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.
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