Oonga Boonga Read Aloud

Oonga Boonga Read Aloud
Standards
Addressed:
MA. 1, 2, 3, 10,
RL
Week 1
Enduring Understanding:
A family is a group of people that care for and support each other.
Essential Questions:
• What does it mean to be a member of a family?
• How do families care for each other?
Materials:
• Oonga Boonga,
• Mayer-Johnson picture icons/ picture icon boards with pictures
from Oonga Boonga
• vocabulary picture cards
• harmonica
• audio sample of a harmonica
• audio sample of Mozart
• audio sample of rock and roll (“Twist and Shout” by the Beatles
might be a good example)
Vocabulary:
• brother
• faded
• family
• gently
• harmonica
• jig
• lullaby
• scampered
• sobs
• tears
• unison
• wails
• whispered
Preparation:
Gather materials and place them at the classroom whole-group meeting area.
First Read
Children will:
• listen to a story read aloud
• demonstrate increasing levels of sustained and focused engagement
• show a steady increase in the number of words in listening vocabulary
• develop understanding of main events
“The title of our book is Oonga Boonga. The author is
Frieda Wishinsky. She is the person who wrote the words
in the story. Carol Thompson is the illustrator. She is the
person who made the pictures.”
“This story is about a baby named Louise who lives with
her family. She starts to cry and the people in her family try
many different things to help her stop crying.”
Show the book. Point to the title. Point to Frieda
Wishinsky’s name on the front cover of the book.
Point to Carol Thompson’s name.
Open the book and show a picture of Louise.
“Tears are the little drops of water that come out of a
person’s eyes when she is feeling sad.”
Begin reading the book.
“Louise is crying so much the author says that it’s almost
like she has enough tears to make a river, which is a an
awful lot of water like we can see in the picture.”
Point to the tears and the blue river on page 5.
Point to Louise’s tears on page 3.
“Louise’s father is being very gentle. He is patting her back
very softly and very carefully. But Louise is still crying.
She is wailing, which means she is crying very loudly. The
author says Louise’s wails were loud enough to shake the
pictures off the walls!”
“A harmonica is musical instrument that you play by
blowing into it with your mouth.”
“A jig is a kind of a lively dance that is quick and full of
energy.”
Point to the father and Louise on page 6, and the
illustrations of pictures on page 7.
Point to Grandpa’s harmonica on page 10. If
you have a real harmonica, play a quick note so
children can hear what it sounds like. If you have
an audio sample of a harmonica, play it for the
children
Point to Grandpa’s dancing feet on page 10.
“Mozart was a man who lived a long time ago and wrote
many very famous songs.”
If you have an audio sample of Mozart, play it for
the children when you read p. 12
“Rock and Roll is loud music with electric guitars and
drums.”
If you have an audio sample of rock and roll, play
it for the children when you read p. 12
“Unison means when everybody says something at the
exact same time. Louise’s whole family said ‘Oonga
Boonga’ in unison, all at the same time. Let’s try that
As you say “Oonga Boonga” on p. 14, change
together. On the count of three, let’s say ‘Oonga Boonga’ in your voice so that you sound as if you are talking
unison, just like baby Louise’s family.”
to a baby.
“Faded is a word that means something goes away little by
little, bit by bit.”
“Whisper means talking in a very quiet voice.”
Point to Louise’s family on p. 17.
Point to p. 19.
Speak in a quiet whispering voice to model what
‘whisper’ means. Point to the illustration on p.
24.
Discussion Questions (choose one or two; do not use all):
• Where did the words in the title of the book come from?
• Daniel always seemed to be able to get baby Louise to stop crying. She always stopped crying when Daniel
was around. Why do you think Louise stopped crying when her brother Daniel was nearby?
• Are there any songs or kinds of music that help you feel quiet, calm, and relaxed?
• Have you ever tried to comfort a crying baby? What did you do? Did it work?
Second Read
Children will:
• recall some main events when asked
• link characters’ basic emotions to their actions
• use their own experiences to understand characters’ feelings and motivations
• express the main idea of a story or other text in a way that shows increasing understanding
“We read this book one time before. The title of this book
is Oonga Boonga. Today we’re going to look back and see
what we remember about the story.”
