Vaccaro Seeger, L. (2007). First the Egg. New York, NY: Roaring Book Press.
Brief Annotation: With simple words and vibrant “peekaboo” pictures, children explore the origins of many things. The text introduces the origin first, then showins what it becomes. An egg becomes a chicken, a seed becomes a flower, then a word becomes a story, and paint becomes a picture. At the very end, the story comes full circle as the chicken becomes the origin of the egg!
Genre: Non-Fiction
Grade Level: Pre-K-K
Readers who will like this: Young readers who like animals, simple concept stories, readers who like simple but boldly-colored illustrations, and short texts.
Response/Rating (1-4): 4. The illustrations are eye-catching while the text is simple and straight-forward. Readers will be intrigued and delighted with the suspense of what is coming next.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: What does a chicken come from? What does a seed make?
Reading Strategy Connection: Interactive Read Alouds (Tompkins, 2009). In this reading strategy, the teacher reads through a book ahead of time to prepare for how she or he will introduce the book, and plans pauses to ask the students questions or introduce vocabulary. The book will then be introduced to students by asking questions or checking background knowledge, and then the teacher will read the book, pausing to ask the questions or introduce new vocabulary to students. After the reading, the teacher can have the students participate in a response activity that would complement this book.
This reading strategy fits well with this book because the teacher can pause to let students guess what the caterpillar will become, or tadpole will grow into. It is also a good time to introduce vocabulary words that may be new to young children such as cocoon and tadpole.
You're smart to see the potential to practice prediction with this book--it's a great choice, and any time you can use high-quality nonfiction to teach a skill/strategy/concept, all the better.
ReplyDeleteWere you surprised to know that this book is classified as nonfiction? Can you think of ways this book could serve as a model for other writing projects with young kids. Something like, "First the friend, then . . . " or "First the practice, then . . . " To me, this book is ready made to link reading and writing.