Share your slice of life story at Two Writing Teachers
hosted by Stacey and Ruth!
Today I read two stories to my class, The Cloud Spinner by Michael Catchpool and More by I.C. Springman. I told my students that I was going to read both stories and that they were very different. However, I wanted them to link the books in some way. I was hoping they would see the connection between the characters' experiences. My plan worked and we had a good discussion that lead to us talking about characters and their importance in a story.
Tonight I read, Otto The Book Bear by Katie Cleminson. It has been in a stack next to my couch for a few days now, begging to be read, but I hadn't looked at it yet. It is a very sweet story of a bear who is the character in his own book and when left on his own comes alive to wander. He writes, he reads, explores and gets left behind! In the happy ending, Otto stumbles into a library and meets all kinds of other characters from different stories. It got me thinking about characters again and how I want to write a shared story with my kindergarteners, a character story. What adventures could the character(s) have? I know they would come up with great ideas.
We shall see!
I am up to my elbows in poetry right now and May is around the corner. Later this week we are going to be chalking up the sidewalk in front of my school for more poetry creations! I hope you will chalk some poetry and share with me on April 30th! If you are curious enough to read more, check out the full description of our chalking celebration here!
I love the expectations you have for your students and they always come through. I read Otto in the book store and thought it was really a cute book. I am so looking forward to more poetry from you and your kids.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh it is pouring rain here - but your posts are inspiring me to find some special words to write the next time it is going to be dry for awhile.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of reading two books to children and having them discuss connections between them. I need to look up each book you referenced - they are all new to me!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
You make me want to teach kindergarten because of the places you take your students. Your approach seems to naturally embed higher order thinking. If I can't teach kindergarten with you, I at least want your students when they get to 8th grade--what a foundation you are giving them!
ReplyDeleteBetsy! I love the discussions you have with your students. The books you mentioned sound great. They are both new to me...I'll have to add them to my list! Thanks for sharing your passion for teaching with us. It's inspiring!
ReplyDeleteYou are doing such good things with the little ones, Betsy. What a good idea to read two (which I am thinking they loved) & then do some connections. And-I have my chalk poem ready! Actually it was rather fun. Can't wait for Monday!
ReplyDelete