Archive for the 'Picture Books' Category

The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark by Ken Geist and The Three Little Rigs by David Gordon

Schema: sharks, The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf
Compare and Contrast: Use a graphic organizer such as the Venn diagram,
http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer,  to compare and contrast with The Three Little Pigs.
Compare and contrast with The Three Little Rigs.
Reader’s Theater: This story would work well with the reader’s theater format.  Students could ad lib after reading [...]

Hansel and Diesel by David Gordon

Schema: diesel trucks, Hansel and Gretel
Compare and Contrast: Use a graphic organizer such as the Venn Diagram,  http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer, to compare with the fairytale, Hansel and Gretel,  by James Marshall.
Personification:  The truck rigs are given personalities and speak as human characters.
Reader’s Theater: This story would lend itself well to a reader’s theater presentation.  Students could ad [...]

Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest

Schema: neighbors, being in kindergarten
Text to self connections: learning to read
Characterization: use a graphic organizer to write all of the things we read about Mr. George Baker such as his baggy pants, his suspenders, his sweater, his Hershey’s kisses in his pocket, his lunch, his desire to learn to read, his drum playing, a hundred [...]

Precious and the Boo Hag by Patricia McKissack

Schema: stories that teach a lesson, folktale, stranger danger
The story is written as a modern day folktale featuring the Boo Hag from the Gullah culture of South Carolina.  The Boo Hag is a legendary spirit or shape-shifter that wants to live in another person’s body, or it is also described as  riding a person [...]

Nubs The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle

Schema: Marines, miracles
Author’s purpose: The author is sharing his journey with Nubs because it is a miracle that he was able to get the dog from there back to his home in San Diego.
Because Nubs did not give up on finding Major Dennis, the effect is that Major Dennis did not give up on him.
Characterization: [...]

Stick Man by Julia Donaldson

Schema:  sticks, playing with sticks
Text-to-Text Connections: Over in the Meadow, an old rhyme about the animals in a meadow; the rhyme goes something like, “over in the meadow in the sand and the sun lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle one…”  See the lyrics at:  http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/overinthemeadowlyrics.htm
Also a connection with the Gingerbread Man [...]

Here Comes Darrell by Leda Schubert

Schema: people you know that are always helping others
Sequencing: the book goes through each season
Setting: Vermont
Characterization: Make a graphic organizer to show Darrell’s characteristics.
With Tommy he takes the time to let him play like he is driving his truck
With The Barretts he gives the firewood to them even though they can not pay him now.
He [...]

Growing Up With Tamales Los Tamales de Ana by Gwendolyn Zepeda

Schema: making tamales, looking forward to getting to do the things your older brothers and sisters are doing
Text-to-Self connections: helping mother, wishing to be older
Sequencing: The book begins when Ana is 6, and she goes through each part of the book with her age increasing.
Math: numbers are added by 2’s throughout the story
Mental Images: The [...]

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

Schema: making tamales, admiring jewelry
Text-to-Self Connections: taking something without permission, not wanting to get caught, getting together with relatives for the holidays,  seeing something and then remembering something you forgot about
Predicting: Predict what Maria is going to do when her mother leaves to answer the phone.
Drawing Conclusions: What conclusion does Maria come to about the [...]

Can’t Catch Me by John Hassett

Schema: ice from the fridge, icebergs
Text-to-text Connections: Gingerbread Man stories, stories where characters are being chased
Compare and Contrast: the animals that want to eat or cool off with the ice cube to characters in other versions of the Gingerbread Man.  Compare the whale with the fox in the original story.
Sequencing: Sequence from the last animal [...]