Posts tagged ‘talking and writing about texts’
145. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Retell: A boy visits the home of the Once-ler who, for a fee, tells him the story of how he destroyed the pristine Truffula Forest and its inhabitants.
Topics: trees, deforestation, environment, environmentalists, pollution, consumption, greed, factories, habitat, animals, Earth Day
Units of Study: Social Issues, Content Area, Talking and Writing About Texts
Tribes: Mutual Respect
Reading Skills: inference, interpretation
Writing Skills: incorporating rhyme and rhythm, connecting the beginning with its ending
My Thoughts: I recently read this book to my class to celebrate Earth Day. There were misty eyes when the last truffula tree was cut down; I have never heard the room so quiet. Upon rereading I noticed how well the illustrations supported inferential thinking throughout the story. Specifically, the color of the illustrations helps support the idea that without trees the world is a dark, miserable place. In the beginning of the story, the pages are illustrated in dark tones: navy, burgundy, and gray. When the Once-ler flashes back to the first days of his Thneed venture, the illustrations are painted in bright, cheerful hues: magenta, yellow, green and turquoise. One student pointed out toward the beginning of the story, while the illustrations were still bright and cheery, the Once-ler’s materials were painted in dark tones, a premonition that the environment was going to change for the worse.
144. Just Us Women by Jeanette Caines
Retell: A niece describes her annual road trip with her favorite aunt.
Topics: road trips, family, freedom, women, bonding
Units of Study: Talking and Writing About Texts
Tribes: mutual respect
Habits of Mind: applying past knowledge to new situations, thinking flexibly
Reading Skills: inference, interpretation
My Thoughts: I’m beginning a new unit this week–a unit devoted to strengthening my students inference and interpretation skills. I’m looking for short and engaging texts to read aloud. This is a great text for modeling how readers can infer a lot of information about a character/relationship from a simple line of text.
141. Coming On Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson
Retell: Ada Ruth can’t wait for her mom to return home from Chicago. The story takes place during World War II. Ada Ruth’s mother has gone North to seek jobs on the railroad. With help from her grandmother and her new feline friend, Ada Ruth is able to wait patiently for her mom to come on home.
Topics: goodbyes, World War II, Chicago, family, pets, cats, poverty, hunger
Units of Study: Historical Fiction, Talking and Writing About Texts, Social Issues
Tribes: personal best
Reading Skills: inference, prediction, interpretation
Writing Skills: tucking in details about setting, zooming in on small moments
My Thoughts: This is a great text to read aloud during an Historical Fiction unit. It’s a useful text for modeling how readers think about symbolism (or alternatively how writers incorporate symbolism). For example, it would be helpful to point out the meaning of the kitten in the story. One could read the story without giving much thought about the kitten’s importance. However, upon closer reading, one could read into the kitten’s significance. Perhaps the kitten is a symbol that represents Ada Ruth’s hope that her mother will write soon. Perhaps the kitten symbolizes her loneliness.
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.
134. Between Earth and Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places by Joseph Bruchac
Retell: On the way to a pow-wow Old Bear teaches his nephew Little Turtle about the legends connected to the sacred places of other Native American tribes.
Topics: legends, Native Americans, sacred places, Wampanoag, Seneca, Niagara Falls, Navajo, Cherokee, Papago, Hopewell, Cheyenne, Hopi, Abenaki, Walapai, Grand Canyon
Units of Study: Content-Area, Nonfiction, Talking and Writing About Texts
Tribes: mutual respect
Reading Skills: envisionment, interpretation
My Thoughts: This is a great read aloud for integrating map skills. Using the clues in each legend, students could try and figure out which place is being described. A copy of the map in the back of the book could be distributed to students during the read aloud and partners could work together to locate each sacred place on the map.
133. The Well by Mildred D. Taylor
Retell: During a drought, the Logan family shares water from their well with anyone who needs it, be they white or black. Hammer, the narrator’s brother, finds it difficult to share with the Simms family who have tormented the Logans for being black. After Hammer defends his brother David and beats up Charlie Simms, he and David are forced to work on the Simms’ farm to avoid jail. Hammer, however, never quite manages to swallow his pride and gets involved in another altercation that causes Charlie to take revenge.
