The act of teaching is essentially a constant processing of options.

At every point in each lesson a teacher has a number of options available. He or she can decide to do something, or to do something else, or not to do anything at all. In order to become a better teacher it seems important to be aware of as many options as possible. This may enable you to generate your own rules and guidelines as to what works and what doesn't." (Jim Scrivener)

By Grace Bertolini

- More reasons to use stories - Stories are a jumping board for other activities - Teaching vocabulary - Shared reading strategies - EMERGENT READERS at Shared Reading Time - EMERGENT READER: Trix, the cat - Lesson plan for using Emergent Readers - More follow up activities - EMERGENT READER: A cat with a hat - Pre-teaching key vocabulary - Story Lessons Plan Ideas - Listening Games - Reading One-page Story - THE ENORMOUS TURNIP - STORY: Anna goes to the Zoo - Pre-story Activities - During and Post Story Activities - More Emergent Readers - REBUS STORIES - BOOKS CREATED FOR CHILDREN - Early reading Behaviors - Use Scaffolding Techniques - Directions for making books - Using Home-made Books - Dots Books - Back Cover Pocket activities - Photograph-based Books - Tracing Books Name Books - All about Me Books - Letter Books - Storyboard Books - How to make the books - Question books - Caption Books - Bubble books - Pop-up Books - Flip-flop Books Zig-Zag Books Accordion Books - Mini-paper Bag Books Puzzle Books - Long Books - Classroom Management Tips Conclusions - Listen and Mime a Story - STORY: The enormous elephant - HOMEWORK

P. 3 P. 4 P. 5 P. 6 P. 7 P. 8 P. 11 P. 12 P. 13 P. 15 P. 17 P. 18 P. 20 P. 21 P. 23 P. 25 P. 26 P. 27 P. 29 P. 30 P. 31 P. 32 P. 33 P. 34 P. 35 P. 36 P. 37 P. 38 P. 39 P. 41 P. 42 P. 43 P. 44 P. 45 P. 46 P. 47 P. 48 P. 49 P. 50 P. 50 P. 51 P. 52 2

MODULE 4: UNIT 14: MORE STORY TIME:

1. Children love them. 2. Children can absorb the structure of language subconsciously as well as hear familiar words they know. 3. A useful message can be contained in the story, aside from language learning 4. Using stories gives you another method of putting language across and will lead to more variety in your lessons. 5. You can use stories as quiet time in between boisterous activities. 6. Stories, along with songs, allow children to hear and understand far more English than any other method. 7. Enhancing story telling with gestures, actions, colourful illustrations, relevant games and role-plays increases language retention and acquisition.

Give each student a picture that depicts the events of the story and have them line up in order of the events. Have the students come up with a title for the story. Repeat quotes from the story and ask the students "Who said it?"
Leave off the ending of the story and have the students predict what they think will happen. Then, read the ending of the story. Encourage the children to look for patterns in the story. Have them guess, for example, what the character will say if there is a pattern in what the character says.

Teach them a song that goes along with the theme of the story. Teach them actions to go along with the songs. Let them act out parts of the story. Set up stations that allow them to dress up like characters in the story and do things the characters in the story did.
Tell a story to introduce a new unit. Give the students three events in the story and ask them what came first. Have the students draw a picture about their favorite part of the story and then explain it to the class. Let the students tell about a similar experience they might have had.

Show the first picture and you can ask the children what they see, asking them to name the animal or objects. It is OK if the children use their own language to reply, but as you will have pre-taught the key vocabulary, see if you can also elicit the words in English. Use dramatic voices to fit the personality of your characters. Practice beforehand with high and squeaky, low and gruff and any variation in between. As well as the pitch you can make the voice loud or soft, slow or fast, breathlessness, sound sad or happy.

Use gestures. Hang your head in sadness or look worried and tearful, or happy as appropriate depending on the event in the story. Get the children to imitate the character in the story and look happy or sad. Add in animal noises, or a little song or rhyme that you might make up. For example in the marching ants story you could do some sound effects of the marching ants and have the children join in with you. Sound effects can be vocal or with instruments or improvised instruments such as clapping or tapping body parts of items. How you can use stories in your classroom:

Before you use a story in your Young Learners classroom, you'll need to teach the students the key vocabulary words to they are able to follow the story. The students will not just "learn" the words, they will immediately see how the words are used and hear them in context of the language. This is so much more beneficial to the students than simply memorizing a list of words.

