Tuesday Book Talk

Happy Book Talk Tuesday!  As the temperature and humidity increase, I'm finding myself sitting indoors or lounging in the pool reading a book - exactly what I love about summer.

This week I selected Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton for my read aloud book talk.  My kids love Splat and his mouse friend, Seymour.  They always wonder how a cat can be friends with a mouse.  We then have a discussion about being friends with everyone no matter who they are.
               
                          
Splat is nervous because it is his first day of school and he is worried he won't make any friends.  Splat decides to put  his friend, Seymour, into his lunchbox to make himself feel better.  During class, Seymour gets out and all the other cats want to chase the mouse.  Splat now worries that his classmates won't like him because Seymour is his friend.  However, Seymour ends up saving the day for the other cats! The students love the story and the illustrations are great in all the Splat books.

I love using this book the first few days of school and having a discussion about being nervous the first day of school.  We make a graph of kids that were nervous or not nervous and discuss why they were nervous.  We also graph if the students knew someone in the class before they came to school.  This leads to discussions about  friendships and how we make friends.

I also like to introduce close reading activities with Splat books.  The students love Splat and don't mind sitting through the books more than once.  If you are a fan of Splat, be sure to check out Splat the Cat Close Read Lesson Plans.  They are a great addition to any Splat unit you are currently using.

I would love to hear what activities you use for Splat books - please leave them in the comments section below!  

For more book ideas, see Deanna Jump's blog post found here.