Topics: drought, racism, segregation, bullying, fighting, family
Units of Study: Historical Fiction, Talking and Writing About Texts, Social Issues
Tribes: mutual respect, right to pass, appreciations/no put-downs
Habits of Mind: managing impulsivity
Reading Strategies: inference, synthesis, interpretation, envisionment
My Thoughts: I’ve been trying to locate shorter chapter books to read aloud. I’m finding that some of my favorite chapter books are too long to complete before the end of a unit. The Well is short, only 92 pages and can be completed within a month-long unit. I think this could be a great book to read if a class is struggling with the issue of revenge. In this story, Hammer cannot control his temper. The situation is extremely unfair, and you empathize with Hammer for fighting with Charlie. But on the other hand, his decision to take revenge led to his family’s well getting poisoned. It raises the question whether or not it’s better to fight back with violence or fight back in other ways.
129. Amos & Boris by William Steig
Retell: A mouse named Amos and a whale named Boris become friends after Boris saves Amos from drowning. When he is returned to land Amos vows to help Boris if he’s ever in need. Many years later Boris finds himself washed up on the very beach where Amos lives. Though he is but a tiny mouse, Amos makes good on his promise.
Topics: ocean, adventures, survival, help, mammals, friendship, goodbyes, relationships
Units of Study: Character, Talking and Writing About Texts
Tribes: mutual respect, personal best
Reading Skills: interpretation, prediction, monitoring for sense, envisionment
My Thoughts: This story is so heartwarming that you may have to have a box of tissues ready for the end of the read aloud. Steig’s illustrations are so simple, yet he has a great way of expressing emotion. Often there is a lot more going on in the text than in the illustrations. When reading this book aloud, it’s important to show how readers must envision even when illustrations are present.
127. The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants by Priscilla Turner
Retell: The snooty vowels and the rough and tumble consonants have never gotten along with each other. After a few letters begin to fight with each other, war breaks out between the vowels and the consonants. When chaos, in the form of squiggly lines, rolls into town the vowels and consonants must work together to defeat it.
Topics: letters, vowels, consonants, war, cooperation, fighting, cliques, power
Units of Study: Talking and Writing About Texts
Tribes: appreciations/no put-downs
Habits of Mind: thinking interdependently
Reading Skills: interpretation
My Thoughts: When I previewed this text I assumed I was going to learn about how vowel sounds are really strong and influence other vowel sounds. In reality this book is not really about letters at all–it’s about class and cooperation between the classes. The vowels represent the upper class–there are few of them and they are snooty. The consonants represent the lower-middle class– the undignified commoners. They distrust each other, go to war and then eventually must learn how to work together. I can see reading this in my class in order to have a discussion about cliques within the class and within the grade. It could be read again when we study industrialization and analyze the struggles between the rich and the poor.
125. Under the Lemon Moon by Edith Hope Fine
Retell: One evening Rosalinda awakes to find a man stealing lemons from her lemon tree. During the theft, a branch is broken and the tree becomes sick. Rosalinda searches her village for a cure. A mysterious woman helps her cure her sick tree and help a family in need.
Topics: theft, family, community, trees, kindness
Units of Study: Realistic Fiction, Social Issues, Talking and Writing About Texts
Tribes: personal best, mutual respect
Habits of Mind: thinking flexibly
Reading Skills: empathy, interpretation, inference, monitoring for sense
Writing Skills: using words to describe sound, using interesting verbs, incorporating foreign languages
My Thoughts: This is a text that can be useful for many units and for many purposes. As I was reading this text I immediately noticed the beautiful verbs the author uses. A reader who is unfamiliar with the vocabulary in the text can easily figure out the meaning of the words by thinking about the context. It’s a great text for teaching the strategy of playing ‘fill in the bank’ when solving tricky words.
124. A Picnic in October by Eve Bunting
Retell: Each year Tony’s family boards the ferry to Liberty Island at grandma’s insistence. They brave the crowds and the cold to celebrate a special birthday.
Topics: New York, family, Statue of Liberty, grandparents, immigration
Units of Study: Social Issues, Talking and Writing About Texts
Tribes: mutual respect
Reading Skills: prediction, envisionment, inference, questioning
My Thoughts: This book is typically read during an Immigration unit. However I don’t think I can wait that long to read this book. A scene that stuck out for me was the part when Tony helps a young woman who pulls on his jacket, worried that the last boat has left. Apparently no one has been able to help her because she doesn’t speak English. Tony is patient with her and through gestures explains that another boat is on the way. When reading this aloud, I plan on emphasizing this moment and hope it will spark a meaningful discussion about how we can help students who have limited English skills.
This is a great text for modeling expression. Each character has a distinctive personality which may come out best if the reader creates voices for each character. For example, Rosa talks in “a reading kind of way” and should sound official (or as we say in conferences “like a teacher”). Mike seems a bit mischievous and should sound like it.
Teachable Texts 