Saturday, September 27, 2008

Fortunately

Today I want to share a book with you that I learned about when I was in the Teaching Credential Program.  In this program, I had a professor who, like me, had a children's book fetish. This professor introduced me to lots of excellent books that, of course, I just had to have.  You could say that said professor enabled me to further rationalize my buying of children's books when a) I didn't have any kids yet, and b) I was planning on teaching middle school.


Here's a little peek at my bulging children's book collection.



I'm the first to admit that I have a problem.  However, we're not here to talk about that today, are we?  I want to tell you about this book, Fortunately by Remy Charlip.

Here's a little peek at what the book is like:

Fortunately
one day, Ned got a letter that said,
"Please Come to a Surprise Party."

But unfortunately
the party was in Florida
and he was in New York.

Fortunately
a friend loaned him an airplane.

Unfortunately
the motor exploded.

Fortunately
there was a parachute in the airplane.

Unfortunately
there was a hole in the parachute.

Fortunately
there was a haystack on the ground.

Unfortunately
there was a pitchfork in the haystack.

Fortunately
he missed the pitchfork.

Unfortunately
he missed the haystack.

Now that I've plagiarized half the book, I'm sure you get the idea.  

This is the kind of book that children can really get involved in, trying to anticipate what will happen next.  It also allows them to stretch their imaginations by coming up with more fortunately/unfortunately possibilities.

My favorite lesson to do with this book is for elementary age students.  You simply tell them that they're going to write and publish their own Fortunately book.  It's a model that's relatively easy for children to follow, while allowing endless variations.

It's fun for them to tell a story with the fortunately/unfortunately viewpoint each step along the way.  They can base their book on a story in their life that actually happened, with embellishments, of course.  Or, they could come up with an entirely fictional story only limited by their imaginations.  It's a fun activity to do with kids that results in an enjoying read for adults.

Another nifty idea that I love, I got off of the Barnes & Noble website.  It's to have kids use this model when writing book reports.  This would take some of the tedium out of the whole book report process, don't you think?  

4 comments:

  1. What a great book and a great idea. I'll have to tuck it away for some day when I may teach??

    ReplyDelete
  2. My name is Marissa - I live in Peru and I found your blog from the Tip Junkie blog - I check in everyday because you make me smile and often laugh outloud! (my husband gives me funny looks when this happens! :)) Thank you for sharing your great ideas and fun perspective.
    I too love books, and will definitely be looking to purchase this fun one. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you, Marissa, for the compliment. I'm so glad that you are enjoying my blog, it makes me feel good to know that people are enjoying it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your bookcase is making me drool! I too have a 'little' book addiction. You can see it here http://chelseakane.blogspot.com/2006/07/my-home-library.html

    Have you considered listing your books on LibraryThing or Goodreads? I would be SO interested!

    ReplyDelete