Highlights High Five™ July 2008 Parent/Teacher Guide
Places (pages 6 to 9)
- Read the story and talk about the illustrations. Ask the children to explain what story the father is reading to the little girl. Ask: "How do you know?"
- Read it again and ask children to listen for the words that rhyme.
- List the rhyming pairs: tree, sea; nest, best; land, sand; too, you. Ask children what they notice about each pair of words. Point out that even though tree, sea and too, you end with different letters but have the same ending sounds.
- Encourage children to think of other words that rhyme with each pair of words.
When children figure out that the first two pages of this story are actually part of the images in the book that the father is reading to the little girl, they will experience a delightful "A-ha!" moment. Explaining how they know gives children an opportunity to describe their own thinking process—a higher-order thinking skill that's important to develop, even in very young children.
Bubble Trouble (pages 12 and 13)
- Read the poem, and talk together about the illustration.
- Before reading the questions on page 13, help the children count the total number of bubbles. Record the number. (22)
- Read the questions, and record the answers. Add the number of bubbles that landed on the boy and his mother. (7) Count the number of bubbles that landed elsewhere. (15)
The second time you read this poem, children will want to join in on "Achoo! Achoo!" As they hear it again and again, they will develop confidence in their ability to join in on the other lines as well.
At the Airport (pages 20 and 21)
- Talk together about the illustration on these pages before reading the questions. Encourage children to share any personal experiences they may have with airports.
- When children answer the questions, ask them to explain their thinking. For example, the woman with the computer may be playing a computer game, or she may be working.
To illustrate how to record and analyze information, create a bar graph. Children can color in squares to record the number of airplanes, trucks, and workers in this scene. Discuss other information that could be recorded—for example, the number of passengers or the number of suitcases. Use the graph to analyze the information you've recorded.