READING STRATEGIES: GOOD READERS:

Use pictures to predict text. Locate where to begin reading. Understand directionality. Turn pages correctly. Differentiate between a letter and a word. Match letters and words. Use known initial letters to figure out unknown word Identify Capital letters, periods, commas. Make predictions based on title / pictures Recognize story patterns. Re read to clarify confusions. Cross-check meaning with visual cues. Develop a Bank of Words. Recognize sentence beginning/endings. Self- correct. Develop fluency. Problem-solving through analogy (use the known to get to the unknown) Apply reading strategies. Verbalize how to use reading strategies.
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1) The teacher reads a sentence. 2) The children echo what she just read (while she points to the words).

The children read at the same time as the teacher.

The teacher leaves out a word or phrase. The children fill in the missing word or phrase. This is a very good strategy to use when teaching the concept of rhyming.

The reading selection can be displayed on: - a pocket chart, - an overhead projector, - a chart paper, - or displayed on the smartboard for all the children to view.

Printable Emergent Readers are a cost effective and a powerful tool to teach beginning reading skills. These MINI-BOOKS are quite simple with images that should appeal to young children and simple, repetitive words that children in Preschool through Grade 1 should be able to read themselves.

EMERGENT READER:
Print the pages. Cut the pages apart. Have the children color the illustrations. Then assemble and bind. EMERGENT READERS can be printed with two different pages of the book on each page or with two of the same pages on one page.

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Prior to Reading the Story: - Hide a teddy bear by, on and under in different places within the classroom to introduce the children to the positional terms used within the reader.

Explain that the main character Trix the Cat is found within different places throughout the story. Have the children predict where Trix might be found using the pictures displayed. The teacher reads each line and the children assist her in placing Trix the cat in the correct position on the picture. Read the story again with Trix the Cat in the correct position. The teacher reads and tracks, students will join in as they are able.

The children are introduced to the letter T" (for Trix) and its corresponding sound within the context of reading the story. Display some pictures Use picture pairs beginning with the same initial sound and also a different sound. The children will identify if they hear the same initial sound or not.

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1. The pictures would be placed in a pocket chart. 2. Together sort if they begin with a T" sound or not. 3. After, all the words beginning with the focus sound of T" would be placed together. 4. Have the children close their eyes while you remove one of the pictures. 5. The children guess what "t" sounding picture is missing.

Research has shown that children learn the letters and sounds more successfully if they are associated with a picture or visual image. CRAFT ACTIVITY: The letter T" would be painted and cut or traced on brown construction paper for the trunk. The children would trace around the trunk to make a tree top out of green construction paper. A red marker can be used to make the apples.

Take off the sentence strips from the pocket chart and see if the children can arrange them according to the pictures.

Students are asked to cut apart a sentence, scramble the words and rearrange it. - Copies of the text are available for verification. - The children are encouraged to read and track as a final check.

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It is important to pre-teach the key vocabulary in a story before reading it so the children can understand what is going on. - For example three-year-old beginners who have no exposure to English aside from half an hour a week will be fairly slow to get started and you might only introduce 3 colours and 3 numbers in a half hour lesson. - However 5 year old beginners will most likely be able to handle 6 colours and 6 numbers in the first lesson - at least they will be able to understand them all and demonstrate that understanding through games, and they may even be able to play some speaking games with either the colours or the numbers. - It is better to have the children understanding many words and just saying a few to begin with. - You will be able to build on the speaking as you work through the stories and the vocabulary comes round again and again.

EMERGENT READERS: LANGUAGE LEVEL:

The stories should be simple and as repetitive as possible to give every chance to the children to understand most of the words over repeated listening. It is important that the children understand the gist of the story from the first time you tell it, but with repeated listening gradually the children will come to recognize and understand the sentences and phrases in between the key words.

ORGANIZING THE LESSONS:

Depending on the ability of your children and how often they are exposed to English you might take one to three half hour sessions to introduce all the above words using games and other fun activities. You would also ideally include a song or two in the lesson and perhaps a 5-minute colouring sheet or similar activity. Remember that to read the story you only need the children to understand the vocabulary, and not necessarily be able to say it. + In later sessions you can play more and more speaking games with the target language as the children become confident and familiar with the new words and the sounds of the English language.

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Revision: - giraffe, - ice cream, - orange, - apple, - banana, - pear, - milk, - grass Revision Verbs: ate, drank Revision Other: Hungry New (optional) Days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday New Phrases: The giraffe was hungry. He was still hungry.

On Monday Gerard the giraffe was hungry, so he ate one ice cream, but he was still hungry.

On Tuesday Gerard the giraffe was hungry so he ate one ice cream and two oranges, but he was still hungry.

On Wednesday Gerard the giraffe was hungry so he ate one ice cream, two oranges and three apples, but he was still hungry.

On Thursday Gerard the giraffe was hungry so he ate one ice cream, two oranges, three apples and four bananas, but he was still hungry.

