Literacy Launchpad For Parents

Now that My Little Reader, Isaac, is getting a little bit bigger (he's still not 2 yet), I have decided to begin doing some of my Literacy Launchpad activities at home with him. I will also be working on coming up with some literacy activities designed especially with him in mind, that correlate with some of his favorite books at home (that I don't necessarily use in class).

I'm really excited about this. And it's good motivation to push me out of my normal play routine with him.

Today I pulled out some Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! stuff to play with. He loves this story! I actually checked out the audio version from the library a few weeks ago and he wore that CD out! We listened to it at every meal. And, man, it made my life a lot easier on many days. One particular day, that audio book was what got him to eat his dinner after a very stubborn, drawn-out refusal. "Let's listen to Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! while you eat some bites," I suggested. Once we turned the book on for him, he cleaned his plate without us having to say another word about it to him.

So when I pulled out the stuff for us to play with today, Isaac was thrilled! We used the glue to assemble a couple bunnies. He was all about the glue! I did have to use the stapler too though, since he didn't have the patience to let the glue dry (and neither did I).

Happily gluing away... and snacking. Notice his crackers sitting there next to him in this shot.

Isaac played with the vegetable pieces a little bit, but I was having a hard time getting him as excited about, and as engaged in, that part of the fun. He got kind of stuck on the glue. What's great about doing these activities at home though is that I could leave the pieces out all day and let him play when it struck his fancy.

When we ran out of T.P. rolls, he glued bunny heads onto plain paper. Then he had the bunnies talk to one another... while his kitty looked on.

The whole goal behind this activity (at home and at school) was to retell the story told in the book in a meaningful and engaging manner. I wanted them to really get into the story, focus on the various parts of the story and the structure of it as we retold it.

Isaac did pick up the bunnies and the garden pieces on his own after dinner and as I watched from a far, I could hear him telling the story aloud to himself (his own version of the story). He had the bunnies eating the veggies and then falling asleep in the garden (with snoring sound effects and all).

It made me so happy to see him coming up with his own little narratives. What an important step on the road to literacy! I'm excited to see this skill mature and develop more fully. It has really only begun to bud at this point. But with the way Isaac likes to talk... I think there are many more narratives I'll be hearing in the future! Can't wait!

And I can't wait to share more of these activities with you. I think I will change to a simpler formatting in future posts of this kind, but thanks for bearing with me on this one!

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! (Candace Fleming). One of my favorite stories to read! Another guaranteed hit with kids. Always. And the activity I pair with this story always puts the fun over the top.

Last time I did this lesson, I showed up at one of my schools without the toilet paper rolls, which are a pretty crucial item needed for the activity. But I improvised and it worked. This year, I reworked the activity a little, and added to it a bit... and remembered to bring the toilet paper rolls! It turned out even better than last time!

We've been focusing on dramatizing each story ourselves during the month of March. Last week we got to let our stuff blow away in the wind (The Wind Blew). This week we used puppets to retell this week's story in a playful way.

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! is a story that my students can't get enough of (neither can my son), and when they get to jump into the story and act it out themselves with their self-made puppets, they go bananas with excitement. My students were bouncing like the bunnies in the story on their way back to class. It's this kind of thing that makes my little teacher heart happy.

My next lesson better be good!

Improvising

Ever leave your house for work and have that nagging feeling that you've forgotten something? I get that feeling almost everyday, and I'm always forced to go through a mental checklist of everything I'll need for the day before I walk out the door. When I left the house today though, I had a stronger-than-usual nagging feeling that I didn't have everything I needed. I had done my mental checklist though, and so I ignored the feeling. When I got to my school this morning, nothing seemed awry. I began my lesson confidently with my first group of students. Then I got about halfway through today's lesson, and reached into my big bag to get out my supplies for our toilet paper bunny craft... That's when I realized that I had forgotten to bring my toilet paper rolls!!! I had put them in separate bag, and didn't put the bag in my car! Panic immediately set in. I now had no project for my kiddos to make, and they were all waiting... starring at me with their cute little faces and asking, "Can we make bunnies like in the story?" Think, think, think I was telling myself. And that's when I decided I could improvise.

The original plan was to glue the bunny parts onto a toilet paper roll. Then I had popsicle sticks that I would help them stick through the bottom of the toilet paper rolls so they could make their bunnies hop around and say "Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!" like in our story! But I quickly realized that I could let them glue all the bunny parts onto the popsicle sticks themselves, and they would still be able to make them hop around. It worked! The kids loved them! And they turned out cute... not as cute as I would have liked, but cute enough!



So we had bunnies on sticks hopping around, pretending to climb over fences, under walls, and through water to get to Mr. McGreeley's veggie garden (I was Mr. McGreeley in the puppet play). The lesson lost none of it's purpose or charm through my improvisation. Hooray!

There was only one other time I have ever forgotten something I needed for a lesson, and it was the BOOK (this was a couple years ago)! There was no way of improvising my way around that one! Thank goodness that wasn't the case today!

P.S. Check out our book list in the side bar for more info about this week's story: Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming.