Author Study
P. K. Hallinan
Our local reading association, KRA (Kern
Reading Association, an affiliate of the California Reading Association
and IRA), has a wonderful Young Authors Fair every April, when they bring
in about a dozen children's authors to speak at schools all over the county
for a full week.
The first author I met through this
program was P.K. Hallinan, who writes magnificent children's books filled
with rhythm and rhyme and great stories. He was our visiting author
where I was a student teaching, and the kids adored him as a person as
well as his books!
We begin each year in my classroom by
reading P.K.'s stories about school and friends, and there are a LOT of
them to read! The good news is that his books are inexpensive, between
$3 and $4 each, so it's easy to build a collection of your own. I
own more than three dozen of his books. Several titles have temporarily
gone out of print, and I've noticed that many of them are being re-issued
in the coming months.
Here is an overview of some of the stories
we read, and things that we do during the year with P.K.'s terrific stories.
My
Teacher's My Friend
This is the story
that I begin every school year with, and the children love it.
It's short, friendly, and fun,
and talks about the things the kids have on their minds the first day of
school. As a bonus, it leads into a natural discussion about school
and this new person in the childrens' lives, Mrs. Smith.
My
Teacher's My Friend
After we read the story, I tell the
children about me and my family, and let them ask questions. And
then we take some time to let each of the children introduce themselves
and share something they'd like us to know. To finish, I read the
story again, encouraging the children to help me with the rhyming words.
We'll revisit this book many times the first week of school, as we talk
about school and friends.
After we finish talking about ourselves
and the story, I my photos of P.K. Hallinan, taken several years ago when
he was our Visiting Author at the school where I did my student teaching.
I tell them about how P.K. wrote his first book, about his own children,
and how he was SO disappointed when the illustrations came back.
He shared slides with us of the original illustrations, and explained how
they were so far from what he had imagined that he decided to learn how
to draw so he could illustrate his own books.
One of the neat things P.K. does in
his books is sneak a picture of another one of his books. My class
enjoys looking for them, and they point them out everytime they see one
on a page.
I also read another P.K. story called
My
First Day of School. This book has gone out of print, and has
a reissue date of August 1999. You can click on the title to check
if Amazon has it available yet, or you may be lucky enough to find a teacher
to borrow it from.
During September, we study several themes
in our class, including School, Friends, and All About Myself. Our
P.K. Hallinan study concentrates on his books about school and friends,
and about feeling good about oneself, a recurring theme in most of P.K.'s
books. On the first day of school, I share the following poem with
my students, setting the stage for the many P.K. books on friends we'll
be reading:
Friends
by Jill Eggleston
Friends share.
Friends care.
We need friends
Everywhere!
Follow
Up Activities
Language
Experience Charts
After reading
each book, discuss the ways that the "star" of the book could be a friend,
and make a chart of those traits.
For example, do
you have a brother? Is your brother your friend? What things
does your brother do that makes him your friend? This gets especially
interesting when discussing grandparents and all the neat things kids and
grandparents do together.
As you talk about
all the different people who can be our friends, compare the charts and
add to a separate chart that lists things that make kids friends with other
kids. Your students will come up with lots of great ideas!
I keep a basket
of yellow paper stars (cut with the Ellison machine) near our Shining Stars
bulletin board. When someone feels that another student has done
something special -- something that makes that student a good friend --
they take a star, write their friend's name on it, and staple it to the
board. Younger children may need help doing this. Older children
(first grade and up) can add a few words about why that person is a good
friend.
It's also very
interesting to listen to the reasons the children give why their doctor
or dentist is also their friend ("She helps me feel better when I'm sick,"
or "He makes sure my teeth are strong"). This discussion extends
naturally into a discussion of why other adults are our friends -- police,
firefighters, the principal, the man who drives the ice cream truck, etc.
Friends
Books
Kids enjoy writing
stories about their friends. Our first story might be an illustration
with a single sentence, telling who is in the picture and what the friends
in the picture are doing. I make paper available for the kids to
make as many single pages as they like about their friends, and we staple
them into construction paper folders. Some of the stories are displayed
on the walls.
We also use a
writing frame that says
"________ is
my friend because ________." We do the first page as a group activity,
with each child making their own page about anyone they like. Then
paper is set out in our writing area for them to make additional pages
during writing time and/or Literacy Centers. The kinderkids and some
first graders will need help filling in the blanks. More accomplished
writers can copy the sentence onto their papers and do their own writing.
We also use this writing frame to make class books based on each of the
friends books we read. That way, we have our own books called My
Teacher is My Friend, My Father is My Friend, etc. The kids enjoy
reading these, and reading their friends' names.
More P.K. Hallinan Books
There are many other P.K. Hallinan titles
that we read during the year. All of his books focus on self-esteem
and feeling good about who you are. Many of his books are also intended
to gently teach values. Here are some of my favorites that are currently
in print, that can be used all year long.
Coming
Soon ... More Author & Literature Studies
Joy Cowley ~ Mrs. Wishy Washy &
Huggles
Little Critter
Clifford
Jan Brett
Marc Brown & Arthur Stories
Eric Carle
Jonathon London
Lois Ehlert
Jane Yolen
Looking for more ideas?
My bookstore pages have lots of information
on how I use various materials in my classroom, and on activities you can
do with your students. The thematic pages are complete unit resources,
with lots of poems, songs, and activities on each page. Make yourself
comfortable and take a look around!
Choose from the categories below.
Underlined subjects are links, the
other ones are coming soon!
