Happy New Year! Can you believe it’s 2019?
Not long ago, a blizzard swept through Chicago, and in the morning, our front and back yards were inches deep in perfect, pristine snow that was just begging us to play with it! And so, after battling with the two-year-old’s gloves and snowsuit for a solid ten minutes, out we stomped into the cold to build a snowman.
As we were building, our neighbors showed up. We threw a few snowballs, and then they helped us to build a second snowman to keep our first company. That’s when I knew that we needed to share this book with them…
In Tammi Sauer’s Making a Friend, Beaver is frustrated by his failed attempts to make a friend and decides to make one out of snow. Raccoon comes along and offers to help, but Beaver and Raccoon soon realize their snow-friend isn’t very friendly at all. As it turns out though, Beaver and Raccoon don’t really need him anymore.Now they have each other!
This book is cute, clever, and just a little bit punny (I’m also amused that the illustrator’s last name happens to be “Friend”. Fitting, right?). There is a lot of room for discussion about how friends are made and what makes a good friend. So, before winter gets away from us, here’s how to put it to good use.
Use It in the Classroom
(RL.K.3, RL.1.2, RL.1.3, RL.4.2)
- Retell the story. Use words and phrases like: at the beginning, first, next, then, finally, at the end. For young children, make copies of “key” scenes from the story and have them arrange the pictures in chronological order first. Then, have children use the pictures as a guide to retell the story verbally from start to finish. Older children can retell the story verbally, draw their own pictures, and write sentences to retell the story.
- Summarize the story. One of my favorite tools for summarizing is“Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then.” There are loads of teacher-created resources out there that you can use! (Here are two that are free! SWBST Organizer 1, SWBST Organizer 2) Here are some grade-specific ideas for younger students and older students that you can try out in your classroom:
- K-1: Before class, make a large graphic organizer with the Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then questions. During class, read the story aloud to students. Then, answer the following questions as a whole class: “Who was the main character? What did the main character want? What was the problem? What did the main character try to do to fix/solve the problem?Then what happened?” As you go through the questions, draw a quick picture and/or write a short sentence to remind your class of the answers they gave (*In-class Timesaver: Copy, laminate, and cut out pictures from the story in advance to stick onto your chart.). Finally, have students summarize the story with a partner using the SWBST format.
- 4: Model using a SWBST graphic organizer using another book of your choice (See above). Next, read Making a Friend aloud to students. After reading, give each student his or her own copy of a SWBST organizer.
Use It at Home
- Build a snowman! Obviously. What else would you do after reading this book?! Even better…invite someone you don’t know very well to build one with you and then share some hot chocolate.
- Appreciate your friends. Write a note to a friend and tell them what you like about them, what you like to do with them, and what makes them a good friend.
- Talk about friendship! Use the conversation starters below to get started and get to know your kids better.
- What is a friend?
- How do people become friends?
- What is wrong with the ways Beaver tries to make a friend at the beginning of the book? What could he do differently?
- What makes someone a good friend?
- Who is one of your friends? How did you become friends? What kinds of things do you like to do together?
Your turn! If a child asked you the following questions, what would you say? “What is a friend? What makes a good friend? How do people become friends?”
P.S. Celebrate life!