Parts - Book of the Month

I knew the book Parts by Tedd Arnold was definitely going to be part of our human body theme as I have loved this book since the beginning of my teaching days. This is a fun book that explores the different parts of our body and ultimately discusses what’s normal. Parts is the first book in a three-part series. The second book is More Parts and the third book is Even More Parts. To be honest I love the first book, the second book is also great, but the third book is just ehhh.

This month while you read this book, I encourage you to focus on four different reading strategies. Reading the book for enjoyment, making observations and conclusions, recalling details, and making connections.

Focus Skills

Reading

• Make conclusions and observations about the text based on the pictures
• Recall details from a text that was read aloud
• Make personal connection to text

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As adults, we tend to lose interest in reading the same book twice. I mean, sometimes it is hard to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear three times a day for 3 months straight, but our kids might be on to something when they opt to read the same book over and over. Reading a book multiple times allows us to:

– Catch information we didn’t catch before

– Remember the text better

– Engage with the text

– Build our vocabulary

There are many benefits to reading a book multiple times. So, since you will be reading a book multiple times, be sure to read the book the first time with enjoyment being the goal. Allow your preschooler and yourself to experience the story so that we can learn to love books first.Often our observations and conclusions are driven by the pictures in the book. This is a stepping stone and will be helpful later when your preschooler is learning to read. Using the pictures in a book is a reading strategy that they can use to guide them. They can check and see if they are reading the text correctly by seeing if the text matches the pictures. It is okay if you answer your own questions; that is modeling, and your child is listening and learning. As we read the book Parts, we practiced making observations and drawing conclusions. Here are some of the observations and conclusions we made:

• Uh Oh! What do you think is wrong with him?
• What does bald mean?
• Do you think he is really stuffed like a toy?
• Identify all the farm animals.
• What do think came out his nose, do brains come out your nose?
• What is he doing with all that tape? / Is he taping himself together?

Recalling details is about extracting information from the text exactly as it was said. We are not formulating ideas or building off the text, we are simply restating what the text has already said. For preschoolers, this can include restating what they see in the pictures too. As we read the book Parts, we practiced recalling details. Here are some of the details we found interesting:

• Can you see he is pulling hair from his comb?
• Eeep, he has no hair, that means he is bald.
• We can see his skeleton.
• His eyes are rolling away.
• All those things are normal; hair and teeth fall out, skin peels off, and boogers come out your nose. But our bodies make new hair, skin, teeth, and even boogers.

I think I say this every month, but making connections is such an important skill and thankfully one that comes so naturally to our preschoolers.

Making connections to a text helps us create meaning of the text and helps us find the value in the text, as the connections make us feel close to the text and make the text valuable. As we read the book Parts, we practiced making connections. Here are some of the connections we made:

• Do you have fuzz in your belly button?
• He is playing with horse just like D does.
• What comes out of your nose?
• We have played with tape like before.

Want more lessons like this? Check out my lesson bundles!