Meaningful Literacy Experiences - Winter Style!

Jan Brett's The Hat

This horse is wishing for a "hat" like Hedgie's.

He can find one on the clothesline!

Hedgie laughs and says, "Don't they know that animals should never wear clothes?"

Denise Fleming's The First Day of Winter

Predicting (our focus during the month of January) what snowman accessories are hidden under the sheet.

... Then dressing up like silly snowmen!

Other Fun

Writing a letter for The Jolly Christmas Postman (Allen and Janet Ahlberg) to deliver!

Enjoying some good books by the fire during the month of December.

I can read with my rebus reader!

Digging for the alphabet!

New School! New Fun!

One of my lovely students recently moved to a new school, and her sweet mother was such a fan of Literacy Launchpad that she wanted Literacy Launchpad to tag along with them on their move. I felt so honored by this high compliment and was grateful for the opportunity to spread the reading love to more children.

I'm not sure I've ever felt so welcomed at a new school! I feel it's a strong testament to a school that so values the education of their students that they make an enthusiastic effort to bring in a program like Literacy Launchpad. Most schools are not as easy to work with as this wonderful new home Literacy Launchpad finds itself in. I am having such a good time there already. Check it out!

We've been reading wintery tales this month. Here are a couple photos from our The Hat (Jan Brett) lesson. We decorated "woolens" to hang on our own clothesline. Then we made some silly animal puppets to use to retell the story. Everybody's animal got a turn to snatch a woolen from the clothesline and wear it as a hat!

We also read The First Day of Winter (Denise Fleming), and as we talked about predicting, we played a fun game to give us some practice. The students took turns feeling hidden snowman adornments and made predictions of what they thought each item might be. It was hard not to peek, but they did great! And we took turns trying on the various items. It was hysterical. The kids could have played this all day!







We also read Owl Moon (Jane Yolen), and had a very fun time going "owling" in class. The kids kept wanting to "do it again!" But my photos from that lesson aren't handy at the moment.

Snow, Snoow, Snooow, Snoooow!

You can't always count on snow here in Tennessee, but you can always count on some snow in Literacy Launchpad during the month of January. We're in the midst of a chilly, winter unit, and loving every second of it!

For our first week's lesson we read The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats). When I first began teaching Literacy Launchpad, this story was new to most of my students... as far as I could tell. But this year most of my students had heard it prior to me reading it to them. Which is great! But it means I should probably find a new book to use in the future years. Broaden their horizons and all, ya know?

When we read The Snowy Day we get to play in the snow ourselves, like Peter! ... O.K. so it's not real snow, but I kind of think this fake snow might actually be more fun than the real thing. It's at least more fun than the kind of snow we get here in Nashville.

This week we read The Mitten (Jan Brett). Last year we read Brett's The Hat during the month of January. And I was pleasantly surprised this week when I showed The Mitten to one of my classes and one student mistook it for The Hat (the covers look really similar). She got really excited (she remembered The Hat from last year), and proceeded to recap the entire story about Hedgie and all the animals. It was a validating moment for me, it was a great lead-in to The Mitten, and it got all the other students pumped about the story we were about to hear.

Our mitten activity after the story was fun, but I had some students disappointed that they weren't "real" mittens we were making. Hmm... I'm trying to imagine the comedy (or horror) it would be to try to teach preschoolers how to knit. And it would require me to first learn how to knit, which would likely be even more comical!

I joked with classes about making sure they don't let any animals move into their mittens and I had one little girl get really freaked out about that. I had to assure her that I was just being silly, and that there were no bears around here. And certainly none that would be trying to get into her little paper mitten. :)

The Hat - Lesson Reflection

The Hat, by Jan Brett, was a hit... as anticipated (See Tuesday's post for a review of the book). Here are some thoughts about yesterday's predicting lesson:

•  My first group session was a little crazy. The students just got so excited during our activity we did during the read-aloud. They had a difficult time staying seated and staying quiet long enough for me to read each page. I mean, I love that they're so engrossed in the story and our activity, but I don't enjoy having to say, "On your bottom, please," over and over... and over.

• I gave the students complete creative freedom with their "hats" and puppet. No regrets there.
  

• Keeping the order during a unit on predicting proves to be quite tricky, because each child is eager to get their prediction out first as we go through each story. I hate to enforce strict rules about raising hands and what-not too much, because I want them to feel free to chime in and say what they're thinking, and I want it to be fun. But perhaps I need to put more focus on this?

• Conversations between the puppets were a riot!
  

• Yesterday we used some paper puppets to do predicting during The Hat. The students each couldn't wait for it to be their turn to predict with their animal puppet. After one student's turn had passed, he immediately said, "Can we read the story again?" I said, "We still are reading the story!" I love when they are so blantantly excited about our story and what we're doing. Motivating and Empowering readers?? Check!

• The clothesline activity I came up with added the perfect element of fun, and helped with comprehension. I loved it. 

• This lesson would be so much fun with even one child. Oh, the possibilities! I can't wait till Isaac is old enough to play around with these activities!
  

• Yes, he purposely put the stocking over the hen's eyes.

Again, detailed instructions for this read-aloud and activities will be available soon!

The Hat, by Jan Brett... A Review

Photo by Denis Defreyne

Thanks goodness for a great children's book to warm me up on a winter day. Oooo... how I love me a Jan Brett story! The Mitten is usually a staple of every preschool teacher's library, and it should be. It's a beautiful book. So beautiful, that for a long time, I ignored Jan Brett's book The Hat. Big mistake!

The Hat opens with a little girl, Lisa, hanging all her woolen clothes on the clothesline. When the wind blows one of her stockings off the line, it ends up stuck on the head of an adorable hedgehog, Hedgie. An embarrassed, Hedgie, tries to casually pass the stocking off as a hat when he is mocked by various other animals he runs into throughout the story. Do the other animals buy into Hedgie's story? You'll see when you reach the fun surprise ending!

Brett's illustrations are in her signature style, complete with detailed vignette's that add important details to the story beyond the text. In these vignettes we see Lisa searching for her missing stocking. We also see what's happening with the animals Hedgie visits with, after they have run off.

A big part of what makes Brett's books so much fun is the expression she conveys on the faces of the animals she illustrates. I love seeing the silly story of what's going on in the animals' fictional world, juxtaposed against the tale of Lisa, going about her business in a realistic human world. When these two worlds mingle at the end of the story, it's a perfect climax to the book. I really love that element Jan Brett uses in her books.

This story works great with our predicting unit because the details of Brett's illustrations give many clues which we can base our predictions on. And I think my students love this story even more than The Mitten. In previous years it's been one they have talked about for months after hearing it. They just love Hedgie! And who wouldn't?

We'll be reading this story in class tomorrow. Stay tuned to hear how our lesson went. I'll be posting about it later this week, complete with photos!