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On Friday Gerard the giraffe was hungry so he ate one ice cream, two oranges, three apples, four bananas and five pears, but he was still hungry.

On Saturday Gerard the giraffe was hungry so he ate one ice cream, two oranges, three apples, four bananas, five pears and he drank six glasses of milk, and he felt terrible!

On Sunday Gerard the giraffe ate some grass. He felt fine and he wasn't hungry!

Gerard the Giraffe Activities

1. Revision of food words Play Duck, Duck Goose with fruits, followed by Blind Fold Guessing Game with fruits in a box. 2. Introduce days of week - If your children have not grasped the days of the week in their own language yet, then tell this story using numbers instead. Monday would be day one, Tuesday day two, etc. That way you revise the numbers again. - However if your group are ready for the days of the week then teach them using some listening games such as Go and Fetch: lay out piles of picture cards or real objects of the food items for your children to go and fetch for you. You say, "on Monday I bought some apples," and the children, in pairs or threes, or however you have organized your group, go and fetch the apples or the picture of apples. Continue with, "on Tuesday I bought some bananas," etc.
3. More listening to days of week Play Rapid Reaction: lay out the food items and say, "on Monday I bought some.apples!!!" and the children rush to touch the apple or the picture of the apples. Continue through the days of the week in order and do each day twice so the children have 14 goes at touching the food pictures.

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- Introduce the first three fruits and play Run and Touch: first lay out the picture flashcards, or the fruits themselves and tell the children to touch the fruit you name. After a few minutes spread the pictures out over the room and tell the children to run over to the picture you name. - Next have the children make the shape of the fruit you name with their bodies.

Have the children point at the correct food items as you read out the story. When the children know the food items well they will be able to recite the list with you if you lay out the food items in order as they come up so the children have the pictures as prompts. When you are doing this story for revision divide the group up into 7. Give each group a food item or picture card. When you read out the story the group with the food item hold it up and say what it is. For example, you read out the first line of the story: "On Monday Gerard the giraffe was hungry, so he ate one ice cream, but he was still hungry." But when you get to, "he ate ", you stop and let the children who have the ice cream say "one ice cream and hold up their picture.

- Then you read out the second line of the story: "On Tuesday Gerard the giraffe was hungry so he ate one ice cream and two oranges, but he was still hungry." But when you get to, "he ate", you stop and let the children with the ice cream say, "one ice cream", then point to the second group who hold up the oranges and say, "two oranges". - At first do this with just you speaking and the children hold up their pictures at the correct time. Then do it again with the children speaking. You will have to prompt them to start with. If it all takes too long let it go and just have the children hold up the pictures until they are ready to do the speaking as well.

When the children know all the stories ask them to draw a picture from a story of their choice and then name some of the items in their picture until the other children guess which story it is. You may need to mix up English with their L1 to do this.

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1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Lay out flashcards of the fruits on the floor. With a large group you will need several of each colour. Play music while the children dance around. Then call out a question such as, What colour is a banana?" The children must jump on the yellow banana.

This listening game allows the children to hear the words named several times in preparation for saying them, and it also allows for the revision of colours. If your children do not know the colours then play musical fruits by just naming the fruits and food vocabulary in turn and letting the children jump on the correct pictures. You will need several pictures of each so that you do not have the whole group converging on one small picture. You want to be sure the children have enough space and pictures to move around and play without bumping into each other.

MAKE A FRUIT SALAD:

Making up a real fruit salad is always a popular activity with the children. Make sure there is plenty of naming of the fruits as you put them in the bowl and eat them afterwards. You could play a game once the fruit salad is made where each time a child has a go they are allowed a spoon from the salad bowl.

CHANTING GAME: Bananas, oranges, apples and pears

First have the children chant or sing these simple words: Bananas oranges apples and pears four times in a row. So you seat the children in a circle with eyes closed. One child stands outside the circle holding one of the fruits. The whole group sing or chant the four lines while the child with the fruit walks round the outside of the circle and at some point secretly puts the fruit behind another child's back. When the song or chant is over all the children feel behind their back, and the one with the fruit must jump up and run round the circle and try and catch the other child. The other child will never be caught and will run round the circle and sit down in the place of the child now holding the fruit. Repeat until as many children have had a go as is possible.

ROLE PLAY:
This is something to play once the children are very familiar with the story and are ready to start using more language than just naming individual words. Sit your group down on the floor and tell them to pretend to be in a restaurant where they are to order. One of the children is a waiter (give him a tray as prop) The waiter comes up to the group and asks them, Would you like some apples", "oh yes please say the group, and the waiter goes off, selects the correct flashcard and brings it back to the table. If possible have the real fruits available for the waiter to take over to the table.
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MORE REVISION IDEAS FOR AFTER THE STORY:

Colour black and white flashcards (Let the children colour freely or give a colour dictation) Give out the story illustrations and let the children put them in order. Let the children act out the story while you read it. Follow-up with plenty of games to revise the language and vocabulary in the story, gradually increasing the ratio of speaking games to listening games as the children absorb the English.

