If you’ve read my blog in the past, I’m sure you’re familiar with
my approach to reviewing books. I share them with my students and enlist their
help with the review. I happened to choose the perfect day to introduce THE
PATIENCE SONG to my students.
I walked into a Transitional Kindergarten classroom to pick up a
child for speech and she was nowhere to be seen. I looked through the crowd of
children gathered around their teacher for circle time – no luck. Her teacher
said, “Anna* is having a bad morning.”
We found her crouching behind a table at the back of the room. It
seems she had her own ideas about the morning activities and she wasn’t about
to give them up to follow the teacher’s directions! I was doubtful I’d be able
to coax her out of hiding but she came with me and the other students,
reluctantly.
When we got to my classroom, I pulled out THE PATIENCE SONG. Three
eager faces, and one reluctant one, stared at the colorful illustrations and
listened closely as I read the book. I appreciated reading a story with an
African-American family; many of my students could relate to the characters. My
speech group especially loved the song in the story and by the end of the
book, they were singing along,
Patient, patient, you have to be real
patient,
When you’re waiting for your turn to ride,
You have to be real patient.
The middle line changes with each trying situation the main
character, Isabel, faces. At the end of the book, there is a nice turn-around
my student’s loved. Isabel gets to sing the Patience Song to her parents when
they lose theirs.
I didn’t need to ask the kids what they thought of the story,
their faces told me much, and after closing the book, Anna said “Again! Again!”
As I walked my students back to class, all four were singing the
patience song and when we got close to *Tina’s classroom, she broke a school
rule and started to run to her door. Anna called out, “Patience, Tina!”
I think Anna got the message of this lovely book, and she returned
to her classroom with, (what looked like) a very patient smile.
*Names are changed for privacy.