“What is happening on these pages?”
Point to the title on the front cover of the book.
Point to the illustrations on pp. 2-3.
“Who is trying to get baby Louise to stop crying? What
Show children the illustrations on pp. 4-5.
did she do to get baby Louise to stop crying? Can you
Point to illustration on p. 6.
remember who tries to help baby Louise stop crying next?”
Pause for a moment to let children respond.
“That’s right, Louise’s father tried next to get her to stop
crying. He rocked her back and forth slowly and carefullygently- and did it work? Did Louise stop crying?
No, it didn’t work did t? Louise began wailing enough to
shake the pictures off the walls. Remember, to wail means Point to illustrations on pp. 8-9. Pause to let
to cry very loudly. Who tried to help Louise next?”
children respond.
“Yes, Grandma tried next. What did she try to help Louise?
Yes, Grandma tried to give Louise her bottle. But Louise
Point to illustrations on pp. 10-11 and pause to
didn’t want her bottle. She began to…what did Louise
let children respond.
begin to do? That’s right, she began to sob. Remember,
sobbing means crying very sadly. Who tried to help baby
Louise after Grandma?”
“It was Grandpa! What did he do to try and calm Louise?
Right, he played the harmonica, and he did a silly dance
called a jig. Did this help calm Louise down? No, it didn’t.
What happened next?
Point to pp. 12-13.
“Yes,the neighbors tried to help, with Mozart and rock and
roll. Were they successful? Did their ideas work?”
“Finally someone came home from school. Who was that?” Point to p. 14 and pause to let children respond.
“Did Louise stop crying the first time Daniel said ‘Oonga
Boonga’”?
Point to p. 15 and pause to let children respond.
“Remember, Daniel had to say ‘Oonga Boonga’ three times
before Louise stopped crying.”
“Daniel told his mother and father and Grandma and
Grandpa what he said to baby Louise, and they all said
‘Oonga Boonga’ to her in unison, or, all at the same time.”
“After a few minutes Daniel left. What did Louise do when
that happened? That’s right, she cried again.”
Point to p. 17.
Point to pp. 18-19 and pause to let children
respond.
“What did the grownups do to get her to stop? That’s right,
they tried to say ‘Oonga Boonga’, but it didn’t work; baby
Louise was still crying.”
Point to pp. 20-21 and pause to let children
respond.
“After a few minutes, who came back?”
Point to p. 22 and pause to let children
respond.
“Does Daniel say ‘Oonga Boonga’ this time? This time he says,
‘Bunka Wunka’, and Louise likes that, and quiets down.”
Pause to let children respond.
Discussion Questions:
• Was it the words that Daniel said that were important, or was it simply that Louise liked being with her big
brother that helped her to stop crying?
• What if Daniel had said something different besides “Oonga Boonga”? What if he had said “Lapta Klapta”
instead? Do you think baby Louise would still have stopped crying?
Third Read
Children will:
• chime in and read the story with the teacher
• practice saying and using story-related vocabulary words
• recall main events and characters in the story
As you read Oonga Boonga, slow down in some places to invite children to chime in. If children have difficulty
recalling, scaffold by saying the first sound of a word or the first word in a phrase.
Discussion Questions:
• Everybody tried to get baby Louise to stop crying. Why didn’t they just let her cry? Why did they try to get
her to stop?
• Are there any other reasons why people might try to get a baby to stop crying? (hunger, pain, fear,
boredom, missing someone)
• Why do you think baby Louise was crying?
Fourth Read
Children will:
• act out one or more scenes from the story
• explore character motivations and emotions
• recall main events from the story
With the children, choose one scene from Oonga Boonga to act out. Assign roles to students, or use a
structure to ask for children to volunteer to act out the scene. As you read the corresponding pages from the
story, children act out the scenes and recite any dialogue.
Discussion Question:
If you had been baby Louise’s big brother or big sister, what would you have tried to get her to stop crying?
Can you think of something new to try?
gentle
faded
harmonica
tears
whisper
Peter’s Chair Read Aloud
Standards
Addressed:
MA. 1, 2, 3, 10,
RL
Week 1
Enduring Understandings:
• A family is a group of people that care for and support each other.
• Conflict happens in families and members work together to resolve them.
