Author studies are an important part of the reading process. They help to expose students to great authors that students may not know about. Author studies encourage high level thinking skills. Sharing an author study in class creates memories because students share common experiences.
This week, first and second grade studied Bernard Waber together. We read many of his books and shared related activities to help us better understand why Bernard Waber made some of the literature choices he did. Everyone enjoyed it, including the teachers!
Early in the week, we visited second grade to listen to Mrs. Collins read us Ira Sleeps Over and Ira Says Goodbye. Both books show the main character, Ira going through common childhood experiences and feelings. We discussed text to self and text to text connections with his stories. Students could relate to the feelings that Ira and his friend Reggie experienced in both stories.
On Wednesday, we read Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile with second grade and then read The House on East 88th Street in our own classroom. We discussed the characters, illustrations and plot. At the end of our morning on Wednesday, Mrs. Collins and Ms. Ursino shared an exciting announcement, telling the students that we were going on a field trip! Click here to watch their reaction to the surprise!
We saved the best for last… and we attended the movie, Lyle, Lyle the Crocodile at the movie theater! The students loved seeing the familiar characters, noticing how the plot changed compared to the books and the general experience of having a movie theatre all to ourselves, including popcorn and drinks! When we returned to school, students created venn diagrams with their classmates to compare and contrast the book with the movie.
Such a neat learning experience and it was so much fun to share it with our friends in second grade!
