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!
I totally agree with you on teaching morals in the classroom. It doesn't always have to be in a boring and straight forward way but can be introduced through literature. This book would be a cute and fun way to teach it! You made this book sound like a good book to read and have in my classroom. Your strategy is great to use with this book because the students are able to relate to the characters with their real life experiences. I also like the informal assessment part. Not many kids like the standard pencil and paper assessment!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like a really great book. I would definitely use this book in my future classroom because it is very important to teach our students about morals and responsibility. This book would be great also because it puts it in a child's point of view and they are more open to listen to the story because it is coming from an animal that talks. I love the sketch to stretch activity because the students can put a situation into a drawing and explain it in their own words. Thanks for sharing this book!
ReplyDeleteThis book has sparked my interest. I am all about teaching morals and how it impacts a childs life as well. There are so many children who can relate to Chippy. I feel as though the sketch to stretch strategy is a great way to have the students reflect and give real life examples. This fiction book is a great addition to my reading library.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an adorable fiction book. I agree that morals need to be taught and reinforced as often as possible. I think that just telling the students that they need to be honest and tell the truth would not have the same impact as giving them something or someone like Chippy that they can relate to. I think this book would be a great way to incorporate morals into a lesson. I like the strategy you selected to go with this book because it will make the students connect their own personal experiences with Chippy's experience giving them a better understanding of the concept.
ReplyDelete