The purpose of this reading is to bring everything together: the text, the vocabulary, and the illustrations. The discussion and activity options focus on analyzing the main idea, theme, character traits, setting, and how all of these story elements relate to each other.
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:
~You may switch roles and become the listener and the questioner as your child “reads”(retells) the story to you.
~Your child and you may alternate the pages that you read to each other.
~You may dramatize the story. Take the roles of the different characters. Practice shrieking, stuttering, and crooning.
DISCUSSION OPTIONS:
~Point out the tiny ink illustration at the top of each text box. It ties into the plot and the accompanying full color illustration. Point out that there were two bats frightened by the owl on page 3. One of the bats hides in the cave. The other hides by hanging on the branch and, then, falls into the birds’nest. The large color illustrations tell the story of Stellaluna. The tiny ink illustrations tell the story of her mother. Can you tell this story? (Notice that the same illustrations are reprinted inside the covers.)
~What did the story tell you about fruit bats?
~Do you think the Pip, Flitter, Flap, and Stellaluna will stay friends? Can people who are so different be friends
ACTIVITY OPTIONS:
~Check out www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com. Search: Stellaluna. Click: Reading Guide. It is a short trivia quiz that uses both the story and the facts about fruit bats located at the end of the story.
~Enjoy a magnificent reading of Stellaluna by actress Pamela Reed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLRIvyWUzxs.
~Pick out some of the wonderful new vocabulary words. Make pictures on word cards to illustrate the meaning of the new words.