K - Act. 28: Map the Path in My Father's Dragon

Summary

The teacher will read aloud Ruth Stiles Gannett's book, "My Father's Dragon" and facilitate rich classroom discussions.

Materials

One for the group to share:

• My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
• enlarged map from the back of the book
• small sticky note with a student drawn picture of the main character
• colored tape

Additional Resources
These books are the other titles in this series. They provide many great opportunities for students to practice listening and comprehension strategies. There are no related map skills in these other books.

Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
The Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Stiles Gannett

Background for Teachers

My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett is a short chapter book. It is an excellent way to introduce kindergarten students to listening to a longer work of text. In each chapter there will be opportunities to pause and discuss as a group what predictions and questions come into the students' minds as the story unfolds. There is also a map at the back of the book showing all the places the main character visits. My Father's Dragon has ten chapters. Each chapter can be read in about five minutes. It is suggested that the class read no more than one chapter each day. Before and after reading each chapter it would be appropriate to discuss the events in the story for the given day and move the main character on a large map that is described in the materials section.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Intended Learning Outcomes
5. Understand and use basic concepts and skills.
6. Communicate clearly in oral, artistic, written and nonverbal form.

Process Skills
Symbolization, description, prediction

Instructional Procedures

Invitation to Learn
Read the short paragraphs on the back of the book introducing the plot of the story and the author. Ask the students if they think this will be a book about fact or fiction. Have them tell you why they think it is fact or fiction. (Students should be able to tell you that there are no real dragons.) After the class has established that this is a work of fiction, discuss with the class if they think it would be fun to visit an imaginary place called Wild Island. Tell the students that by reading this book together they will all be able to visit this place in their mind. Also tell the students, “As we read the story out loud, you should have pictures come into your mind of what this place would be like.”

Instructional Procedures
It is suggested that the class read only one chapter each day. For the first chapter, ask the students to listen to find out the setting and characters in the story. After reading each chapter, ask the following types of comprehension questions:

1. Ask the class two or three general who, what, where, when, type of questions to make sure they are following the story line.
2. Ask students to describe any pictures that came into their minds (imagery) as they listen to the story.
3. Encourage the students to discuss any questions they have based upon what has already happened in the story.

After the class discussion, move the picture of the main character on the large map and have the class use the appropriate terms to describe Elmer’s movement, such as up, down, left, right, etc.

Prior to reading all other chapters, read the title of each chapter. Next, ask the students to predict what events might take place. Another opportunity to predict comes in each chapter as the students try to figure out what Elmer will use from his knapsack to try to help each animal he
meets solve their problem.

Extensions

Family Connections
After reading My Father’s Dragon with the class, encourage families to select and read a chapter book together at home.

Assessment Plan

During each chapter the students should be able to verbalize to a partner or the class questions and predictions about the events of the story. Students should also use language that clearly describes the direction (top, bottom, left, right, far, near, etc.) of the path taken on the map as the picture of the main character is moved around on the map. This would be an informal type of assessment in which the teacher would listen and observe student responses and adjust the discussion from chapter to chapter as needed. The teacher may want to record specific student responses on sticky notes to place in a child's progress file. However, to maintain the enjoyment associated with a chapter book read aloud, the teacher should focus on developing rich class discussions rather than formal assessment.