Posts tagged ‘verbs’
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.
18. Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen
Retell: Miss Merriweather, the librarian, is obsessed with enforcing the rules. One day a lion walks into her library and becomes a regular helper. Later, he proves to be a lifesaver.
Topics: libraries, librarians, lions, rules, work, volunteering, books, storytime, breaking the rules
Units of Study: Fantasy, Character
Tribes: attentive listening, personal best, mutual respect, appreciations/no putdowns
Reading Skills: inference, prediction, making connections
Writing Skills: using interesting verbs (ex. padded instead of walked)
My Thoughts: This book is obviously a good book to read before a trip to the public library. By focusing on the actions of the lion, the reader is also getting to know the features of a public library, such as storytime, new books, the circulation desk, etc. The story highlights the importance and reciprocal benefits of volunteering. Library Lion is also a good read aloud for reviewing agreements and rules in the classroom. For example, to model attentive listening, you could ask students to notice what the students in the illustrations are doing during storytime. Later in the book, you could discuss how the lion feels hearing all of the appreciations he is receiving. The lion in this story is so cute. I love its facial expression when he is admonished by Miss Merriweather.
11. The Whingdingdilly by Bill Peet
Retell: Scamp is tired of being a dog and wishes he was a grand horse. He runs away and encounters a witch who turns him into a creature called the Whingdingdilly.
Topics: dogs, witches
Units of Study: Fantasy, Character
Tribes: Appreciations/No Putdowns
Reading Skills: inference, prediction, making connections
Writing Skills: using a balance of description and dialogue, using interesting verbs
My Thoughts: I really felt for Scamp in the beginning of this book. I’m a sucker for dogs who are down in the dumps. Unfortunately Scamp’s owner, Orvie calls him a “silly old dog” when he catches his dog pretending to be a horse. Though calling someone ‘silly’ may not be the worst putdown heard at school, I can still see using this book as a way to discuss the damage brought about by insults and putdowns. Scamp begins to feel better, and his luck begins to change when he hears how much Orvie appreciates him. The Whingdingdilly also teaches the importance of appreciating ourselves for our strengths rather than putting ourselves down for our faults. This could also be used as a mentor text during a unit on Fantasy writing. The story has a few fantastical elements but is mostly based on reality.
10. Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse
Retell: A young girl anticipates the long awaited thunderstorms that will cool down the humid city she lives in.
Topics: heat, rain, family, summer, cities, thunderstorms
Units of Study: personal narrative, poetry
Reading Skills: envisionment, making connections
Writing Skills: including similes, using active verbs, personification, alliteration
My Thoughts: This book makes me wish it was more humid outside right now. Every New Yorker without air conditioning will be able to relate to this book. I love how Hesse uses poetic devices throughout this small moment story, making it a nice mentor text for personal narrative or poetry unit. She includes personification: “The smell of hot tar and garbage bullies the air…” There is alliteration and assonance: “The first drops plop down big, making dust dance all around us.” Hesse teaches young writers to slow down and zoom in on ordinary moments.
9. Dogteam by Gary Paulsen
Retell: A moonlit night inspires the narrator to take his dogs on an exciting night ride.
Topics: dogs, dog sledding
Units of Study: personal narrative, content-area writing
Reading Skills: envisionment
Writing Skills: using active verbs, zooming in on a small moment, incorporating sensory details, adding suspense, inserting commas and semicolons, repetition
My Thoughts: Dogteam reads more like prose. In addition to including beautiful imagery, Paulsen’s book has many examples of how writers use all senses to describe a moment in time. Though I would categorize this as a personal narrative, one could also use this as a mentor text for writing nonfiction poetry.
Teachable Texts 