Lesson Plan

• Show children a variety of familiar and favorite books and ask them to tell you something about them. Find out what they like or don’t like about the books. Then read part of “Writing About Books.” (Save the information about retellings and dramatic readings for another time.) Explain that one way to let others know about books is to write about them.
• Try writing a group poem about one of the books you have been discussing. Use "Book Poem" for this activity. You might try a couplet or a triplet. (See page 68 in the handbook for these poetry models.)

Classroom Applications

Small Group

• Give students opportunities for dramatic readings from books they can read independently. Give them time to find favorite parts and to practice reading aloud. (Help them find parts that stand on their own, or that make sense out of context.) Then bring them together in groups of four to six children. Have each child name the title, author, and possibly the illustrator of the book, and then read the favorite part. Ask them to begin or end each reading by telling why they liked that part.

Poster Pairs

• Pairs of children who have read the same book can make a poster together. Have them use the model in this chapter to get an idea of the components—author, title, illustration, and one or more sentences telling about the book.

Individual

• Oral retellings show what children know about a book, and they also inform others. Try setting aside periodic times for giving and hearing retellings. Use “Retelling My Book” as a plan for this activity.
• Use "Writing About Books" on pages 78-79 of the Write One SkillsBook to support students as they work individually to write a response to a book.