Unit of Study / Emergent Storybook Reading
Characters: Who and What They Do Across Text
Parent Information / During the past two months in the classroom, your child has been engaged in reading familiar books over and over, learning different ways of thinking and talking about reading, and growing as an independent reader. Most recently your child may be looking closely at characters in books. He/she might be talking about how characters feel and what causes them to do what they do based on details in illustrations and what characters say and do in stories.
Common Core State Standards / LACC.K.RL/1.2: With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
LACC.K.RL.3.7: With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear.
LACC.K.SL.2.4: Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
LACC.K.L.3.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.
Objective / The student will be able to read a book with someone at home and talk about a character’s feelings by paying attention to their facial expressions, and what they do and say.
Duration / 15-20 minutes per session – This session can be repeated over multiple days using different storybooks.
Materials / Familiar Storybook – one of your child’s favorites (see attached list for suggestions of Emergent Storybooks)
Procedures / Let your child select and book to read together. Make it a relaxed and enjoyable experience. Pause throughout the story to look at the illustrations and have your child talk about the characters and what they are doing and saying. You can use some of the following prompting questions:
- How is the character feeling in this part of the story? Why is he/she feeling that way? How do you know?
- What is happening here in the story? What does the character’s face tell you about how he/she is feeling? Why is he/she feeling that way?
- What is happening in the story? What is the character doing? What does that tell you about how he/she is feeling?
- What does the character’s face and actions tell you about how they are feeling? What is happening in the story to make him/her feel this way?
Additional Resources and Information / Emergent Storybook List (attached)