the whis kers need a trim and af tertrim ming he sweeps up with a broom. Be fore he can have a nap hemust have a story and a story is so ex cit ing that he must draw a pic -ture of it. When the pic ture is dis played on the re frig er a tor themouse re al izes that he is hun gry again and must have a cookie with,of course, a glass of milk to go with it.

The End by Da vid LaRochelle. Illus. by Rich ard Egielski.Scho las tic, 2007.

A story is told from the end to the be gin ning when a prince andprin cess live hap pily ever af ter be cause the prin cess throws lem on -ade on the prince be cause his beard is on fire. He had been tick ling a dragon to stop its cry ing be cause the dragon was fright ened by 100bunny rab bits es cap ing from an enor mous to mato hit by a fly ingtea cup thrown by a gi ant in a tem per tan trum be cause his cook didnot make lemon cheese cake for des sert. She could not buy any lem -ons at the store be cause the prin cess had bought all the lem ons tomake lem on ade.


I WONDER WHY?

A Back wards Tur key

I won der why they

Eat the tur key

Serve the tur key

Slice the tur key

Baste the tur key

Bake the tur key

Stuff the tur key

Thaw the tur key

Buy the tur key

When I could have spa ghetti in stead?

A Pea nut But ter Sand wich

I won der why I

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

When I could have ___________________________ in stead?


Here are the steps in pre par ing atur key from the last step to thefirst step.

Be low, list the steps in mak ing apea nut but ter sand wich from lastto first.

A BACKWARDS STORY

Read the back wards story.

Grandma scooted out!Then they heard a (1) __________________She hid un der the bed.Grandma had used her (2) _______________

The wolf ran far awayA hunter came to (3) __________________“It’s time to swal low you down”The wolf said with a (4) _______________

“You have a wolf-like head”So the young girl (5) _____________________And walked across the floorShe en tered through the (6) _____________

The wolf would get there firstHear ing this out burstI’m tak ing her some foodI don’t mean to be (7) __________________

For Grandma’s feel ing illLet me pass, if you (8) __________________A wolf stopped her to talkAlong her for est (9) ____________________

For Grandma, sick in bedShe car ried soup and (10) ________________Along a wood land routeA lit tle girl set (11) ___________________

An swer Key: 1. shout 2. head 3. stay 4. frown 5. said 6. door 7. rude 8. will 9. walk 10. bread 11. out


Add the miss ingrhym ing words.

frown

walk

shout

rude

head

will

stay

bread

out

said

door

SEQUENCING

Se quenc ing re quires plac ing items in the or der in which they oc cur.

Steps:

1. Choose items or events to be sequenced.

2. Consider the relationship between the items of events.

3. Order the events or items according to an ascending ordescending relationship.

Size: from small to large or large to small

Value: from less to more or more to less

Time: from now to later or later to now

Position: from near to far or far to near

Alphabetical: from A to Z or Z to A

Events: from first to last or last to first


BOOKTALKS : PLAY BALL!

Bat ter Up Wom bat by Helen Lester. Illus. by Lynn Munsinger. Hought on Mifflin, 2006.

Last year the Champs fin ished last in the Wild life League. Thisyear they were de ter mined to do better. The team mis takes a wom -bat for a “whambat” and they think they have found a big hit ter. The wom bat was happy to join the team al though he did n’t know any -thing about base ball. He thought a bat was an an i mal; a pitcher heldmilk; home plate was a dish; and a foul was a chicken. When he was told he was the next hit ter up, he was un happy be cause he did n’twant to hit any one. When team mates told him to “run home,” hethought they meant to run to Aus tra lia, a very long way away. Justas it looks like the game is lost, a tor nado swoops down on the field.Wom bat shows his real tal ent for dig ging and digs a tun nel to saveboth teams.

Pec or ino Plays Ball by Alan Mad i son. Illus. by AnnaLauraCantone. Atheneum, 2006.

Pec or ino Sasquatch is a boy who does ev ery thing back wards.He eats candy at Thanksgiving and tur key on Hal low een. When hismother signs him up for Lit tle League, he has never played base balland thinks it might be fun. He can’t catch a fly ball and strikes out atbat. The uni forms are con fus ing, say ing things like “Alone we selloxes” and “hit me”. But in the end Pec or ino saves the day for theteam when he trips on his over sized uni form shirt and a fly balllands in his mitt. Base ball, he thinks, is a pretty fun game af ter all.


