Monkey Business
Rationale: When
a child is reading a book, most important thing for them to be able to
do is
comprehend what they are reading. The goal is important because once a
child
can understand the concept of a story; they can relate it to their own
personal
life experiences and grow as a reader. The lesson activity will help
students to
understand the importance of questioning skills when reading to help
grasp the
main idea and how to use those questions to build background knowledge
of similar
topics which relate to their own life. This strategy will increase
comprehension
because it allows them identify and relate with the characters and to
identify
with similar situations and event that happen throughout a book.
Materials:
- 1 copy of
the book Five Little Monkey's With Nothing To Do
(Eileen Christelow, Scholastic Inc., 1996) per child
- 1 piece of
white copy paper
per child
- 1 colored
marker per child
- 1
clipboard per child (if
desks are not provided)
Procedure:1.
"We are going to be reading a book today about a few little monkeys who
like to do fun things at home when they are bored and have nothing to
do. We
are reading this book to see if you have ever done some silly things
like the
monkeys in our book."
2. "Who can
raise their
hand and tell me of a time when they were very bored and did something
fun or
silly to stay busy? Ok, now can anyone tell me why it is important to
ask
questions about a book before we read it? Before we read a new book, we
should
ask ourselves questions about the title and cover to see if we already
know
anything about it. Because if we do, then it will be easier to read and
understand. Here's another question like the one before that we can ask
ourselves before reading this book: When is the last time I had nothing
to do?
What did I chose to do to take up my time?" These types of questions
help
us to build our background knowledge.
3. "Let's go
ahead and
read our book. The book is called Five Little Monkey's With Nothing to
Do. Book
Talk: There are five monkeys in this book who are at home with their
mom. She
wants them to help her clean the house. They help her but get done
really
quickly. So now they are stuck again with nothing to do. To keep them
busy they
come up with some very funny things to do! To find out what they end up
doing,
we are going to have to read the whole book!"
4. "Now I am
going to
hand each of you your own copy of this book. I want each of you to read
it
silently at your desk." Teacher waits for students to finish.
5. Teacher
and students will
now hold a grand conversation together to talk about the book and the
events in
the book. During this conversation the teacher will encourage students
to ask
questions and to think about then events in the book and relate it to
their own
experiences. Questions like this: When was a time that you helped your
mom with
chores around the house? Why can chores and work sometimes be boring?
When was
a time that you did something silly at your house when you had nothing
to do?
What other books have you read or heard about that are like the one we
just
read? Tell me about them."
6. "Good job
boys and
girls! I loved our conversation today. You are all so smart with such
good
ideas. Now, I am going to give each of you a piece of paper and a
marker. I
want you to first, write at least 5 sentences about the main idea or
point of
the book we just read. Make sure you write why it was you chose that
part as
your favorite. Then draw a picture to illustrate what you wrote.
7. Wait for
all of the
students to finish. "Now that we are all done writing and drawing, I
would
like us to take turns sharing it with the class. When you are sharing,
make
sure you tell us why you chose to write. You do not have to share if
you do not
want to."
Assessment: Teacher
will be able to see whether students comprehended the ideas in the book
based
on their comments during the grand conversation. For individual
assessment, teacher
can look at their sentences and drawings and use a checklist to see if
these
points were hit:
- specified
main idea or creatively
came up with new one
-
explanation of why they
chose that part
- does
student seem to
understand main idea of the book
References:
- Five
Little Monkey's
With Nothing To Do by Eileen Christelow, Scholastic Inc., 1996
- Elena
Iantosca, Emergent
Literacy: Concepts About Print
http://mason.gmu.edu/~cwallac7/TAP/TEST/literacy/1.html