Yum! ¡MmMm! ¡Qué Rico!
America's Sproutings
On Wednesday, October 22, I visited Kate Lindberg's 3rd-grade
class at Los Niños Elementary School. I read Yum! ¡MmMm!
¡Qué Rico!, and also took with me the 14 foods
from the book (blueberries, chiles, chocolate, corn, cranberries,
papaya, peanuts, pecans, pineapple, potatoes, prickly pear, pumpkin,
tomatoes, and vanilla) so the children could taste and see the
foods described. Before reading, I held up each food, or passed
the "taste-able" ones around, and asked the kids to
tell me what they were. Vanilla in the bean form was the hardest
to identify. They tried smelling it first and then guessing.
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Jordan
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I talked about the organization of the book, information
on one side, haiku on the other. I explained that I would read
the book and then we'd break up into three center groups: a book
review group, a drawing group, and a haiku group. I asked the
kids to think what group they would like to be in.
Blueberries are blue
Blueberries are like jelly.
Blueberries are sweet.
Alexis
Pumkins are dark orange.
All of the pumkins are round
I like pumkin pie!
Jasmine
We also briefly explained the structure of haiku
and we practiced counting out syllables with each of the children's
names. After reading the book and showing and talking about the
illustrations, I talked to the review group, Kate Lindberg worked
with the haiku group, and the drawing group was loosely supervised
by myself, Kate, and her classroom aide.
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Dalia's Pumpkin
Q. T.'s Pumpkin
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M.R.'s Pumpkin
Pumkins are dark orange.
All of the pumkins are round.
I like pumkin pie!
Jasmine
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There was a lot of discussion about pumpkins, probably the result
of this reading taking place the day before Halloween.
I asked the review group first what they noticed about the book,
and then what they liked about the book. Finally, I asked what
they would like to tell other children about the book. We had
a nice lively discussion, but it finished pretty quickly when
those group members moved on to one of the other centers.
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A Sweet and Juicy Tomato by Aaron
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Who likes tomatoes?
Tomatoes are red and sweet.
Tomatoes are good.
Sandy
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I then helped a bit with the haiku group, counting out syllables
and asking questions as ways to help them write haiku: "What
do you know about blueberries?" "What do you like about
pumpkins?"
Ms. Lindberg has erasable boards that they practice on. Once
they were pleased with their work, they transferred the haikus
to paper.
Chiles are fiery
Fiery hot as the sun.
Hotter than the stove.
Joshua
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I tried to think what would be fun for the class and what would
be helpful to Ms. Lindberg in her work. (She's just beginning
a unit on similes, and I think some of the haiku, comparing a
pumpkin to the moon, or chiles to the sun, for example,
will be helpful in that unit.)
It was a successful project. One of the children gave me a ribbon
"for being a good teacher!" I got hugs, and they asked
if I was coming back tomorrow. ¡Qué bueno!
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