This month, we are investigating holidays around the world. One of the common themes for several of the holidays (Christmas, Diwali, Hannukah, Kwanzaa) is the importance of light. We will compare how light is used and why it is significant in many holiday celebrations.
As a group, we have started to look at the idea of problems and solutions in stories. We used a simple framework (called the Somebody-Wanted-But-So model) and applied it to several holiday stories we read as a class. In the story "Trouble with Trolls" by Jan Brett, we used the model for each of the important characters in the story. For instance, the children looked at how the trolls (somebody) wanted to steal a little girl's dog, but she loved her dog. So, she had to use her quick thinking skills to trick the trolls. It's a simple model, but it really helps the children focus on the important parts of the plot. They also have to take a lot of information and "boil" the information down to its most important components. These are all important comprehension tasks for young readers.
