1. John Gile has created several
grade-appropriate versions of his “How A Book Is
Born” assembly program. For grade two and below, the
program concentrates on reading power. Programs for grade
three and above concentrate on writing skills. Programs
at all levels highlight the essential role of reading as
the foundation for writing power and provide insight into
processes for generating and developing ideas, writing
and rewriting, creating illustrations, avoiding writing
pitfalls, and overcoming writer’s procrastination
— all presented in a context that entertains as it
informs and instructs. The grade three and above programs
include writing tools to make all forms of writing
easier, faster, more powerful, and more fun. As you can see in program
evaluations by teachers and administrators, his
programs flesh out classroom instruction, provide tools
and techniques on which teachers and students can
continue building, and provide motivation so crucial for
reading and writing skill development.
2. For grades two and below, teachers
may wish to read Oh, How I Wished I Could
Read! to their students. The story is based
on some practical and amusing aspects of what often
is termed “environmental reading” and
encourages children to think about the vital role
reading plays in their everyday lives. In one popular
classroom exercise, teachers use the story to
initiate a discussion of reading power, then have
each child select a reason why reading is important
to him/her and create a page with an illustration and
sentence or short text about that reason. The pages
are posted in the classroom and/or assembled to make
a book. Some teachers present their class books to
the author while he is at their school, allowing the
students to showcase their creativity, reinforcing
his message that they are authors, too, and
generating excitement about reading. His thank you
note sent afterwards to acknowledge the
students’ writing and art provides another
opportunity for discussing the importance of reading
and the power of writing.
3. For grades three and above,
teachers may wish to do an advanced version of that
activity or read What Is That Thing?
Whose Stuff Is This? to focus
on vocabulary development and the worlds that open to us
with word power. Another appropriate exercise with the
older children is to follow the reading with a discussion of ideas presented and then
have students, working in groups or individually, create
60 second “commercials” about the importance of
reading, the connection between reading and vocabulary
development, the ways word power enriches our own lives
and the lives of everyone in our communities, and the
impact our words can have on others. Featuring the
students’ word power “commercials” on the
PA system involves the whole school and provides students
with recognition for their good work.
4. Teachers have created numerous
classroom and school-wide exercises based on various
themes found in The First Forest. Common themes developed by
teachers include, but are not limited to:
--Consideration for others;
--Responsibility;
--Teamwork;
--Environmental concerns;
--Neighborliness;
--Self-confidence;
--Self-control;
--Peace.
Additional free teaching aids, units, and ideas are
available at the links provided below and at the
author's website, www.johngile.com.
One group of teachers was
particularly creative in capitalizing on the peace theme
of The First Forest.
Instead of focusing on the large concept of world peace,
they focused on peace in the classroom and peace at home.
They shared the story, used the story to lead into a
discussion of how the children treat each other, and then
had the children make posters about keeping the peace at
school. They also gave them an assignment to create
posters about keeping the peace at home and treating each
other with respect — to be completed with their
families. The peace at home poster project involved the
children in talks with their families about kindness and
patience and showing respect for themselves and others.
The posters displayed on classroom and hallway walls
foster courtesy and kindness.
Another teacher in Minnesota talked
with students about the people in their
neighborhoods, then told the children she was going
to share with them a story about an imaginary
neighborhood — The First Forest. She
read the story to them and followed up with a
discussion of how the imaginary neighborhood changed
and whether they liked it better before or after the
change. She connected it with how people treat each
other in the children’s neighborhoods and how
the children would like it to be. That was followed
by a short writing assignment about what the children
could do to make their own neighborhoods more
friendly.
Others cite the story as an
example of pourquoi literature — imaginative stories
based on something that happens in nature and used as a
metaphor or allegory to address aspects of human behavior
— and have the children make up their own pourquoi
stories. Teachers and students have addressed very
profound concerns and created very beautiful stories in
their writing exercises based
on responses to The First Forest.
5. John Gile is a versatile
communicator — author, journalist, editor,
publisher, lecturer, cartoonist — who employs
various and diverse writing styles in addressing
the needs and interests of both children and adults. In his books cited here, he
writes in a rhythmical, rhyming pattern, including
internal rhymes which teachers use in various ways to
focus on language. For younger students, the rhyming
pattern is used to foster phonemic awareness and
phonological development. Teachers reading the
stories pause and invite the children to use the
rhythm and rhyme of the writing as a clue for
guessing what the next word will be. For older
students, the word choice pattern is used to address
cadence, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and the stories
are used to address concepts such as simile,
allegory, metaphor, analogy, personification, etc.
6. You will find additional ideas
for your consideration on other pages and in updates at
both www.jgcunited.com and at www.johngile.com. In
“How A Book Is Born” assembly programs and in
hands-on classroom writing workshops, John Gile focuses
on broad principles students can apply in all their
writing — expository, descriptive, narrative, and
persuasive. Please remember these suggestions have been
prepared in response to requests from principals and
teachers, but no special preparation beyond normal
instruction in your current curriculum is necessary for
your students to derive benefits which strengthen their
reading and writing skills in programs with John Gile.
Call 815/968-6601 or contact us by e-mail for
answers to any questions.
Free Teaching Aids
The First
Forest
•
Cross Curricular Unit
• Multicultural
Awareness
•
The
First Forest — Teaching Peace
•
Listen
to the wisdom of the children . . .
•
A Prime Example Of
Pourquoi Literature — Writing Prompt
Oh, How I
Wished I Could Read!
• Classroom
Activities
What Is
That Thing? Whose Stuff Is This?
• To
foster vocabulary development, conflict
resolution, reading motivation, creativity,
compassion, cooperation
 • Click
here for the author's background information
• Click here to visit the author's
website — www.johngile.com.
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Aaron B.,
Third Grade