Today we are reading My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza, a cute tale of a crafty piglet that goes visiting at Fox's house, creatively convincing Mr. Fox to bathe him, feed him, and even give him a massage. It's a story the kids have heard before, but today we are reading for details!
After reading the story, the kids have several questions on the board they will need to take time to answer. I am curious to see how they answer some of the questions, which rely partly on the readers' perception of the characters and their motives. They will have to discuss the basic "Story Elements" (charcters, setting, events, problem, and solution), but they will also need to answer some more difficult questions, like "Who is the 'bad' guy in the story?" Depending on how the reader interprets the events, the piglet could actually be the antagonist in this lively tale.
We have been discussing story elements and the different choices characters make a lot this year in reading. Recently we also started talking about what we would do different if we were one of the characters in a story and how that might alter the events in the story. This is particularly interesting when reading a Magic Tree House book where Asher and Savannah can easily relate to the main characters, Jack and Annie. Asher is remarkably like Jack, though even less prone to taking chances, and Savannah is a more cautious version of Annie. She says she would often do research about the places first.
At any rate, the kids are learning a lot from reading for details and every day I am seeing improvement.
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