Teachable Texts

90. Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema

September 26, 2009 at 10:28 am Leave a comment

Retell: In this Nandi folktale a man is worried about the drought that is turning the plains brown and making his cows hungry and dry.  He decides to make an arrow and shoot it into a storm cloud which brings the much needed rain.

Topics: plains, drought, weather, Kenya, folktales

Habits of Mind: thinking flexibly, managing impulsivity

Reading Skills: envisionment, monitoring for sense

Writing Skills: incorporating repetition, rhyme and rhythm

Thoughts: Like “The Little Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” and “The House that Jack Built” (also see The House That Crack Built) Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain is a cumulative rhyme.  The words are composed in a way that it’s easy to find a rhythm when you read.  In addition to being a nice Social Studies read aloud, it’s a great text to use with readers who need help with phrasing and parsing.

Entry filed under: Female Authors, Picture Books. Tags: drought, envisionment, folktales, Kenya, managing impulsivity, monitoring for sense, plains, repetition, rhyme, thinking flexibly, weather.