Highlights High Five™ August 2009 Parent/Teacher Guide
Polka-Dot Parade (pages 6 to 9)
- Read the story aloud. Encourage the children to search the illustrations for items named in the poem.
- Reread the poem, asking children to listen for the words that rhyme.
- Older children may be able to discuss why the poet describes summer as a polka-dot parade.
Each stanza includes some alliteration which you could use to help children identify initial consonant sounds and letters. (drops/drip/down; speckles/sprinklers/sparklers, stars/tinkle, twilight/twinkle.)
For more poems by Michael J. Rosen, check out The Cuckoo's Haiku: and Other Birding Poems, illustrated by Stan Fellows, and Three Feet Small, illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev (who writes and illustrates the High Five stories about Bert, Beth and Grandpa).
Make a Colorful, Fuzzy Mobile (pages 20 and 21)
- Chenille sticks are readily available at craft stores.
- Step 1 suggests that children use a chenille stick to make a loop and then hang things from that loop. Alternatively, they could hang things from a clothes hanger or a thin piece of wood.
Twisting chenille sticks into interesting shapes for a mobile will be easy for young children. Twisting chenille sticks around objects is a more challenging task. Children need to take into consideration the size and weight of those objects in order to balance their mobiles.
Look and Look Again (pages 26 and 27)
- Encourage children to use words to describe the differences and similarities in these two illustrations.
- If you record children's observations, you can refer back to your list when you revisit these pages. Perhaps you'll discover differences that you missed the first time around!
When children describe what they see, they are learning to look carefully, to pay attention to small details, and to use words they know to describe what they see or think. These are important early-literacy skills.