During the Third Reading you will have three different ways to read the story:

~Your child and you may switch roles, with your child reading/retelling and you asking questions.

~Your child and you may alternate “reading”pages.

~You may leave out words to see what vocabulary words your listener inserts. The substitutions may be new vocabulary words or other synonyms. The important point is that the word inserted keeps the meaning of the text the same.

All of these methods will enhance comprehension and retention of the story.

DISCUSSION OPTIONS:

~At the end of the story, make up a story about what happens the next morning. Try to build the word amble into your creative extension.  Try to build humor into the extension as the author does.

~Would you like to have a friend like Amos? Why?

~Does Amos remind you of any of your friends? Who? Explain.

~Which animal character would you pick to be your friend? Why?

~ Let’s add another animal to the story to be Amos’s friend. Who can we add? How can we make the actions and the personality of the animal humorous?

ACTIVITY OPTIONS:

~ This story lends itself to a journal activity. In the Third Reading for Make Way for Ducklings, I mention a primary writing journal that is sold on Amazon. Find it in the Practickle Book Store. This would be an opportunity for your child and you to write and illustrate:

∙an extension of the story created by your child.

∙a story about a real-life friend.

~ Read Good Night, Gorilla. There are many connections between the two stories, both in the illustrations and in the text.

During the Second Reading, you will:

~read the text.

~ask clarifying questions.

~focus on vocabulary words.

*Read the pages before any discussion starts. This won’t be as easy as it sounds with your excited listener sharing thoughts, questions, and connections.

Pages 1 – 3:

Read the pages. The author has a different way of saying things. Some of the text reminds me of objects from the past:

~On page 1, clanged: loud sound made by a bell. How do our alarm clocks sound? Do they clang?

~On page 1, swapped: exchanged or traded. What does swapped mean? What is another way to say the same thing?

~ On page 2, wind: to tighten the main spring in order to work. There’s a picture of his watch on page 4. It’s an old fashioned watch.

– On page 3, ambled: to walk at a slow, easy pace. Use the text and the picture to understand what it means.

Pages 4 – 10:

Read the pages first.

~ As Amos spends time with each of his friends, he reveals something about his personality. What kind of a person is Amos McGee? (patient, kind, quiet, etc.)

~Are there any connections you can make between Mr. McGee and someone you know?

~ For each of the animals, the author has a humorous twist. Can you find the humorous twist for each animal? (the size of the elephant and the tiny chess pieces…..the slow tortoise winning every race……the shy penguin when penguins live in colonies and are very interactive……the rhinoceros who has a runny nose when they live in Africa and warm southeast Asia…….the night-time owl needing a night light)

Page 11 – 19:

Read the pages first.

~On pages 14 and 15, what happens “later that day…”?

~On pages 16 – 19, Mr. Stead doesn’t use text. Can you make up text for these pages?

~Could you figure out a way to use ambled?

Page 20 – 25:

Read the pages.

~ What do Amos’s good friends do for him? (It looks like they are showing him the same kind of friendship that he shows the animals.)

~There’s much humor in the text. How does Mr. Stead make each of the pages humorous?

~ There seems to be one animal missing. Who is it? (owl)

Page 26 – 27:

~ What has the owl been doing?

Pages 28 – 30:

Now the owl gets to read a book to Amos!

~ What do you think happens the next day?

~Do you have any questions about the text? Does it match well with the illustrations?

~Does it answer any questions that we had from

During the First Reading, focus on making inferences and connections with the illustrations.

When making inferences there will be two basic questions to ask your listener as you turn the pages:

~What do you see?

~What is happening?

These two questions help the brain form inferences, predictions, and conclusions. First, the brain gathers evidence from the illustration.  Then, prior knowledge connects with this evidence to form an inference, prediction or conclusion

When making these connections with your listener, you may begin with sentence stems such as:

~ ___________ reminds me of ………….

~ Remember when…………….

~This is like………………….

Make the connections as specific and detailed as possible.

Keep this reading to about twenty minutes. Base the time on the attention span of your listener.

Pages 1 – 4: The illustrations on pages 1 – 4 work together as a group. Do not ask questions until your child has had a chance to see all four pages. Then you can go back and ask the following questions:

~ Do you think this man might be Amos McGee? Why?

~ What do you see in the illustrations? What do you think is happening?

~ Humor is hidden in Erin Stead’s illustrations. Look for it on each page. (He looks like a grandpa, but he sleeps with a teddy bear, wears bunny slippers, etc.)

Page 5 – 10:

As you turn the pages:

~ What do you see? What do you think is happening?

~ Do you see any humor on this page?  Do you think it’s humorous that the penguin wears socks? Why would the rhinoceros need a handkerchief?

This is a time to make some connections. Do these animals remind you of any other stories or story characters you know? Does the man remind you of anyone?

Page 11 – END:

As you turn the pages:

~ What do you see? What do you think is going on?

~ Talk about humor. The illustrations in this book are full of humorous details. Take time to find them. Ask, “What do you see that’s humorous on this page?”

~On pages 18 and 19, where do you think the animals might be going on the bus? Why do you think that?

After studying the illustrations:

~ Make connections about being sick and what people do to help you to feel better.

~ Make connections between the characters in this book and characters in other books.

~ What do you think this book might be about? (friendship, getting sick,……)

~ Are there any questions that are in your head right now?

Next time we will read the text.

This sensitive book is a recent Caldecott Award winner for it’s lovely illustrations! However, the loving characters, also, make this a special story.  Amos McGee works in a zoo. As Amos McGee’s relationships with the animals at the zoo are revealed, you see that he has many animal friends. Amos meets his zookeeper responsibilities and is loyal to the animals. In return, they feel a loyalty and responsibility to him. He loves them, and they love him.

We all have friends and responsibilities. These two common experiences provide the opportunity for the reader to make connections. (In the teaching world, you may hear this called activating prior knowledge.) There are three kinds of connections that readers of all ages make:
~connecting the text to their own experiences,
~connecting the text to other texts, and
~connecting the text to the world.

All of these connections are going to help the reader to recall the text and to understand it at a deeper, more personal level. When the story or the characters remind you of something stored in your prior knowledge (long-term memory) your brain has an easier time holding on to that particular information. (For more research on making connections or activating prior knowledge, see our blog entries on the Practikckle website.)