Highlights High Five™ March 2009 Parent/Teacher Guide
Tex and Indi: The Waiting Game (pages 12 to 15)
- After reading the story, ask children to continue Arizona's memory game by describing other imaginary animals that might be in the suitcase. Continue adding to the list until it's too long to remember everything.
- Ask children to talk about their own experiences at airports.
This verbal game is useful when you're at the supermarket checkout counter or at other times when young children need help waiting. It can also provide an opportunity to model making a list. If you record the colorful animals children describe as they continue Arizona's game, they will see that a written list can help us remember things.
Tell Some Stories (pages 16 and 17)
- Begin by asking children to choose just one set of characters, one setting, and one action to make up a story.
- Then encourage them to tell more stories by including more than one set of characters, settings, or actions.
- After using these pictures to make up stories, encourage your child to make up more stories.
Telling their own stories will help children develop greater oral-language skills. It will also help them begin to understand the structure of stories—that stories have a setting and characters and that characters do things. If they enjoy telling stories, offer to write the stories down. As they watch you transform their words into print, they will begin to see how sounds are represented by letters and how groups of letters can represent their words.
Make a Paperweight (page 25)
- Although construction paper is usually at hand, your local hardware store may be willing to give you old wallpaper-sample books. Scraps of wrapping paper are another type of paper that would work well for this craft.
- Adding water to the glue will make it easier to spread a thin coat on the rock. When the rock is covered with paper, another coat will ensure that all edges are glued down.
- To help children focus on their own work, describe what you see them doing. For example, you might say: I see you have used a lot of striped paper. Look how the corner of the blue paper is on top of the red paper.
There is not a right or wrong way to complete this task. Encourage children to choose the paper they will use and how they will arrange the pieces on the rock. Let them decide when it looks "just right."