TELL THE STORY I

Cut out the story strips and put them in or der to tell the story.

1. The um pire says wom bat is OUT!

2. Wom bat joins the team.

3. Wom bat’s team mates are dis ap pointed.

4. Wom bat digs a tun nel.

5. Wom bat hits the ball.

6. Wom bat shows up on the ballfield.

7. Wom bat saves his team mates.

8. Wom bat thinks a bat is an an i mal.

9. Wom bat steals third base and leaves the field.

10. A tor nado heads for the ballfield.

An swer Key: 6, 2, 8, 5, 9, 1, 3, 10, 4, 7


TELL THE STORY II

Cut out the story strips and put them in or der to tell the story.

1. He missed his first catch.

2. The ball smashed into his mitt.

3. It is Pec or ino’s first day of Lit tle League.

4. He struck out at bat.

5. Pec or ino’s catch won the game.

6. He trip ped on his long shirt.

7. He put on his ex tra large uni form.

8. He found and chewed bub ble gum.

An swer Key: 3, 7, 1, 4, 8, 6, 2, 5


VOCABULARY

Think ing, speak ing, and writ ing abil ity is only as strong as the wordsand pat terns stored in the brain.

BUILDING WORD POWER

Con cept Lad der for Con crete Nouns

Word _______________________________________________

Kind of? _____________________________________________

Mem ber of? __________________________________________

Made of?_____________________________________________

Used for? ____________________________________________

Or i gin of? ____________________________________________


BOOKTALKS : BIG WORDS

Cook ies by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Illus. by Jane Dyer.HarperCollins, 2006.

Each page in tro duces a new vo cab u lary word us ing cook ies toex plain the word. Greedy means tak ing all the cook ies for my self.Hon est means “The but ter fly did n’t re ally take the cookie. I took the cookie.” Other words made clear with the cookie theme are: trust -wor thy, cou ra geous, pa tient, proud, mod est, re spect, fair, un fair,op ti mis tic, pes si mis tic, po lite, envy, loyal, and re gret. These samewords could be ex plained us ing a ball, a bi cy cle, a cup, or any otherob ject. In ad di tion, other words can be in tro duced us ing the sameidea.

Winston, The Book Wolf by Marni McGee. Illus. by Ian Beck.Walker & Com pany, 2006.

A wolf is chased from the li brary be cause he chews up thebooks. He found words to be a tast ier treat than meat. A lit tle girlnamed Rosie be friends the wolf and shows him that “eat ingwords” with the eyes can be much more fun. She reads story af terstory to the wolf and soon the wolf learned to read and could en joythe sto ries by him self. When he wanted more books, Rosie dresses the wolf in her grand mother’s clothes and takes him to the li brary.Not only can he borrow books, he be comes the li brary’s fa vor itesto ry teller.


MYSTERY BOOK TITLES

Some words in these ti tles have been changed into big gerwords. Guess the names of the ti tles.

1. The Kitten in a Head Covering

2. A Trio of Small Swine

3. A Successful Small Locomotive

4. A Small Cottage

5. 24 Hours of White Flakes Coming Down

6. A Train Headed for a Very Cold Place

7. The Snoozing Beautiful Woman

8. Kitten Wearing Knee High Foot Coverings

An swer Key: 1. The Cat in the Hat 2. Three Lit tle Pigs 3. Lit tle En gine that Could 4. Lit tle House 5. Snowy Day

6. Po lar Ex press 7. Sleep ing Beauty 8. Puss in Boots


A SPELLING GAME

Use these let ters to make the miss ing words.

G P N S R I

1. The wolf who liked to eat words had to first ___ ___ ___the pages from the book.

2. Take away one letter and add one letter to make themissing word. If the wolf loses a button from his shirt, hewill need a ___ ___ ___.

