During the Third Reading, enjoy reading the entire text together. Either take turns reading pages to each other or have your child be the reader and you be the listener and questioner. As you go through the text, have fun dramatizing both the dialogue and the sounds that might occur in the setting.

DISCUSSION OPTIONS:

~ Talk about vocabulary:

•       public: Review what it means. Talk about the public buildings and places in the story. Discuss the public places that your child enjoys. Talk about places that are not public places.

•       polite: Review the page. Talk about the characters in the story who are polite. Are there any characters in the story who are not polite? Talk about experiences or people in your child’s life that connect with polite.

•       all of a dither: Review page 11. Are there any other pages in the book where Mr. McCloskey could use that phrase? Again, connect to your child’s life. Has your child ever been all of a dither, or have you?

•       responsibility: Who has responsibilities in the story? Who has the greatest responsibilities? What responsibilities do you and your child have?

~ What did you learn about ducks from this story?

~ Do you think the title is a good one? Explain. If not, what would you title the story?

~ This story is a fantasy. What is fantasy in the story, and what is real in the story?

ACTIVITY OPTIONS:
~ Talk about creating some parts of the story in color for your visualizations. If you are interested in having your child start a journal, Amazon has a couple of options. My daughter ordered iScholar Primary Composition Book for her children. (also located in the Practickle Bookstore)
•       Your child can draw the colorful scenes that you have been visualizing.

•       Your child can write his own story, or you can be the scribe.

During the Second Reading, you will:

~ read the text.

~ ask clarifying questions.

~ focus on vocabulary building.

The text contains great vocabulary building opportunities. As you read the text, there will be words that are explained by the illustration and the text working together.  There will be words that you will need to explain by a short, easy definition that is provided.  If you have any memories and connections that you can make to these words, don’t miss the opportunity to share them.

*Read the series of pages before your discussion begins.

Pages 1 – 6:

~ The ducks have names. What are they?

~ Do you know why they might be called Mr. and Mrs. Mallard?

~Why does Mrs. Mallard want to stay away from foxes and turtles?

~ On page 3, there are sound words to help us with visualizing. What are they? (quacking, flapped)

~On page 3, public: open to all people. What is a public garden?

~ What might the Mallards want to find in the pond for their breakfast?

Pages 7 – 12:

~ Find the “strange, enormous bird”. Why doesn’t the bird talk to the Mallards? (It isn’t a real bird. It is a bird made out of wood.)

~On page 7, polite: courteous, using manners. Is the “strange, enormous bird”being polite?

~ Mrs. Mallard thinks that she wants to live in the Public Garden. She gives three reasons. What are they? (no foxes, no turtles, people giving the ducks peanuts)
~Why does she change her mind?

~ On page 11, what does it mean when Mrs. Mallard, squawked “all of a dither?”(She is very upset.)

Pages 13 – 18:

~ On page 18, what reasons does Mrs. Mallard give for choosing the Public Garden as the right place to hatch ducklings?

Pages 19 – 20:

~ On page 19, molt: shedding feathers.  Point out all the information in the text that tells us what molt means.

Pages 21 – 22:

~ Why do the Mallards come to see Michael every day?

Pages 23 – 24:

~ What do you think Mrs. Mallard has for lunch? (Food that she can find in the pond.)

Pages 25 – 34:

~ What do you notice about the ducklings’names?

~ On page 26, great responsibility: jobs that people count on you to do or complete.
~The illustrations on these pages show some of the responsibilities of the father and mother. What are they?
~Do you have any responsibilities? Do you have any that are great responsibilities?

~ On page 34, check on the understanding of “Before you could wink an eyelash…”What does that mean? (very fast)

Page 35 – 38:
~ There are many sounds on these pages. What would the different sounds be that you would hear if you were walking through the city with the ducklings?

~ On page 38, what are “their little quackers?”(their little beaks, voices)

Pages 39 – 46:

~On page 41, planted: to stand firm and not move. It has a special meaning here. Are there any clues to help us understand its meaning?

