Book of the Week: Put It On the List

Book of the Week: Put it on the List

Another steal from Ollie’s! Have you been here?! Excellent source for books, most only $3.99! Also available on Amazon, of course. 

Put It On the List

From the hysterically funny author and illustrator, Kristen Darbyshire 

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, 2009

Hardcover, 32 pages

Why I love it:

-   This is one of those kids’ books that adults will get a kick out of too. There is some dry humor going on that the kids probably won’t get, but it makes the book even more enjoyable for me as a reader.

-   It lends itself to a whole slew of therapy targets. To name a few:

o   Concepts: food, days of the week, shopping and counting money

o   Categories: fruit, vegetables, household items, etc.

o   Language: making requests, singular/plural nouns

o   Literacy: making predictions, list making, making text-to-self connections

o   Higher level skills: planning ahead, problem solving, working as a team player, household rules, importance of writing things down that you need to remember, cause/effect relationships

o   Bonus skills: money and basic math, pragmatics, nutrition and healthy eating habits

-   It is the perfect length to introduce some concepts without the book taking over the lesson - Short and sweet, without feeling “babyish.”

-   The graphic style and humorous dialogue makes it a perfect choice for all levels - even upper elementary grades.

Uses in Therapy:

Setting: Whole class push-in or small group pull-out.

First, guide the student to explore the cover illustration. Prompt them to start thinking about what the book will be about.

o   “What animals do you see? What do you think they are doing?”

Use this opportunity to prompt text-to-self connections,

o   “Raise your hand if you have been to the grocery store”

o   “What do your parents bring to the grocery store to help them remember what to buy?”

As you are reading the book, ask the students to predict what will happen next. Start introducing the concept of categories,

o   “Look, they need orange juice. Orange juice is a drink. Are bananas a drink? Noooo…. What group do bananas belong to?”

After reading the book, ask the students to brainstorm what problems the family had (they ran out of food, had to eat odd combinations of foods, didn’t have any milk for their cereal, etc.). Refer back to the pictures in the book if necessary to recall some of the problems. Then ask the children what the family did to solve the problems.

Extension activities:

Laminate blank shopping lists (template here) and have the kids brainstorm categories and items. I use Vis-a-Vis overhead markers on laminated sheets since they don’t rub off, and wet wipes to erase. If covering nutrition, introduce students to the USDA Choose My Plate schematic. Define each food group and ask students to brainstorm foods that belong to each group.

Set up a pretend store (laminate pictures of common food items or use plastic food. My stash of pictures from Google images can be found here). You could expand this further and assign prices to things if you have students who need reinforcement of basic math and money skills. Have students approach the “store” to request items from their list. This is a good time to introduce some role-playing with the customer/cashier roles and pragmatic skills (“excuse me,” “please,” “thank you”). Reinforce the category concept (“Do you need any fruit?”) and train students to respond with full sentences. “I need grapes.” Introduce paper money if using and have student compute their total cost and make change. Return “home” and reinforce category concept and sneak in some basic math. “How many vegetables did you get?”

Carryover: Send home a note explaining what the group worked on. Include a sample shopping list and a blank template. Encourage the family to make their next grocery list to reinforce the concepts. Include some resources for nutrition as well if targeting in the lesson. Nutrition Explorations is a great site for some interactive games to reinforce the concept of food groups. Encourage the family to identify food by food group at meal times. The USDA website has some great printables. See my home carryover letter here.