“Mud, Necklaces, Babies, and Seeds” Week 12 First Grade

Mud Walk (Fiction, Levels A-J, Stage 2) by Joy Cowley

Make a Necklace (Non-fiction, Level F) by Cathy French

Along Comes Jake (Fiction, Level F) by Joy Cowley

The Seed (Fiction, Level F) by Joy Cowley

This week’s kit was full of fun learning! Mrs. Wishy Washy is back again in Mud Walk, and, as usual, she makes learning so much fun! Make a Necklace teaches pattern making and naming, and also gives a few great ideas for art projects. Along Comes Jake is a funny book about a family with a baby named Jake. And The Seed helps first graders learn all about growing plants.

The activity I want to highlight this week is the Shared Reading guide for Mud Walk. The Guided Reading Lesson for this book outlines very specific steps to take. First, I read the book aloud to Malachi in several different ways and we discussed the pictures on the front cover. I named the author and illustrator and we discussed their roles. Then, as the plan outlines, I had Malachi make a prediction based on the title and front cover. As guided by the lesson plan, I built necessary background for story words and concepts that I thought Malachi may not already know. The lesson plan for Mud Walk includes all steps to use on each day with the “Shared Reading” format. Malachi and I enjoy working together with each step of this fun book. I found the repetition of the book daily builds confidence and competence in reading and recognizing important print elements. After reading this latest book featuring Mrs. Wishy Washy, all I can say is I sure hope she isn’t going anywhere! Even I can’t wait to see what she will do (or clean) next!

For more information about the AlphaSkills Read with Sarah curriculum and our family, see the AlphaSkills Blog Introduction.