Before school let out for summer holidays, way back in May, I visited a local elementary school to share my first picture book, Wild One, and to talk a bit about how a book gets published. If you haven’t read Wild One yet, it features an active little girl with a big imagination who likes to pretend to be all sorts of different animals. The book is structured like a bit of a guessing game, in which kids can guess which animal they think the little girl is pretending to be.
As I read the story, I wrote down each animal name on the whiteboard.
Cat
Bat
Puppy
Guppy
I asked the children what they noticed about the words I’d written up on the board. I read them aloud in order, and watched as brows furrowed, then lifted in surprise.
“They rhyme! The words rhyme!”
Rhyme is such a valuable literacy tool in part because it can aid in prediction, that is, rhyme can help children make predictions about what words will come next in a passage, and determine how those words should be pronounced.
We put our new discovery to good use as we read the rest of the book.
Wild one, heading home, crawling like a snail,
Wild one, supper time, gulping like a……
“Tiger!”
“Lion”
“Octopus!” (I had a group of very creative thinkers).
“Wait…ummm…whale! Whale rhymes with snail!”
The excitement on the children’s faces as they worked out each rhyming pair was infectious – a simple picture book reading had become an exciting game, and at the same time an introduction to rhyme-based poetry.
We finished up my author visit by trying to come up with as many rhymes as we could. I scribbled madly on the board and children eagerly called out words.
“Cat!”
“Bat!”
“Fat!”
“Hat”
“Mat!”
“Gat! Oh, wait, no…”
“Rat!”
“That!”
Finally we strung some of our rhyming words together to make very basic poems.
The cat and the bat curled up on the mat.
This is my rat. He has a new hat. It’s purple and red. It sits on his head.
I was so proud of my creative, engaged, budding poets! This, friends, is part of why I love working with kids – I always leave with a full heart and an inspired soul.
Have a great week, poetry friends!
What a fun author visit!
Look
book
Need
read
Game
name
Fun
done
Applause for your wild fun picture book & the way you guided the young readers to thinking about
words, reading, the girl’s game the story presents, & rhyme. And wishes for many more picture books!
So great. Can’t wait to see your book! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Oh, what fun! Not only do you have a smash hit book….you are teaching too. You are too cool. I love it. I’m so happy that you have fun at what you do and I can’t wait for the next book.
I love chatting with kids about writing and poetry – glad your visit was so productive!
It’s wonderful to hear about your rhyming time with those kids, Jane. You made it so exciting! Fine rhyme, fun time, kids feel like writers real!
This is so much fun. I loved reading about your process.
Run Wild One, Run
Your book sounds so much fun!
I love the sound of both book and visit. I bet those kids remember your book and visit for ever!
Thanks for letting us tag along on your author’s visit and for giving a peek into your picture book. Such fun!
Sounds like a great author visit. What clever little poems they came up with.
Congrats on your book Jane and this exciting workshop focusing on the benefits of rhyme–sounds like the kids were really engaged!
Congrats on this inspiring rhyming workshop for your book Jane, sounds like the kids were really engaged!
What a fun visit! Those lucky kids came away with so much!
It was so much fun, and so inspiring to work with such enthusiastic young poets. 🙂