READING ONE-PAGE STORY

1) Tell the children that you are going to tell them a story. 2) Read the story to the children (alternative way: record it into a cassette) at a slow, even pace. 3) Show them some pictures of the characters( drawings, photocopies, puppets, etc) 4) Mime the actions: use facial expression and gestures. 5) Make sure that everybody is quiet, attentive and sitting comfortably. 6) Keep eye contact with the children : it helps to maintain their interest. 7) Ask them if they know the tale of The enormous turnip 8) Once you have read the story: Retelling: ask the children to tell you (can be in L1) what they think happened. 9) Re-reading: read the story again stop after each section to ask the children to summarize whats happening.

THE CHARACTERS: Grandpa Grandma the boy the girl the dog the cat the tiny little mouse.

Lookthese are Grandpa, Grandma, the boy, the girl, Grandpas dog and cat. They are all in Grandpas garden. Theyve got some seeds. Lets plant the seeds, says Grandpa. Good idea say the boy and the girl. They plant the seeds: 1,2,3 carrots; 1,2,3 potatoes; 1,2,3 tomatoes; 1,2,3 turnips. On Monday the boy asks, Whats the weather like today? Every day the boy asks, Whats the weather like? and every day the girl and Grandpa say Its raining!
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Then, one day the boy asks, Whats the weather like today? and the girl and Grandpa say, Its sunny and hot Lets look at the garden! Grandpa, Grandma, the boy, the girl, the dog and the cat go into the garden. They look at the vegetables. Look at the carrots: they are big! Look at the potatoes: They are big! Look at the tomatoes: they are big!. And look at the turnips. They are very big too! Yes, and this turnip is enormous! says Grandpa. Grandpa pulls the enormous turnip. Pull, pull, pull, 1,2,3. I cant move it! Help me please!, he says. Then the boy helps Grandpa. Pull, pull, pull, 1,2,3. We cant move it! Help us please!, they say. Then the girl helps Grandpa. Pull, pull,pull,1,2,3. We can t move it. Help us please! they say. Then the dog helps. Pull, pull, pull, 1,2,3. We cant move it! Help us please! they say. Then the cat helps. A tiny little mouse is hiding behind the turnip. He is watching Grandpa, the boy, the girl, the dog and the cat: Pull, pull, pull, 1,2,3. We cant move it! Oh!, No! they say. Everybody is sad. Its OK, says the tiny little mouse. I can help you Then everybody pulls the enormous turnip. Grandpa pulls. Grandma pulls, the boy pulls, the girl pulls. The dog and the cat pull and the tiny little mouse pulls, and Pull, pull, pull, 1,2,3. WE CAN MOVE IT!!! Thank you mouse !! Now everybody is happy. They look at the enormous turnip. They touch the enormous turnip. They dance round the enormous turnip. Then they try to lift the enormous turnip. But the enormous turnip is very heavy. Grandpa cant carry it! The boy cant carry it! The girl cant carry it! The dog cant carry it! The cat cant carry it! The tiny little mouse cant carry itBUT ALL TOGETHER THEY CAN CARRY IT!!! Together they carry the enormous turnip into the kitchen. And Grandpa makes some delicious turnip soup. Grandpa gives a bowl to Grandpa. She gives a bowl to the boy. She gives a bowl to the girl. She gives a bowl to the dog. She gives a bowl to the cat and she gives an enormous bowl to the tiny little mouse. Mmm!!! This soup is delicious !!! Thank you mouse!, says everybody

LANGUAGE FOCUS
GRANDPA GRANDMA DOG CAT MOUSE RAINING SUNNY HOT NUMBERS DAYS OF THE WEEK KITCHEN BOWL SOUP

TOPIC LEXIS
GARDEN / SEEDS VEGETABLES / TURNIPS TOMATOES / POTATOES

SAD HAPPY HEAVY BIG DELICIOUS ENORMOUS LITTLE / TINY

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. LOOK AT GO INTO THE PULL CARRY ASK MAKE TO BE HAVE GOT SAY LIFT GIVE PLANT

VERBS

GOOD IDEA !

LETS

ITS OK !

HELP ME, PLEASE

EXPRESSIONS

THANK YOU

WHATS THE WEATHER LIKE TODAY?

