Posts tagged ‘I-messages’
139. Andrew’s Angry Words by Dorothea Lachner
Retell: When Andrew’s sister bumps into him, scattering all of his toys, he screams angry words that travel around the world causing harm to everyone they meet. The rampage of the angry words is halted by a woman who dumps them into the ocean and replaces them with nice words.
Topics: anger, regret, kindness, mistakes, communication, respect
Units of Study: Fantasy, Talking and Writing About Texts
Tribes: appreciations/no put-downs, mutual respect
My Thoughts: When teaching the Tribes agreement of appreciations/no put-downs, I usually conduct some sort of funeral for put-downs. Students write a put-down onto a sheet of paper, tear it up and put it in the trash. Andrew’s Angry Words is the perfect text to support this lesson. The illustrator does a good job of making Andrew’s put-downs into something that looks dangerous, even poisonous. The story gives me a new idea to add to the lesson. After the funeral for put-downs, students could write an appreciation to replace the angry words or even better have them turn the angry words into I-messages.
Teachable Texts 