~beckoned: to motion someone to move.  What clues are in the text and the illustration to help explain beckoned? (beckoned with his hand)

Pages 47 – END: Enjoy reading to the end.

Do you think that the illustrations and the text go together well?

Do you think it’s a good idea for the Mallard family to live on the island?

For this First Reading, remember this session should last about 20 minutes. Adjust the length of time to your reader’s attention span. Don’t feel that you have to use all the questions.

Remember the two basic questions that provide the structure for making inferences, predictions, and conclusions.

~What do I see in the illustration? This opens up long-term memory enabling the brain to activate prior knowledge and existing connections to the illustrations.

~What is happening in the picture? Inferential thought forms.

*Number the pages. The first page with text is page 1.

Pages 1 – 6:

~ What do you see on these pages? Are the two ducks alike or different? Explain your answer.

~ What do you think is happening in the illustrations?

~ In these illustrations, can you tell whether the setting is in the past, the present, or the future? (Setting is both where and when a story happens) How can you tell?

~ What do you think about the lack of color in the illustrations?

Pages 7 – 12:

~ What do you see on these pages? What’s happening?

~ Start to pull out other sensory information and create a movie in your head. What sounds, colors, smells, etc., would there be in the park? What kind of day is it?

~On page 12, great sensory information can be added when the boy rushes by the ducks. Add the emotions of all the characters who are on the page.

Pages 13 – 18:

~ What are the ducks doing? It looks like they might be talking to each other. What might they be saying?

~ Do you see more information about the setting (both when and where)?

Pages 19 – 24:

~ On pages 19 and 20, where are they?
~Why might the ducks choose this location for their nest?

~ Who might the man be?

Pages 25 – 34:

~ What do you see on these pages? What is happening on each of these pages?

~ Make a movie in your head of these pages. What sounds, smells, tastes, textures (touch) might you add?

~ What emotions might the ducks and ducklings be feeling?

~ What might the ducks and the ducklings be saying to each other?

Pages 35 – 36:

~ Describe what is happening on these pages.

~ What sounds might you hear? What might the ducklings be saying to each other?

Pages 37- 40:

~ Plenty of emotion and sensory details can be added to these illustrations! What do you see? Explain the scenes to me.  Use lots of sensory details and emotion.

~ What is the police officer doing? Why?

Pages 41 – 46:

~ What do you see? What’s happening?

~ On page 46, who might the police officer be calling? What might he be saying? How might he be saying it?

Pages 47 – 50:

~ What do you see? What’s happening?
~Are all the ducklings still in the group? Have your child count the ducklings.

Pages 51 – 56:

~ What do you see? What’s happening?

~ How might the police officers have known to be at that intersection to help the duck family?

~ On pages 55 and 56, it looks like the duck family and the police officers are talking to each other. What might they be saying to each other?

Pages 57 – End:

~ What do you see? What is happening?

~ What kind of sounds and feelings would you put in your movie on the last page?

What did we learn about real ducks from the actions of the duck family?

What questions do you have in your head right now?

ABOUT THIS BOOK: MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS This classic children’s picture book is older than I am! (Though, not by much.) It is a Caldecott Medal winner for the most distinguished American picture book of 1941.

Not only is it a warm story of a father and mother duck taking care of their eight ducklings, it is a story perfect to practice the reading comprehension Best Practice of visualizing. (Note: Why This Book? for This Is Not My Hat, a June selection)

The soft neutral sketches in this picture book lend themselves to creating a movie in the listener’s head. Living in the twenty-first century we know that our children’s worlds are full of visual images created by others. Making the reader’s own movie helps the text come alive and enhances recall. However, visualizing takes much guided practice.

The importance of visualizing first came to my attention through a wonderful book for teachers called Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop, 1997, by Ellin O. Keene and Susan Zimmermann. It brought new dimension to not only my teaching, but the teaching of many others. It reminds instructors that visualizing is not just seeing the picture, but bringing in sensory information from all five senses. To take visualizing to its full potential adds depth to your comprehension and strengthens your memory!