Eric Carle Unit

Our Eric Carle Unit is going very well. We are starting our second week. We had to take a week off to focus on Thanksgiving but we are back on track. Thus far, we have read excellent literature and focused on two main comprehension strategies.

Week One: Wonderings
Having children wonder while reading is vital to their comprehension as it it the basis for asking questions. Asking questions helps clarify and deepen understanding. Many times it encourages and enhances imagination as children will often put themselves in the story and wonder "What would it be like if I could climb to the moon?"
Our focus books for this unit were:

• Do You Want to Be My Friend?
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Week Two: Making Connections
There are three types of connections we teach children: Text to Self, Text to Text and Text to World. When you make a connection while reading, it basically means that what you're reading reminds you of something else. This is a big clue that you are making meaning or understanding the book. For example, in our book,Does A Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?, many of the students recollected times with their own mothers. We primarily focused on Text to Self connections where students shared out how parts of the stories reminded them of things in their own lives. Our focus books were:

• Does A Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?
• Pancakes, Pancakes!
• I Will Never, Not Ever, Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child (Not an Eric Carle book, but excellent story!)