OTHERS

EVERYDAY - TOGETHER SOME - ONE DAY TOO - BUT - VER YES - NOW EVERYBODY

CHECKING COMPREHENSION:
Ask children some questions about the story. Use language that reflects: - The language content - The level of the story Example: What animals are there in the story ? What vegetables do we plant ? Are the vegetables small ? Can Grandpa pull the turnip ?

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STORY: ANNA GOES TO THE ZOO

Story Lesson Plan Ideas Revision: Lion, snake, bird snake New Numbers: 1-10 New Nouns: daddy, zoo, ponies, elephant, giraffe, bear, duck, monkey and fish New Verbs: see - New Phrases: at the zoo

Anna and her daddy are at the zoo.

At the zoo Anna sees one snake. There he is. One snake.

With each picture let the children count up the different animals with you, counting from 1-10.

At the zoo Anna sees two elephants. There they are, two elephants. One, two.

At the zoo Anna sees three ponies. There they are, three ponies. One, two, three.

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At the zoo Anna sees four giraffes. There they are, four giraffes. One, two, three, four.

At the zoo Anna sees five bears. There they are, five bears. One, two, three, four, five.

At the zoo Anna sees six ducks. There they are, six ducks. One, two, three, four, five, six.

At the zoo Anna sees seven lions. There they are, seven lions. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

At the zoo Anna sees eight monkeys. There they are, eight monkeys. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

At the zoo Anna sees nine birds. There they are, nine birds. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

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At the zoo Anna sees ten fish. There they are, ten fish. One two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!

Then Anna and her Dad have an ice cream and go home.

Extra vocabulary
An option is to revise colours deliberately getting them wrong, for example: At the zoo Anna sees two elephants. There they are, two green elephants and let the children spot the mistake they will soon be calling out the right colour. The text proposes a variety of verbs to describe what the animals are doing and animal body parts. Repeat the same verbs more often if you need a simpler version, but not as simple as the basic one. Walk, stick out, say, spray, eat, think, chew, dance, rest, swim, lie down, monkey around, play, sit. Tongue, trunk, back, webbed-feet, beak, head, body, hot, hungry, meal

Introduce the five new animals with some listening games such as - Bingo - Go and Fetch -Run and Walk Relay Race.

If you are starting from scratch most likely in a half hour session with three year old children you would teach the first five animals and the first five numbers. That would probably be enough. However if you find that you are able to go faster then do. Introduce the new language in chunks, practice it with listening games and then move on to introducing more new language. Then you will want to review some of the language and start on speaking games.

When the children demonstrate good understanding of the five new animals and most of the children are getting it right, play some listening games with all the animals combined. Games that are good with animals are: - musical statues, - musical cushions - miming and guessing what the animal is. A way to play a miming game is to put the children into two or three lines and ask the first children in that row to slither like a snake to the other end of the room. Then give the next children in the line to walk like monkeys, etc.

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Count up the animals in the picture with the children. Take it in turns to allow a child to point at each animal in the picture as the class count. As your group become good at counting over the coming weeks, on re-reading the story let each child count up the animals in a given picture by themselves, or in pairs or threes. Allow your children to tell you what the animal is in each picture once you have read the story a few times over the weeks.

Call something by the wrong name and then pretend that you have no idea that you made a mistake. For instance when using the story Anna and her Dad go to the zoo, hold up the picture of the snake and say: Anna sees one hippo. There is a pause before the kids start yelling, "It's not a hippo, it's a snake." So you ask: "Are you sure because I think this is a hippo. Look at his long tail and his forked tongue." Then they have to convince you that it is a snake by telling what a hippo looks like. The kids go crazy! They love being smarter than the teacher.

COLOURING (quiet) and MONKEING AROUND (excitable)

Give each child a black and white monkey, or animal of your choice, to colour in. When the children have finished play some music and tell the children to monkey around while the music is playing, holding their coloured monkeys in their hands. When you stop the music call out, "Two monkeys!" and the children must get into groups of two. Start the music again, let the children monkey around and then repeat with another number, such as, 'Three monkeys!" A detail to add is that the children should hold their monkeys up so everyone can see them, or hold them above their heads once they are in a group. If the three years old children have never done this before and find making the groups challenging, just stick to one and two monkeys, and in a future lesson add in three or four monkeys.

Follow up with a quiet game such as bingo (listening or speaking), or find the pairs memory game (speaking). Continue with a movement game such as the Monkey's Tail. Play a quiet game like Fishing using paper flashcards of the animals. Show the children pictures of all the animals and have them make the noises each of those animals. Then give each child an animal. When you tell the story the child with the picture of that animal must make the noise. Speed up the pace and show the story illustrations quicker and quicker, and mix up the order. The children will find that very funny and you will have a great time!

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 Books created just for children, with their abilities and interests in mind, are perfect for meeting the needs of English language learners.

