If you enjoy using children’s literature in the classroom but need to teach traditional reading skills, this is the book for you. Balancing traditional and literature-based instruction, you can teach more than 150 skills commonly found in basal readers with these creative lessons. From alphabet and alphabetization to word recognition, this book reconciles your need to teach basic skills with your love of the best of children’s literature. Grades K-3.

FEATURES

• How to section
  
• More than 150 lessons for skills found in basal readers
  
• Strategies that can be transferred to other books
  
• Lessons that require minimal preparation and materials
  
• Related books for every lesson
  

REVIEWS

“The book would make a nice addition to a school’s professional collection as a resource to teachers and perhaps as one possible selection tool. The activities are clearly explained and require only minimal teacher preparation or material expense. The author’s 15+ years of experiences as a teacher and an administrator are evident in her use of examples that she clearly has used in the classroom. Colorado Libraries

“This resource book would be extremely useful to teachers and an excellent professional library acquisition at a reasonable price.” Winnipeg School Division #1

“Most activities can be easily adapted to other books.” - Reference and Research Book News

SAMPLE LESSONS

Literary Elements and Features: Narrative Order

Numeroff, Laura. If You Give a Pig a Pancake. Illustrated by Felicia Bond. New York:
HarperCollins, 1998.

Grade levels: K-1.

A pig comes to visit, and the little girl gives it a pancake. Of course, the pig wants syrup, gets sticky, and consequently needs a bath. This leads to making bubbles and finding a rubber duck, which reminds the pig of the farm. Each event sets in motion another event, leading the story right back to the beginning.

Activities

1. The events in this story drive the narrative order, with each request by the pig triggering the next event. Read the story aloud. Once the students recognize the triggers, ask them to predict what the pig will want next.

2. Create a map of the narrative. Begin in the kitchen of the house and move through the story, writing the places and events on the board. Draw a map or use a chart such as that in the example below.

3. Create a spin-off from the story. Brainstorm possible scenarios, such as giving a fox some French fries, giving a kitten some catnip, or giving an elephant an egg. Use a narrative map to plan the events and triggers. Then write the story, using the same circular process so that the story returns to the beginning.

Location Event Trigger

Kitchen Pig eats a pancake. Pig gets sticky.

Bathroom Pig needs bubbles and duck. Duck reminds pig of farm.

Bedroom Looking for a suitcase. Pig finds tap shoes.

Related books

Hutchins, Pat. Rosie’s Walk. New York: Macmillan, 1968.

Numeroff, Laura. If You Give a Moose a Muffin. Illustrated by Felicia Bond. New
York: HarperCollins, 1991.

____. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Illustrated by Felicia Bond. New York:
HarperCollins, 1985.

From Bridges to Reading Grades K-3: Teaching Reading Skills with Children’s
Literature. Englewood, Colo.: Teacher Ideas Press, 1999, p. 56.

Wordplay: Onomatopoeia

Schaefer, Carole Lexa. The Squiggle. Illustrated by Pierr Morgan. New York: Crown,
1996.

Grade levels: 2-3

A little girl picks up a squiggle on the sidewalk. While she lags behind her classmates, she imagines it can be a dancing dragon, the Great Wall of China, the path of a circus acrobat, a trail of popping fireworks. Finally, she shows the class all the wonderful things she can do with the squiggle, and they join in the fun.

Activities

1. This charming story is full of onomatopoeia. Read it aloud. On the second reading, point out the use of onomatopoeia throughout. List examples on the board. Bring in some yarn or string. Have the students act out the story, using the yarn or string to make the squiggle.

2. Brainstorm a list of sound words from A to Z. The following list will help get you started: argh, beep, chug, drip, eek, fizz, grind, hiss, icky, jiggle, konk, lisp, moo, neigh, ouch, plop, quack, roar, slurp, thump, vamoose, whack, yawn, zip.

3. Have the students create their own series of shapes with the yarn. Perhaps the yarn becomes a zipper, duck, snake, or tugboat. Add the appropriate sound words. If possible, allow the students to glue down the yarn or string in the shape of their squiggles, adding the sounds words below the shapes.

Related books

Baron, Alan. Little Pigs’ Bouncy Ball. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 1996.
____. Red Fox Dances. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 1996.

Benjamin, Alan. Rat-a-Tat, Pitter Pat. Photographs by Margaret Miller. New York:

Thomas Y. Crowell, 1987.

Grossman, Bill. The Banging Book. Illustrated by Robert Zimmerman. New York:
HarperCollins, 1995

West, Colin. “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz,” Went Bumblebee. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick
Press, 1996.

____. One Day in the Jungle. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 1995.

____. “Only Joking!” Laughed the Lobster. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 1995.

From Bridges to Reading Grades K-3: Teaching Reading Skills with Children’s
Literature. © Suzanne I. Barchers. Englewood, Colo.: Teacher Ideas Press, 1999, p. 151.