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Classroom Activities: Book Share with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
  


Book Share

This book share idea was written for parents, but it will work well as part of an early childhood literacy curriculum.

Title: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Authors: Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault

Illustrator: Lois Ehlert

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Summary: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is an alphabet book that begins, "A told B and B told C, 'I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree." The book continues in a rhyming, singing mode with the refrain "Chicka chicka boom boom!" heard throughout. The illustrations are bold and appealing to kids. Children enjoy the story line, especially when the letters of the alphabet fall out of the coconut tree. This is a wonderful book for helping children become familiar with the alphabet letter names. It is a book you will want to read over and over.

Key: Alphabet

Setting and Materials Needed: The book sharing can take place in any comfortable setting. You will need a pad of plain paper and some crayons.

Before Reading Activity: Say, "I'm going to read you a book about alphabet letters getting into trouble. It is called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." Then open the book to the inside cover and show your child all the colorful letters. Say, "Look, they have each letter twice, once big and once small. Let's see if I can find the letter that starts your name." Then help your child find the letter that starts his or her name. Finally, say, "Remember, I said this book was about the letters of the alphabet getting into trouble? Let's see what trouble they get into."

During Reading Activity: Read the story to your child and simply enjoy what it has to say. Then read it again, and this time put your finger on each large colorful letter of the alphabet as you read the story. For example, when you read the book and say, "A told B, and B told C, 'I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree,"' point to each of the large, colorful letters at the bottom of the page as you say the letter in the story. If your child feels comfortable with the process, read the story a third time and have your child point to the large letters on each page as you say the letters in the alphabet.

After Reading Activity: Say to your child, "Let's make our own tree to put the letters in. What kind of tree should it be? An apple tree? An orange tree?" Draw the tree on a blank sheet of paper and then look at Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. As you examine each letter in the story, write the letter in your child's tree (or, if your child can and would like to, have him or her write the letters). When you are finished put at the bottom of the page "An Alphabet Tree by (your child's name)." Make sure the tree is shared with lots of important and appreciative people.

Poetry Partners: "Pat-a- Cake," 'Just Like Me," "A B C, " 'One, Two, Three,' "The Alphabet, "' "Pancake Day, " and "Oh, Dear!" in The Real Mother Goose.

Related Books: Listen to the Rain, Up and Down on the Merry-go-Round, and Barn Dance all by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault; also, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein; Alphabatics by Suse MacDonald; and The Alphabet Tree by Leo Lionni.

From Ashley Bishop, Ruth Helen Yopp, and Hallie Kay Yopp Ready for Reading: A Handbook for Parents of Preschoolers, ©2000, Allyn & Bacon, pp. 72-73.

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