Anne points to the capital A in her name and in her friend Abigails name. You have one like mine, she says. Annes not quite sure what the letter A is. She only knows it belongs to her and she knows how to draw it.

CHILDRENS INTEREST IN LETTERS:

This interest in letters comes naturally to children, who have a strong desire to learn how to make sense of those squiggles and lines so they can be readers. However, it is very difficult to find a simple readable text for a child who has limited word knowledge.

What do you do? You write books for them!!

Books:- With childrens names, featuring their pets and favorite places, books about their birthdays

ASSESSMENT GUIDES YOU:

Close analyses of observations gathered during daily lessons are the tools that help teachers learn more about each child. From these observations, ideas for books will naturally emerge. Consider the observations of Anne as she works to make sense of the letter she finds at the beginning of her name. A Letter Book made just for her will start Anne on the way to learning more about her special letter. Simple pages featuring the letter A and pictures whose names, like Annes, begin with A will help her acquire important alphabet recognition skills. From there, Annes collection of letter books may grow to include a book for every letter. As her knowledge grows, Anne will be taking an important step in learning to read being able to name and recognize letters.

SUGGESTIONS:
When creating books for children, start with the following: A very easy storybook. A very simple story you have read to the child. A simple book about an experience the child has had. A simple story that you write for the child, keeping in the childs known vocabulary. A simple text the child dictates.

Keep the following considerations in mind: - Consistent layout of the print. - Strong picture support. - Simple language structures. - Memorable, repetitive language patterns. - Use of known letters or words. - Meaningful content. - Short in length. 30

What will the child need to do to achieve reading success?

Children with little letter knowledge who would benefit form alphabet books that use pictures to link letter shapes and names. The Letter Books will be just right for these students. For children who are discovering that letters come together to form words, the Name Books are a great place to start. For students who are ready to put words together to build sentences, the Long Books let them assemble sentences based on their own words and interactive writing.

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Make adjustments to the new books you write for them: Change in the layout of the print. Predictable patterns. Known letters and words. Use scaffolding techniques for making these sorts of modifications so that you can continue to support children in growing as readers.

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When preparing to use books with children, its helpful to think of the lesson like a conversation the teacher and the child talking, listening, noticing. The goal of any lesson is to learn more about what the child knows, always looking for behaviors that show what the child can do. For example, if you are using a letter book with children you will want to begin to know letters, setting aside blank pages to fill in at a later time as the child learns about more letters. With Cut-Up Sentence Books begin with a childs dictated sentence (building familiarity into the written words)

BEFORE READING:
1- Introduce the book, beginning with the cover 2- Read the title and invite the child to locate known letters and words 3- Direct the childs attention to the picture and ask: What do you notice? Share a sentence or two about the book. 4- Teach a new story word or a word that is almost known, and rehearse tricky language structures

DURING READING:
1- Model early reading behaviors, such as left-to-right directional movement. 2- Say to the child: Watch as I point to each word when I read. Now you follow me, by putting your finger next to mine. 3- Read the book to the child first, then have the child read the book to you. Be ready to step in and help as needed.

AFTER READING:
1) Ask questions and revisit pages to engage the child in a discussion about the book - What did you notice? - Does this remind you of something? - What is your favourite page? - Why? 2) Reflect on the childs experience with the book. Ask yourself: What were some things the child could do independently? What could the child do with help? 3) Use your observations and notes to plan for the next book you write for the child.

THE TEACHER REFLECTION NOTEBOOK

is a powerful assessment tool. Fast and on the run, this note-taking/note-making approach provides a system for recording observations and immediately reflecting upon them.

It is a paper divided vertically in two sections. To set up and use a reflection notebook, follow these steps: 1- Label the left side Note Taking. Label the right Side Note Making 2- As you observe a child, take running records on the Left side. 3- Record comments about your observations on the Right side. These are your reflections about the childs reaction to new words, words they already know, and ideas for new books 34

Many of the books you make will feature predictable patterns, which provide opportunities for over learning almost known words. Following is a starter list of predictable text that you can use to create an endless variety of books.

DOT BOOKS reinforce left-to-right directional movement and support one-to-one voice-print match.
STEPS: 1) Place a self-sticking green dot at the beginning of the line of text to show the child where to begin reading. 2) Place a black dot under each word. 3) AS the child reads, have him touch each dot in turn. Make sure that the word the child points, matches what the child says.

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An envelope glued to the back of any book, holds a special way for children to interact with the text or with pictures. STEPS: 1) Glue an envelope to the back cover of the book. 2) In this pocket, place cards that children can manipulate and use with their book.

