One of my favorite things to do over the summer is find new books to use with my class. Deanna Jump is hosting a weekly book talk which would be a GREAT way to find some new books to try out with your class.
Here is one of my favorites:
Dirt on My Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy
First I have students lay on the carpet with their eyes closed and tell them that I will read them a poem and they should try to get a good picture in their minds of the person. Then, I read the entire poem once.
After that I give students a blank sheet of paper and tell them to listen to the poem again and draw what they see. I remind them to pay close attention to all the descriptive language they hear and try to include all of it in their picture. I then read the poem very slowly, one part at a time to students to give them time to add to their drawings. While students are drawing I make sure that they cannot see each others work. The results are hilarious!
I usually post them with a copy of the poem and the illustration for the book. The kids get a kick out of how different everyone’s visualization is. We then discuss similarities in our pictures, and why we think they are they they same. (Author gave a great description) We also discuss the differences, and why we think they are different (Author left some things up to the imagination).
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