The Tiger Returns!

One of our speech therapists has been out due to a serious illness and I’ve been filling in for her. It‘s extra work I hadn’t anticipated but I’ve discovered a bright side.  I’m seeing some of my old students whom I haven’t seen for almost five years!  I posted about one of them back in 2011 and when I reminded him of the tiger in the speech room, his smile transformed into the one I remembered. Since my time is rather limited right now, I thought I’d share the old post with you.

The Tiger's Stripes

Late one afternoon I gathered paper and fabric scraps for a collage project I’d planned for the following day. Slivers of paper fell to the floor and I scrambled to clean up my mess. The next morning, one of my speech students found two long scraps I’d missed – one sliver of orange felt and a slip of black construction paper. His eyes went wide. He held them close to my face and whispered, “Did you have a tiger in your room?” The other children looked confused for a moment then their faces lit up as they saw the tiger in their imagination, the one that had lost his stripes. Their thoughts took off faster than the animal they’d imagined tearing around the room leaving two stripes behind. They all spoke at once and started scouring the room for the jaguar’s spots, after-all something must have been chasing the tiger. Their story grew with their excitement and so did the opportunity for learning.

Many of the content standards for education can be taught through stories, both those read to children and those they create themselves. When they learn to write or dictate their tales they’re learning correct sentence structures and grammatical forms. It was easy to remind the students that the tiger hadn’t “runned” through the room but he “ran”. And when students begin to create their own stories, they listen more closely to the structure of others and they begin to understand central ideas.

I didn’t throw out my lesson plans the day we found the tiger’s stripes but I was certainly able to expand on them. And the next time I find a couple slivers of paper on the floor, I doubt I’ll sweep them away without a thought. I hope I’ll think of the tiger that lost them.

Get Caught Reading!

May is Get Caught Reading Month. This nationwide campaign is supported by hundreds of teachers, librarians and celebrities across the country (including, Olivia the Pig.) If you need inspiration or instructions on how to participate, there is a picture-book which offers some excellent guidance! 

In How to Read A Story, by Kate Messner, illustrated by Mark Siegel, the process is broken down into ten steps from choosing a book to saying, “The End.” My students’ favorite step, by far, was number 6,

“When the characters talk,

whatever’s being said . . . 

say it in a voice to match who’s talking.”

They were very willing to take on the voice of the Lion, “I will save the kingdom,” and were especially fond of growling out the voice of the dragon, “Soon the castle will be mine!”

The illustrations pulled them into the story within the story and they had a fit of giggles when they saw the princess-robot-horse sandwich with the dragon about to . . . I’ll stop there but really, you should check it out.

Kids in Marcia Douglas’ class certainly understand Step 3, “Find a Cozy Reading Spot.”

Pajama Day!

I hope you all follow Step 1 to “Find a Story. A good one,” and get caught reading in your classrooms, homes, back yards or wherever your favorite cozy reading spot may be.  Happy Reading!