EXAMPLE: To match letters in an ALPHABET BOOK, include individual letter cards that children can match up to the corresponding pages in their book. Choose uppercase and lowercase letters in different fonts, colors and sizes to help children develop an understanding of the many ways letters can look.To match words in sentences, provide cut-up sentence strips that students can rebuild on the pages of their book. Make word puzzles to reinforce key words. Write the words on index cards (one word per card) and cut between letters to create puzzle pieces.

Child-centered themes are a great source of book topics. As you observe special areas of interest for children, consider using them as a focus for books you make together to extend a theme and build vocabulary.

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These special books make a wonderful treat on a child birthday, or whenever a child just wants to write and read about birthdays. 1) Make copies of the cake template. 2) Glue each cake template to tagboard . 3) Invite the child to fill in the sentences at the top of each page: I like _________ cake. 4) To substitute a different text pattern, place a strip of white paper over the sentence, then photocopy. 5) Children can fill in the blanks with color words, such as yellow, pink and orange. 6) Place cake pages in between a construction paper cover and staple to bind. Decorate the cover like a birthday cake, complete with candles.

- Discuss an experience with the children. - Ask an open ended introduction question: Tell me about about - Discuss the sequences: the 1st thing you didand then - The teacher writes a simple text. - The child illustrates the text.

Classroom and family photographs holds special meaning for children. Photographs invite children to name familiar people and places and with these connections in place, make it easier to learn to recognize these names and words in print. Predictable text reinforces word knowledge. Pictures provide strong visual clues to any unknown words in the text.

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This is the letter g . It goes around, up, down, and then it has a hook .

For children learning to form letters, and for children who experience difficulty with this skill, tracing books provide personalized, guided practice in learning the shapes of letters. These tracing books motivate young learners by letting them trace letters in words that are naturally important to them-their own names.

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My favourite letters are

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Pom Pom Alphabet Book Print the book pages on cardstock paper and laminate. Bind the book together. Put velcro dots on the circles of each page and on pom poms. Children put a pom pom on the blank circles of the letter. This activity is great for fine motor skill development as well as letter identification. We do one page a time and then remove the pom poms before going on to a new page.

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- A long book with 4 flaps: students write 4 facts from the story on each of the flaps and illustrate them inside. - Label each flap: main characters, setting, problem, solution. - Illustrate each of these components. - Example: What my family does for fun

This is a fold-out, accordion-style photo book / folder. You can either use real photos or make your own comic book or use pictures from a magazine to make a funny story. This is a great craft to build imagination or to give as a gift to a loved one or friend.

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EASY DIRECTIONS FOR THIS ARTS AND CRAFTS ACTIVITY

You can have a wonderful time making up this picture folder, either with a friend or by yourself. Step 1

Paste 6 or 8 sheets of paper together, end to end, the long way. The picture above shows you how to do this. This will make a very long strip of paper. Step 2 Fold this, accordion fashion, leaving about 4 inches between each fold, so that you will have 12 to 16 spaces. To fold accordion style, you fold forward then backwards, forwards, then backwardssee the picture above. Step 3 Now choose whether you want to make this with family or friend photos to give to a loved one or friend as a gift or whether you want to make this a fun, fictional, made up comic book or story.

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- Set aside a place to store materials for making books. - Keep a file of photographs of children engaged in classroom activities and from special trips. Invite the families to send in photos as well. - Provide a place for children to store their special books. - Make a portfolio. - Keep a supply of simple, blank books on hand. At a moments notice, you can then create a book for a child based on an observation or need.
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- When making a book together with a child, keep your lesson in mind. - If theres something you want to teach or discuss first, avoid distractions by setting aside stickers, scissors, markers and other materials until you are ready to begin the actual book construction.

The desire to read is key to reading success. We must make children burn to read stories on their own. We need to fill their days with literature that they can relte to and that makes them want to pick up books again and again
Books specially designed for children to read will nurture that desire to read and keep children coming back as they gain knowledge of concepts about print, build word recognition skills, develop comprehension strategies, and experience the rewards as learners that lead to reading success.

LISTEN AND MIME A STORY:

- Aims: Language: to listen to a story and listen for specific words and phrases. Other: to use actions to illustrate a story. - Description: The children listen to a story, and do actions as they hear certain words. - Materials: A story. Preparation: 1. Choose a story and write a story skeleton for it. 2. Practice telling it, to a colleague if possible. 3. Select key words from the story and think of gestures to illustrate them. 4. Practice telling the story, making the gestures at the same time. In class: Before the story Tell the children that you are going to tell them a story, but that they need to learn some actions first. 2. Ask the children to stand up, in a circle if possible. Join them in the circle: start by teaching them two or three words and actions. Then repeat the words in a different order and get the children to do the actions (they don't need to say the words). 3. Teach a few more words and actions. Get the children to do the actions for the new words and old words mixed together. Continue adding a few more words and actions one at a time until you have presented and practised them all.

