Teaching morals to my future students is something that is very important to me. Learning to tell the truth is one of those morals that I especially want to cover. Chippy says "I'm Sorry" by: Jane Carruth is a picture book and is a fantastic way to teach this subject!
It is only natural for children to try to cover up something they have done wrong by bending the truth. They think if they hide what they have done, it will keep them from getting into trouble. Chippy is a squirrel. He is super excited to find out that his friends are coming over to spend the day and play with him. Their plans of playing outside quickly changed as soon as it began to rain. Mommy comes to the rescue and pulls out old dress up clothes for the children. They have so much fun playing inside while waiting on the rain to pass. Later, they return outside to enjoy a picnic. In the meantime, mommy asks Chippy to run to the mailbox and mail a very important letter that must reach grandma by the following day. Chippy gets so busy playing that he forgets to mail the letter! Later that night as Chippy is getting ready for bed, mommy asks Chippy if he mailed the letter. Chippy says yes, which is not the truth. He begins to look everywhere for the letter but has no luck in finding it. The next morning, Chippy finally confesses to mommy after worrying all night long. Mommy scolded Chippy and insisted they find the letter. After searching the entire yard, they were successful in finding the letter, all wet and worn. The letter was to invite Grandma to a very special event. Luckily, a neighbor invited grandma and she was able to attend! The story ended happily and Chippy learned a lesson.
The pictures in this book are beautiful and are very relevant to a child's life. This book is fiction because squirrels that talk do not exist. Outrageous characters such as these may spark the interest in readers, especially younger ones.
A strategy that would be appropriate for this text is the sketch-to-stretch strategy. This allows students to draw what the story means to them. This is independent thinking and encourages students to think about situations that have occurred in their life, for instance not telling the truth. After the students draw their picture, they are allowed to verbally tell about their situation. This can be an informal assessment to see how well students comprehended the meaning of the story. Also, we all know students love to talk about themselves! I will use this strategy with this book in my future classroom!
