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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Velma Gratch and The Way Cool Butterfly

Title: Velma Gratch and The Way Cool Butterfly 
Author: Alan Madison
Illustrator: Kevin Hawkes
Publication Date: 2007
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book
Summary: Velma is the youngest of the three Gratch sisters. She is on her way to 1st grade where she wants to make a name for herself.  When her class studies butterflies, she learns all she can about them by reading books at the library.  Her trip to the conservatory takes a fun twist that makes for a great ending.
Read Together: 2 – 8, I would definitely recommend this to be read to older students because the language/word choice is amazing.
Read Alone: 4 – 8, The language is great in this book, but there are lots of $100 words.
Read With: The Very Hungry Catepillar By Eric Carle; non-fiction about the life cycle of a butterfly
Snatch of Text: “Velma’s small smile pretzel-twisted into a full-blown frown.” 
“Delicate wings slowly folding, antennae twitching, weightless and wondrous, the insect sat.”
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Inferences, Predicting
Writing Strategies to Practice: Descriptive Writing, Alliteration, Word Choice, $100 Words
Writing Prompts: Describe what you imagine it would feel like to have a butterfly land on you.  Use alliteration to describe your favorite animal.  Write about a time in your life when you felt unique.
Topics Covered: Feelings, Individuality, Family, Envy
Translated to Spanish: No 

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1 comment:

  1. Jen, hey I am katherine, laura w's sister. this is a great blog, i will have to keep track of the great books you are recommending!! thanks!!

    ReplyDelete