I love reading to my grandchildren and watching them learn how to read. This week I have had the opportunity to read to two of their classrooms with the kids “helping” me. Sam’s 3 year-old preschool class was so helpful as I read “Skeleton Hiccups” and they joined in on “hic, hic, hic,” as the skeleton hiccuped his way through many activities, trying to rid himself of those pesky jolts. Nothing seems to work–holding his breath, pouring sugar down his throat, or holding his nose. Ghost has a better idea as he searches through the attic trunk for just the right solution. Each page has “hic, hic, hic” repeated until the last page when the hic’s jump away for a final “hic, hic, hooray!” Perfect for a preschool read-aloud. In our followup discussion about halloween, the teacher asked the kids what is inside the pumpkin and a little girls said, “Guts!” Don’t you just love this age?
Today I was the Mystery Reader in Caroline’s 1st grade so I chose some Halloween favorites. They have been working on a unit about bullying so I thought “Hallo-Weiner” would be a good choice. Poor guy, Oscar was made fun of by his friends for his homemade lovingly made by his mom–“Weiner Dog” they yelled and had a good laugh. Well, when he came to their rescue from a giant monster, the dogs changed their tune and re-named him their “Hero Sandwich.” The kids were such good listeners that we read 2 more books including “Skeleton Hiccups” and “T. Rex Tick or Treats” After we finished, we asked the kids how the last 2 books were alike (book to book, text to text comparisons–a great language building exercise) and they came up with 8! Such a special class.