3. Take away one letter and add two letters to tell what adoorbell does. ___ ___ ___ ___

4. Move the letters around to tell how the wolf showed hewas happy. ___ ___ ___ ___

5. Take away one letter and add one letter. When the wolfturns round and round he starts to ___ ___ ___ ___.

6. Use all of the letters to make a word that tells the time ofthe year the wolf likes best. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

An swer Key: 1. rip 2. pin 3. ring 4. grin 5. spin 6. spring


Title / Author Index

Title / Author IndexTitle / Author Index

Aardema, Verna, 66Al bert B. Cub and Ze bra, 102Alert!, 26Allard, Harry, 42Alison’s Zin nia, 102Alsenas, Linas, 22An nie and the Wild An i mals, 114Art Les son, 108Azarian, Mary, 54

Baby Sis ter, 108Baby Sis ter for Fran ces, A, 58Banjo Granny, 98Banks, Kate, 90Baranski, Marcin, 78Barrett, Judy, 34Barrett, Ron, 34Bat ter Up Wom bat, 130Beck, Ian, 134Bed time for Fran ces, 58Berlioz the Bear, 78Bernstein, Dan, 84Big An thony and the Magic Ring, 108Big gest Bear, The, 114Blue ber ries for Sal, 112Bond, Felicia, 126Brave Bitsy and the Bear, 95Brennan, Linda Crotta, 95Brett, Jan, 78, 114Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, 5, 98Bur ton, Vir ginia Lee, 50Busse, Sa rah Mar tin, 98

Cake that Mack Ate, The, 95Cantone, AnnaLaura, 130Carle, Eric, 112Cat in the Hat, The, 5, 117, 135Cat Who Would n’t Come In side, The, 30Cat Up a Tree, 90Catrow, Da vid, 94Cha me leon’s Col ors, 66

Char lotte’s Web, 117Chry san the mum, 46Cinderella Skel e ton, 94, 104Click Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, 2Clif ford, the Big Red Dog, 5Cloudy with a Chance of Meat balls, 34Cook ies, 134Cooney, Barbara, 54Cu ri ous George, 5Crews, Don ald, 102Cronin, Doreen, 2

D’Amico, Carmela, 118D’Amico, Ste ven, 118Daly, Niki, 82Dance by the Light of the Moon, 2Days with Frog and Toad, 10DeFelice, Cynthia, 18Delessert, Etienne, 26DePaola, Tomie, 106Dewdney, Anna, 26Dillon, Di ane, 66Dillon, Leo, 66Durant, Alan, 26Dyer, Jane, 134

Ed wards, Pamela Duncan, 2Egielski, Rich ard, 126Ella Sets the Stage, 118End, The, 126Erdogan, Buket, 62

Finn M’Coul, 108Flan nel Kisses, 95Fran cis, Guy, 2Fra ser, Betty, 6, 112Fred er ick, 110French, Vivian, 74Froggy Plays T-Ball, 10From Acorn to Oak Tree, 122From Cat er pil lar to Moth, 122

137

From Dawn till Dusk, 54From Seed to Pump kin, 122From Tad pole to Frog, 122

Gag, Wanda, 30Glass, An drew, 84Godell, Jon, 118Gold Miner’s Daugh ter, The, 118Goldfinger, Jennifer P., 74Gorbachev, Valeri, 38Grow ing Like Me, 122Grumpy Glo ria, 26

Happy Birth day, Jamela!, 82Hassett, Ann, 90Hassett, John, 90Hay ward, Linda, 74Henkes, Kevin, 46Henny Penny, 74Hoban, Lillian, 58Hoban, Rus sell, 58Hoberman, Mary Ann, 6Hole by the Ap ple Tree, The, 102Hooway for Wodney Wat, 46Hor ton Hatches the Egg, 45, 95, 117Hopkins, Jackie Mims, 118House Is a House for Me, A, 6

I Love You Lit tle Mon key, 26If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, 126Imogene’s Ant lers, 42Isaacs, Anne, 34Is This House for Her mit Crab?, 6Is n’t It Strange, 122

Jag uar in the Rain For est, 122Jake, the Phil har monic Dog, 78John, Paul, George & Ben, 86

Kulikov, Boris, 90Kasza, Keiko, 18Katy No-Pocket, 110Keats, Ezra Jack, 22, 82Keller, Holly, 122King’s Cho rus, The, 74Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie, 54Kit and Kat, 108Kottke, Jan, 122Kovalski, Maryann, 98

