When I think about classroom libraries, this scenario comes to mind. Fiction books are great, but to appeal to all students you need a good variety of books available in the classroom.
But literacy does not stop with just reading a book! There are so many possibilities that educators and parents can use to further the benefits of reading a book which I will discuss here.
An activity can be made for literally every book that a child will read. One of my favorite options for furthering information gained from a book is to use sensory tables. Not only do students remember information better, but other skills are gained depending on the activity.
Here are some great examples for what can be done with a book and a sensory table:
- Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells: Fill a sensory table with toy rabbits, soil, worms (real or gummy), eggs, milk, flour, sugar, birthday candles and baking utensils. Provide writing utensils and paper nearby in case they need to make a list for the grocery store like in the book!
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr: Fill a sensory table with letters, trees, and moons.
- Happy Halloween, Biscuit! by Alyssa Satin Capucilli: Fill a sensory table with toy dogs, pumpkins, figurines of children, baskets, ghosts, toy cats, pumpkin bags, dog bones.
- Shark in the Park by Nick Sharratt: Fill a sensory table with water, telescopes, cat toys, birds, and sharks.
- On Top of Spaghetti by Tom Glazer: Fill a sensory table with cooked spaghetti, tomato sauce, toy meatballs (that are able to be mushed), forks, and toy trees.
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle: Eric Carle's unique use of artwork in his stories are very famous. Have the children experiment with various art techniques used in the books. Students will be able to create their own stories.
- Questions, Questions by Marcus Pfister: Leave acryllic paints out with paper and other interesting items to entice students to explore this art medium.
This is a very helpful post because it gives teacher and guardians tangible examples to use for the betterment of children. By giving multiple example teacher and guardians can pick activities that might suit the children and the structure of the room. While some children will get more out of doing a tactile activity such as feeling spaghetti, other may want to create a story similar to the book that was read by using Eric Carle's unique use of artwork.
ReplyDeletei love how you described how you can take a book and create a sensory table activity with it. It is turning reading into a hands on experience which children love. Children have the opportunity to explore a book in a new way where they are uses many of their senses to investigate.
ReplyDeleteRelating what you strive for in the classroom to the positive experiences you had as a child is a great approach. Many people believe that the teaching and learning of a book only takes place during the actual reading of that book, but you're right: an activity can be made for literally every book that a child will read. Great idea to insert different links that essentially set up the whole activity already for the reader.
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