Celebrating the Kevin Henkes Unit of Study

"Lilly loved school." Today was a very special day in First Grade. We celebrated Kevin Henkes and the wonderful books we read during our Author Study. Students came to school dressed as their favorite characters. We had Lilly's, Wendell's, Owen's, Wemberly, and a Sheila Rae. During the morning, children went to centers set up in first grade classrooms. They visited the "Light Bulb Lab" to make purple purses and neck ties. They played "Kevin Henkes Jeopardy," where students could answer questions about the books they read. There was a movie staring Owen, Chrysanthemum, and Lilly, and cheesy snacks were served. And they had outside time and played croquet, bubbles, jump ropes, and other fun games. In the afternoon, students made mouse cookies and wrote about their favorite character and book from the author study. In this unit of study, students made text-to-self and text-to-text connections and wrote about these in their Reader's Response Journals. They learned how to compare characters and books. They increased their knowledge in story structure elements practicing characters, setting, problem/solution and main idea. In Writer's Workshop, we created a rubric. Students learned "great beginnings" and how there are so many ways to grab a reader's attention. They practiced retelling the story with important details, and how to end a story telling the reader why they liked the story and if they would recommend it. And finally, for homework, students were invited to make their own puppets and present their interpretation of the book to the class. So much has been learned and so many wonderful memories were made during this author study that we think Lilly, Chrysanthemum, Wendell, Owen, Sheila Rae, and Wemberly will be with the children for a very long time! And how great that will be...