ABOUT THIS BOOK:EACH KINDNESS
by Jacqueline Woodson

Many of Practickle’s selections are great reads for any child from the three-year-old to the independent reader. However, Each Kindness has a theme that is more likely to resonate with our older readers. This award-winning book was recommended to me by a wonderful kindergarten teacher, Becky McGillivray.

The book is a Coretta Scott King Award Honor book. This award is given to books written by African-American authors that effectively teach a message of peace, brotherhood, and nonviolent change. Each Kindness’s central message is about brotherhood.

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The purpose of this reading is to bring together the information in both the text and the illustrations. The discussion and activity options focus on analyzing the main idea, theme, character traits, setting and how all of the story elements fit together.

During this reading your child and you will read the story all the way through. Three ways that you can add fun and improve recall during this reading are:

~You may switch roles and become the listener and the questioner as your child “reads”(retells) the story to you. Assist your child in matching the retelling of the story to the illustration. Help your child pay attention to the details in the illustration to know when to turn the page.

~Your child and you may alternate the pages you “read”to each other.

~Your child and you may role play the story. One of you may be Chloe. Chloe has quite a big job in this story, being both the narrator and one of the major characters. One of you may be Maya, and the other minor characters. If one of you chooses to play all of the minor characters, talk about how the characters might each have a different sounding voice.

DISCUSSION OPTIONS:

~After reading this story, how might you treat a new person in your class or your neighborhood?

~Have you ever been the “new”person? Can you make any connections to Maya’s experience?

~Who is the most important character in the story? Use events in the text to support your choice.

~Talk about kind things that others have done for you.

ACTIVITY OPTIONS:

~Tell your family about the rock and the ripples. Interview your family or friends about acts of kindness that they have done for others.

~Think of someone for whom you have never done an act of kindness. Think of something that you can do for this person.

The focus of this reading is the text.There will be opportunities in this reading to connect the information in the illustrations to the information in the text. Building these connections will add deeper meaning to the text.

The Reading Comprehension Best Practice highlighted for this story is Activating Prior Knowledge/Making Connections. Make connections as often as possible between the behavior of the characters and the experiences of your child and you.

*Read the pages before you ask the questions.

Pages 1 – 4:
*As you read the pages, point out that in this book, the words spoken by the characters are in italics.
~By using words, such as we, our, us, and I, the author wants it to seem that one of the characters is telling the story. Who do you think might be telling the story? (one of the students)
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To allow the brain to focus on the information in the illustrations, this reading will look only at the illustrations and the information they provide to the reader.There are no right or wrong answers in this reading.If the pages are not numbered, page 1 is the first page of text.Your child will be asked to infer what the characters might be saying to each other or might be feeling in the illustrations.

The facial expressions are important. If your child answers a question by saying, “I don’t know.” Respond, “We may find the answer when we read the story.” Before you begin looking at the illustrations, take time to discuss the title. What is kindness? (possible answers: being friendly, being generous, being tender or thoughtful)

*Who is the girl on the cover? Could she be the main character? What might she be thinking as she is standing there?

Pages 1 – 2:
~What is the setting? (setting = when and where the story is taking place) (The season seems to be winter. In a city or town. In the present time.) Talk about the evidence to support your ideas on the settings.

Pages 3 – 4:
~Who might these people be?
~How does the girl seem to be feeling?

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