Nibbles the Book Monster

Making connections and observations when reading a book is about reading the sub text. It requires you to comprehend the text and the pictures and turn that information into new information. Making observations and drawing conclusions is not about repeating the exact words that were in the text; it’s about reading between the lines. For our preschoolers, that’s a difficult skill and thus we often have to use the pictures to help us identify those ideas that are not directly stated. I know I’ve said this before, but I’m going to say it again: relying on the pictures to help us build comprehension skills is not a cop-out or cheat, rather it’s a steppingstone which is necessary in any form of learning.

As we read Nibbles the Book Monster, we practiced making observations and drawing conclusions. Here are some of the observations and conclusions we made:

• Oh, my goodness! Look at all those books he is eating!
• Do you see his booty hanging out of the book?
• How is Goldilocks feeling?
• Is that Little Red or her grandma?
• Who bit the giant’s booty?
• Uh oh! What do you think Nibbles is doing?
• He is gone! He nibbled his way through the book.

I’ve often talked about how recalling details is as simple as asking basic questions about the text. It is the who and what type of questions, but at the preschool level, it’s also about interacting with a text. Pointing, touching and engaging with the text and the pictures is how our young children grasp the information in the text and commit it to memory. So, you’ll notice in my examples below that many of my recalling details and actions are actually touching the text or interacting with a text rather than answering a question. Some of our preschoolers are not ready for that question and answer style of reading comprehension and touching the text is another strategy for them to use. As we read Nibbles, we practiced recalling details.

Here are some of the details we found interesting:

• Can you open the crate?
• Follow Nibbles footsteps.
• Do you see Nibbles?
• Quick follow Nibbles footsteps to find him.
• Who is that little girl?
• How did Nibbles get into Jack and the Beanstalk? (Do you see his footprints?)
• Quick! Close the crate!

Making connections is one of the best parts of reading comprehension because that’s what dives us into the characters and their lives. It also helps us understand concepts better. When your child first reads a statement, they may not understand what’s going on, but when you can relate it back to them and something that has happened in their life, they have a better understanding of what that statement in the story meant.

As we read Nibbles, we practiced making connections. Here are some of the connections we made:

• Tackle your child’s toes
• Have we read about Goldilocks before?
• What other story is the Big Bad Wolf in?
• Did the Giant’s booty get bit in Jack and the Beanstalk?