Grammar for Kindergarten, Wrapped in a Touching Story
How important is a smile?
When Jo walks into a new classroom full of kids, everyone stares at her. And there are 19 frowns! Well, the teacher is smiling, but she's supposed to.
And then, Jo sees one kid in a striped shirt and he's smiling.
It's a world of difference. It transforms her day from fear of rejection to the slow growth of a budding friendship.
Friendships in a Classroom
This story started from a list of things that you might find in a classroom. And I made up a rule for myself: everything should be a noun. But as I worked on it, the story found an emotional heart in the relationship between Jo and Bo.
At first, Jo is skeptical that friendship could be so easy. But Bo is consistently kind to her and her frown turns to a small smile and a bigger smile. And finally, the biggest smiles!
Turning it into a Grammar Story
But a funny thing happened along the way. I realized that telling a story all in nouns meant I was telling a Grammar Story for kids.
Yep. Kindergartners and first grade are required to identify nouns and verbs! I decided to double down on that age range and create a story that had an emotional core of friendship, a funny emphasis on nouns (and thus grammar), AND was decodable for beginning readers.
Decodable books only include words that with regular phonetical spelling and can be "decoded" by using phonics. Now, instead of working to include variety in word choices, I looked for words that are phonetically regular and would mean something important in the story if they were repeated. It's easier for beginning readers if words repeat several times, because it makes them more successful.
We have Lexile reading levels for all our books; however for short texts like this, it's more appropriate to use Fountas and Pinnel reading levels. F&P puts this book at Level K.
Story First
In all of the revisions, the story came first. Jo walks into a crowded room knowing no one. Throughout the day, she responds to a simple smile and by the end of the day, she introduces Bo to her mother as "her friend." The complications along the way demonstrate a typical school day. Here's the lunch recess scene.
Now, I had a story that fits into so many slots that teachers and parents want: friendship, school day, school friendship, grammar, nouns, adjectives, decodable, easy to read, beginning reader, fear of first day of school, friendly teacher, learn to read.
How many of those do you identify with? If it's more than one, check out how to purchase the books here on Mims House Books!
LEARN MORE ABOUT FROWNS: Nouns, a Few Adjectives
P.S. Coming in February: Book 2, VOTE: Verbing Wildly