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Words for miming enormous elephant bored idea walk New York meet magic monkey What's the matter OK crazy crocodile tired sleep

ACTIONS Starting above your head, trace a big circle with your hands. Wave an arm in front of your nose like an elephant's trunk. Put your head in your hand with bored expression on your face. Point at your head with a sudden, pleased expression on your face. Walk a few steps on the spot. Put both hands above your head to make a skyscraper. Turn to someone beside you and shake hands Hold up your hands and shimmer them down like magic dust. Scratch your head with one hand and under one arm with another. Open your hands and shrug your shoulders in a questioning way. The usual gesture in your country for OK. The usual gesture in your country for crazy. Make snapping crocodile jaws with outstretched arms. Sag your body. Put your head on your two hands.

4) Story outline:

THE ENORMOUS ELEPHANT:

This is the story of Enormous Elephant, Magic Monkey, and Crazy Crocodile. One day Enormous Elephant was bored, very, very bored. Then he had an idea. 'I know,' he said, 'I'll go to New York.' So he started to walk, and he walked, and he walked, and he walked. On the way he met Magic Monkey. 'Hello, Magic Monkey,' he said. 'Hello,' said Magic Monkey. 'What's the matter?' said Enormous Elephant. 'I'm bored,' said Magic Monkey, 'very, very bored.' 'I've got an idea,' said Enormous Elephant, 'why don't you come to New York with me?' 'OK,' said Magic Monkey. So they started to walk, and they walked, and they walked, and they walked. On the way they met Crazy Crocodile. 'Hello, Crazy Crocodile,' they said. 'Hello,' said Crazy Crocodile. 'What's the matter?' said Enormous Elephant. 'I'm bored,' said Crazy Crocodile, 'very, very bored.' 'I've got an idea,' said Enormous Elephant, 'why don't you come to New York with us?' 'OK,' said Crazy Crocodile. So they started to walk, and they walked, and walked, and walked. And they walked, and they walked, and they walked. And they walked, and they walked, and they walked. 'Oh, I'm tired,' said Enormous Elephant. 'Oh, I'm tired,' said Magic Monkey. 'Oh, I'm tired,' said Crazy Crocodile. So they all went to sleep. Unknown author

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TASK 1: Suggest some activities to use with stories (for example: Give each student a
picture that depicts the events of the story and have them line up in order of the events).

TASK 2: Mention 3 Shared reading Strategies: -

TASK 3: What are EMERGENT READERS?

TASK 4: Make a lesson plan to use with an emergent reader:

______________________________________________________________________ TASK 5: Give 5 ideas for BOOKS CREATED FOR CHILDREN (for example: a simple book about an experience the child has had).

_____________________________________________________________________
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REFERENCES:
We are grateful for permission to reproduce material from:
Easy-to-make Books That target Specific Reading needs (Joan Novelli) Scholastic Learning through story (Val Emblem) Scholastic. Storytelling with children ( Andrew Wright).OXFORD The Storytelling Handbook for Primary teachers (Gail Ellis) Penguin Quick & creative Literature response activities (J Fowler) Scholastic. Teaching English to children (Wendy Scott) Longman. Developing resources for Primary (Amanda Cant & W. Superfine) Richmond Publishing. 25 terrific Literature Activities (Licciardo Muno) Scholastic. Story time ideas for Circle Time ( Jean Warren) Totline Pub. The enormous Turnip LINKS FOR EMERGENT READERS: www. mrsjonesroom.com www.readinga-z.com www.dltk-teach.com www.hubbardscupboard.org www.makinglearningfun.com www.mrsjonesroom.com www.jmeacham.com

Teachers should make a difference in the lives of children

Tell me and I forget... Teach me and I remember... Involve me and I learn ! Benjamin Franklin.

To teach is to touch a soul forever

ENJOY YOUR TEACHING! Grace B.

creativeteaching@gracebertolini.com.ar

www.gracebertolini.com.ar

TEK COURSE: Teaching English at Kindergarten, Preschool and Early Primary Grades Copyright 2011 By Graciela Bertolini www.gracebertolini.com.ar All rights reserved. No part of this course/ publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording, computer bulletin board (BBS), Internet, or by any information storage retrieval system, without written permission of the author. This legal protection not only applies to the name but also to the format and contents of this course. Any copying or similar course/ handbook, will be seen a breach of copyright and legal action will be sought. Please do not email TEK COURSE HANDBOOK to anyone else, as I do not want free copies being emailed all over the internet. I appreciate your integrity on this point. Thank you! Grace Bertolini.

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