LaRochelle, Da vid, 126Law son, Rob ert, 110

Leaf, Monru, 110LeFrak, Ka ren, 78Leg end of the In dian Paint brush, The, 106Lester, Helen, 46, 130Let ter to Amy, A, 82Lewin, Betsy, 2Lindebom, Pija, 95Lionni, Leo, 110Lit tle En gine that Could, 135Lit tle House, The, 50, 135Lit tle Is land, The, 62Lit tle Old Lady Not Afraid of Any thing, The, 93Lit tle Old Woman and the Hun gry Cat, The, 31Lloyd, Megan, 2, 14, 93Lobel, Anita, 102Lobel, Ar nold, 10Lon don, Jon a than, 10

Mac Don ald, Golden, 62Mad i son, Alan, 130Mae Jemison, 86Mar shall, James, 42Mar tin, Bill, Jr., 98Mar tin, Jac que line Briggs, 98Mar tin, Whit ney, 14Matthews, Tina, 94Max’s Words, 90McAllister, Angela, 95McCloskey, Rob ert, 112Mc Don ald, Megan, 6McEwen, Kath er ine, 26McGee, Marni, 134Michelin, Linda, 95Mike Mul li gan and His Steam Shovel, 50Mil lions of Cats, 30Miss Nel son is Miss ing!, 42Mixed-Up Rooster, The, 2Modell, Frank, 31Montanari, Eva, 95Mouse’s First Fall, 62Munsinger, Lynn, 46, 130My Friend Rab bit, 38

Nana Up stairs, Nana Down stairs, 108Newman, Lesléa, 38Numeroff, Laura Joffe, 126

Ol i ver But ton is a Sissy, 108One Po tato, Two Po tato, 18Out of the Egg, 94Ox-cart Man, The, 54

138 \ Title / Author Index

Pan cakes for Sup per!, 34, 108Payne, Emmy, 110Pea nut, 22Pec or ino Plays Ball, 130Pet Show!, 22Pfister, Marcus, 110Po lar Ex press, 135Polette, Nancy, 31, 86, 102, 122Pot luck, 102Pot ter, Beatrix, 112Pump kin Hill, 14Puss in Boots, 135

Rain bow Fish, 110Remkiewicz, Frank, 10Robart, Rose, 95Rockwell, Anne, 102, 122Rohmann, Eric, 38Root, Barry, 98Rosenthal, Amy Krouse, 134Rotham, Mi chael, 122Ryder, Jo anne, 2, 122

San Souci, Rob ert D., 94Schindler, S.D., 6Scieszka, Jon, 9Sendak, Maurice, 70Seuss, Dr., 45, 95Shan non, George, 102Shelby, Anne, 102Sleep ing Beauty, 135Small, Da vid, 42Smith, Lane, 86, 94Snowy Day, 135Spurr, Eliz a beth, 14Steig, Wil liam, 70Story of Ferdinand, The, 110Strega Nona, 106, 108

Strega Nona’s Magic Les sons, 106, 108Sylvester and the Magic Peb ble, 70

T-Rex is Miss ing, 108Tale of Pe ter Rab bit, The, 112Tashiro, Chisato, 66Teague, Mark, 34Thomp son, Lauren, 62Three Lit tle Pigs, 94, 135To mor row’s Al pha bet, 102Too Many Pump kins, 14Tor toise and the Hare Race Again, The, 84True Story of the Three Lit tle Pigs, The, 9426 Fairmont Av e nue, 108

U’Ren, Andrea, 18

Very Full Morn ing, A, 95Very Hun gry Cat er pil lar, The, 112Von Buhler, Cynthia, 30

Ward, Lynd, 114Weisgard, Leon ard, 62Wheels on the Bus, 98When Owen’s Mom Breathed Fire, 95Where Is Bear?, 38Where the Wild Things Are, 5, 70White Bear, Ice Bear, 122White, Linda Arms, 14Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?, 49Why Mos qui toes Buzz in Peo ple’s Ears, 66Wil liams, Garth, 58Wil liams, Linda, 93Windham, Sophie, 74Winston, The Book Wolf, 134Win ter Whale, 122Wolf’s Chicken Stew, The, 18

Zuzu’s Wish ing Cake, 95

Title / Author Index / 139

About the Author

NANCY POLETTE is a well-known au thor, pre senter, and speakerwho has writ ten many books for Teacher Ideas Press and Li brar ies Un -lim ited. She is Pro fes sor of Ed u ca tion at Lindenwood Uni ver sity in St.Charles, Mis souri.

[nancy polette] teaching thinking skills with pict(bookzz.org)

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