Essential Questions:
• What does it mean to be a member of a family?
• How do families care for each other?
Materials:
• Peter’s Chair
• vocabulary picture cards
Vocabulary:
• cradle
• crib
• crocodile
• rascal
• signs
• stretched
• surprised
• accident
• change of heart
• high chair
• suggestion
• tiptoes
Preparation:
Gather materials and place them at the classroom whole-group meeting area.
First Read
Children will:
• listen to a story read aloud
• demonstrate increasing levels of sustained and focused engagement
• show a steady increase in the number of words in listening vocabulary
• develop understanding of main events
“The name or title of this book is Peter’s Chair. The author,
or person who wrote the story is Ezra Jack Keats. He is also
the illustrator, the person who drew the pictures.”
“This is Peter. What is he looking at? Let’s find out what
happens in the story of Peter’s Chair.”
Point to the title and author, Underline each with
your finger.
“Peter stretched as high as he could. He had to stand on
his tiptoes and reach as high he could reach to finish his
building.”
Animate the action of stretching.
“Oh, Peter has a new brother or sister.”
On the page where Peter’s mother tells him to be
quiet, read the words in a whisper.
“A cradle is a small bed born for a newborn. “
“Oh, dear, first his cradle, and now his high chair. Peter
looks quite unhappy.”
Point to and outline the illustration of the cradle.
On the page where Peter whispers, ‘It’s my high
chair’ convey Peter’s sadness by reading the
words slowly.
“First, his cradle, then his high chair, and now his crib. They
haven’t painted his little blue chair. I wonder what Peter is
going to do next?”
Point to Peter taking the chair into his room.
“I wonder what he’s going to do in his room.”
“Peter must be very upset about all of his baby things if
he’s thinking of running away from home. Let’s see what
happens.”
Point to Peter getting a hug from Willie.
“Oh, Peter’s too big for his chair. This must be a chair that
he had when he was a lot younger, perhaps when he was a
baby.”
“They didn’t answer Peter’s mother. They pretended they
didn’t hear her. Peter has an idea. Hmm, I wonder what it
is.”
“A rascal is someone who likes to play tricks on someone.
Peter’s mother called him a rascal.”
“Did you hear what Peter said to his father? I’m a little
surprised by that, are you? I thought he didn’t want his
sister, Susie, to have any of his baby furniture.”
Point to the picture of Peter trying to fit in the
little blue chair.
Point to the window as you read the first
sentence on this page (20). Point to the crocodile,
the bag, and Peter’s shoes as you read.
Close the read.
Discussion Questions:
• What did Peter decide to do with his chair? How did you know that ? Or what told you that in story?
• The ending was a little bit of a surprise for me, because for awhile, Peter was unhappy about his baby sister
getting all of his furniture. Was the ending a surprise for you, too?
• Why do you think Peter changed his mind?
Second Read
Children will:
• recall some main events when asked
• link characters’ basic emotions to their actions
• use their own experiences to understand characters’ feelings and motivations
• express the main idea of a story or other text in a way that shows increasing understanding
Reconstruct the story with the children by asking,
“What did (Peter/his mother/his father) do next?”
Explain story events as necessary, including what
Peter packed a bag with cookies and dog biscuits
and why he didn’t answer his mother when she
spoke to him.
Discussion Question:
Have you ever had a change of heart about something?
Third Read
Children will:
• chime in and read the story with the teacher
• practice saying and using story-related vocabulary words
• recall main events and characters in the story
As you read Peter’s Chair, slow down in some places to invite children to chime in. If children have difficulty
recalling, scaffold by saying the first sound of a word or the first word in a phrase.
Discussion Question:
Why was Peter upset at the beginning of the story?
Fourth Read
Children will:
• act out one or more scenes from the story
• explore character motivations and emotions
• recall main events from the story
With the children, choose one scene from Peter’s Chair to act out. Assign roles to children, or use a structure to
ask for children to volunteer to act out the scene. As you read the corresponding pages from the story, children
will act out the scene and recite any dialogue.
Discussion Question:
What did Peter’s mother or father say that helped Peter have a change of heart about the baby furniture?
cradle crib surprised accident crocodile highchair stretched tiptoes