George and Martha Books and Story Elements

George and Martha by James Marshal are oldies but goodies!
I used these books with our friendship theme.

Comprehension: Story Elements (Retelling Glove)

Vocabulary: thrilling, considerate, splendid, clever, humorous, unpleasant, perform, inform, responsibility

     These are some challenging words but read in context they were very understandable.  We had been working on author's purpose so the words perform and inform were repeats for us. At the end of the week we played Vo-BACK-ulary.

I read many, many, many George and Martha stories this week.  Whenever we had a free moment I read one.  They do not take long to read.  After each story we did the retelling glove.

Who?--The thumb represents the characters in the story. Encourage students to include all the characters mentioned in the story, not just the main one. 

What?--A small box on the index finger is a reminder to include details about "what" happened in the story. What was the problem? 

When?--Time plays a part in the "when" of retelling, but it can also include day or night or seasons of the year. 

Where?--A story can take place in more than one place. Have students reference the main setting for the story. 

Why or how?--Why did the characters do/say certain things? Why did the author write this story? - 

Resource:  http://www.smekenseducation.com

After a lot of practice on Friday each student wrote out their own story elements chart.  I have two to choose from.  Click on either to get them.

We added these to a cute craft that First Grade Fever shared on her blog.  Stop by to get the patterns and stay for other great ideas.  Christie has a wealth to share!

Directions for Vo-BACK-ulary!

Make enough flashcards for each student to have one.  

Tape one to each child’s back without them seeing it.  

Students go around the room giving the definition to the student without giving the answer.  If they guess it correctly they get to sit down.

It's a lot of fun and they ask to do it again and again.

Click the image to get these vocab cards.

Hope you are able to use these ideas in your room.  Stop back and share how it went.  If you have some George and Martha ideas please share!  I want to expand this for next year!

Happy New Year!

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