For my second picture book review I chose The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone.
Publisher: Clarion (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company)
Copyright date: 1973
Pages: 40
Genre: Folk Tale
Grade Level: K-3
Summary: A Hen, Cat, Dog, and Mouse all live together in a cozy little house. The Hen finds some wheat and plants it, waters it, cuts it, grinds it and bakes a cake with it all by herself because no one will help her. Each time she goes to work she asks if anyone will help her, and every time the Cat, Dog, and Mouse, all refuse to help. In the end, the Hen reaps her benefits while the other three see the value of hard work and learn the consequences of laziness.
This book can be used in young grades to teach children the value of hard work. It can be read at the beginning of the year when you are teaching your class procedures and expectations. It is a good tool to help reinforce and teach the value of hard work to your students.
I gave this book a rating of 3***. My ratings can be read in the chart below.
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***
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**
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*
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-
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Comments
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Plot
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Plot is well developed with a sequence of events. The
events are in good logical order. There is a clear conflict and resolution.
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Plot contains a sequence of events. The events are in
order but the conflict is not clear or does not contain a clear resolution.
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There are events but they are not in good chronological
order. The climax and resolution are lacking or not present.
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Not addressed
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*** Plot is well developed with a sequence of events that
are in good logical order. There is a conflict and resolution.
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Characters
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Characters are well developed with clear roles and contribute to the
story. Reader is able to personally connect with the character(s).
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Characters have clear roles within the story. Reader is not able to
connect with the character(s).
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Character(s) are present but do not have clear roles. Reader is not able
to connect with character(s).
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No characters developed
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*** Characters are well developed and introduced in the beginning of the
story. Each character has a role in the story and contributes to the quality
of the story.
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Style and
Language
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Book contains precise vocabulary, figurative language,
and or dialogue. When dialogue is used it is effective and not distracting.
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Book contains precise vocabulary and/or figurative
language. When dialogue is used it is distracting.
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Book contains very little precise vocabulary and no
figurative language or dialogue.
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Book contains no precise vocabulary or figurative
language. No dialogue is used.
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*** This book makes good use of language and vocabulary.
Dialogue that is used reinforces the theme of the story and helps get the
point across.
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Theme
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There is a clear theme and it is easily identifiable by the story.
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There is a theme but it is a little more difficult to identify.
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The theme is almost impossible to identify.
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There is no theme.
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*** There is a clear theme, hard work, and it is easily identifiable by
the story.
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Your classroom use was really good! Teaching students life skills is very important and by interesting them with a book and then applying that is even better. Your explanations about how you rated things were really good!
ReplyDeleteThis book is a great way to teach about hard work! I think this book would be a great opener for a class discussion. Students could discuss and write about a time when they worked hard and it paid off!
ReplyDeleteThis book was actually used in my daughter’s kindergarten class last year. During the last few weeks of school they made this into a play and presented it to parents. Each student had a role, such as hen, mouse, dog or narrator. The student who was the narrator had the most reading, and the other three characters had smaller reading parts. It showcased each student and they all were able to read in front of their parents. It was a fun project, but a lot of work. I went in and helped practice. The narrator also was the ‘leader’ so when they were practicing they helped the lower level readers with words they forgot how to pronounce. They also kept the other group members on task. It was fun to watch. It was a great way to differentiate, as the narrator had to be able to read the entire story, where the characters only had small parts.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea about reading it at the beginning of the year to connect it to working hard at school. This would also be a great book for predicting as long as the kids don't already know the story line.
ReplyDelete