Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

Ahhhh, Fall.
The weather is perfect and the world is full of all my favorite colors.  What could be better?

Well, the perfect read aloud, of course.

Owl Babies by: Martin Waddell is the perfect book for going over parts of a story.  I draw a four square on chart paper.  We flip through the story and make predictions on the characters, setting, problem, and solution. 

In the first box, I draw a simple smiley face.  This is where we list the characters.

In the second box, I draw a tree and house.  Here we write all the places we noticed the characters where from our preview.

In the third box, I draw a broken heart.  This is where we record the problem.

The last box has a heart drawn in the corner for solution.  We write about how we think the problem will be solved by the characters in the story.

At this point, I ask if there are any questions about the story.  I will remind the children of their questions as we are reading.

I read the story through.  After the story, we go back to our chart and make changes as needed.  We cross through incorrect information and add in the information we have learned.  We talk about how important it is to make predictions about what we are going to read in order to focus our thinking about the story.

Additional Activities:

• create your favorite character
• create a web about each of the owl babies
• use the webs to discuss the similarities and differences   between the characters
• stop before the end of the story and make predictions... use construction paper to make a collage of the prediction
• draw a picture of your favorite part
• draw your favorite character in your journal and write a sentence about why you like that character
• text-to-text connection... think about a time you were scared like Bill... think about a time your mom or dad left you at home and went somewhere else.

This story is simple and endearing.  I am sure each of you will come up with wonderful ways to use this story in your own classrooms.  Feel free to share your ideas in the comments.  I am always looking for new ideas.