book talk power

We have been making connections as readers and writers. The children have been retelling the beginning, middle, and end of the stories they are reading and using first, next, then, and finally when telling true stories. They have been talking about how characters feel during community read alouds and showing character feelings in their true stories.

We have book talk power!

1. We can retell what happened first, next, then, finally.

Celeste read The Old Truck, a story of persistence. She invited the Kindergarteners to share how the farmer and the truck were feeling in the beginning, the middle, and the end. Then they used pictures to help retell what happened in the story. 

2. We can use book talk power to talk about and show character feelings!

We connected back to Celeste's read aloud, The Old Truck, to practice talking about how characters are feeling and how we know that (using evidence from the text such as pictures and words!)

The readers then used a sticky note to show character feelings from one of their books.

3. We can use book talk power to talk about and describe characters!

We read the true story of Janet Collins, the first African American prima ballerina. We talked about the challenges- and pain- in Janet's story, as many dance schools were segregated during her childhood. With the support of her family and friends, Janet bravely kept dancing, her talents captivating every audience. Her story is a story of strength and persistence. We revisited the words brave and persistent. We talked about how Janet was feeling throughout her story, noticing how her feelings changed, and noticing how she continued to be brave. 

We also made connections to the little girl in the Old Truck. The little girl was persistent when fixing up the old truck on her family's farm. The little girl worked hard, too.

All of our stories are important and powerful. 

As teachers, we try to share stories that we can learn from or connect with. Some of the stories we share are picture books with every day diversity, where our focus is on the story and not on race or history, and some stories we share are stories of achievement, like in Brave Ballerina.

Many of the children shared that Janet Collins was brave and some children used other words to describe her; powerful, confident, persistent. 

Putting it all together;

We can use book talk power to introduce a book to a friend, read the book, then retell what happened.

When we introduce we say the title and what happens in the beginning and the middle, but we don't give away the ending! Book introductions are fun ways to invite a partner or audience in, to let them know what to expect. We practiced saying things like, "Something really funny happens at the end, let's read to find out!"

When we retell we say the title, use the pattern, and tell what happened at the end. 

Your child will be introducing, reading, and retelling a book to you during their conference this week, using the same visual that they have been using with their reading partner.