Classroom Activities: Book Share with A Was Once an Apple Pie
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Early Childhood Education Supersite Classroom Activities: Book Share with A Was Once an Apple Pie |
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Book Share
This book share idea was written for parents, but it will work well as part of an early childhood literacy curriculum.
Title: A Was Once an Apple Pie
Author: Edward Lear Edward Lear
Illustrator: Julie Lacome
Publisher: Candlewick
Summary: This book encourages children to play with the sounds of their language as the letters A to Z are introduced in a rhythmical and nonsensical way: "A was once an apple pie, Pidy Widy Tidy Pidy Nice insidy Apple pie." Each letter follows the same predictable pattern.
Key: Phonemic Awareness, Alphabet, and Predictable and Pattern
Setting and Materials Needed: Any comfortable setting will do. You will need pictures of interesting objects. These may be from magazines, games, photographs, or anything you have.
Before Reading Activity: Tell your child that you are going to read him or her a silly alphabet book by an author who wrote many silly stories.
During Reading Activity: Begin reading the book. After you have read through several letters (perhaps, A to E), read the first part of the next page and ask your child to make up nonsense rhymes that fit the pattern. For example, read "F was once a little fish, Fishy [pause]" and ask "What rhymes with fishy? How about dishy? mishy?" Encourage your child to contribute! Then read what the author wrote. Continue to read a few more pages, then stop again and ask your child for some rhymes. The more you involve your child the better, but only do this as often as your child finds it interesting.
After Reading Activity: After reading, show your child the pictures you found and start making up silly rhymes to go with the pictures. "Look, I have a picture of a car. Listen: carsy, marsy, parsy, carsy." Ask your child to make up nonsense rhymes for the other pictures you found. If your child is finding this activity a lot of fun, leave the pictures and march around the house, pointing to things to make nonsense rhymes for: "doorsy, poorsy, boorsy, choorsy." If you can, include the letter: "Let's do our bed: B was once a little bed. Beddy, neddy, leddy, beddy. Let's climb in the little beddy." Conclude the adventure by stating that you and your child could probably write your own book!
Poetry Partners: "Dance to your Daddie" and "A Counting-Out Rhyme" in The Real Mother Goose; "Alphabet Stew," "Four Seasons," "Fishes' Evening Song," "The Pizza," and "Rhyme" in The Random House Book of Poetry for Children.
Related Books: Also by Edward Lear: The Owl and the Pussycat, The Quangle Wangle's Hat, A Book of Nonsense, Daffy Down Dillies: Silly Limericks, How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear: Nonsense Poems, and The Pelican Chorus and Other Nonsense.
From Ashley Bishop, Ruth Helen Yopp, and Hallie Kay Yopp Ready for Reading: A Handbook for Parents of Preschoolers, ©2000, Allyn & Bacon, pp. 70-71.
© 2001-2002 by Allyn & Bacon
A Pearson Company
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