Repetitive books, books with predictable text, encourage children to read along and contribute verbally. Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton, is my favorite book in this category. The predictability, simplicity and pure silliness of this book keeps even the busiest of toddlers and preschoolers interested. The turkey in this book has a great deal of difficulty getting dressed. He puts his socks on his hands and his coat on his beak. I recommend this book to parents who report that they struggle to keep a child engaged in shared reading. In addition to recommending this to parents, I use this book during the assessment process, it is always in my assessment kit.
When I read this book with a toddler or preschooler, I add another level of predictability by using an action as I say oops. I lightly tap my forehead with my hand. This provides an opportunity to work on imitation of actions along with sounds and words. It is a bonus that the predictable word is an easy word to approximate. Even children who have limited verbal skills might be able to produce an approximation of “oops." If a child is not able to produce an approximation, he might be able to participate by doing the action at the appropriate time.
During the assessment, I read the book, then I give the book to the child and tell him to read it to me or to his parent, or to a doll. Here are some of the skills I consider during the assessment. Several of these are skills are included on the Teaching Strategies Gold in the ares of literacy, language and cognitive.
Attending to a short, predictable book: I find that this book has better odds of keeping the attention of some children who struggle to attend to books than many others I have used. Parents frequently comment that they are surprised to see a child attending to the book. This story really can keep the attention of even some of our busiest little ones.
Completing predictable lines/contributing language during a book: Often after the 2nd time through, a child can’t help but chime in with “oops." It is fun and silly!
Shifting gaze from the book to the reader’s face: For children who sometimes forget to shift attention from an object to face, this book is great for encouraging shifting. Because of the predictability, the child knows I am going to be silly at the end of each line, but I pause and wait to do the action or say oops until the child looks up at me.
Imitate actions/sounds: I have completed evaluations and observations where the child imitates very few actions or sounds, but might imitate the action of tapping their forehead and making a sound for oops.
Showing understanding of absurdities: It is always interesting to observe if a child sees the humor on the page before I say oops.
Verbalizing what is wrong and how to fix it: When assessing verbal children, I ask what is wrong and what the turkey should do to fix it. The child gets to practice answering “what” and “where” questions. Where should the turkey put his coat?
Predicting and answering logic questions: I ask what is going to happen when the turkey is jumping off of the diving board in his clothes. I ask what he forgot to do. I ask how he is going to get his clothes dry.
Understanding that text has meaning: As I say “oops,” I point to the word and say, “this says oops." When I am done reading, I have the child read the book back to me. I observe whether the child points to the word as he says oops. There are 2 words above each picture, so a child might notice as I point to the words that the first word is a color word and the second is the clothing word. I watch to see if the child points to the words as he reads it back.
Colors: I observe if a child is saying the correct color as he reads it back to me.
Story retell: The predictable text is wonderful for promoting story retell. If a child knows colors and clothing, he or she can read it back without help.
Turning the pages: Can the child turn pages one at a time?
Orientation of the book: When it is the child’s turn to read to me, I hand the book to him in an upside down position to observe if he turns the book right side up.
Pretending to read: Does a nonverbal child babble with a reading like intonation? What level of detail does a verbal child include when reading the story? Does the child move from the front of the book to the back? Does he point to words as he reads?
Some parents who observe this activity have purchased the book and report that they enjoy reading it with their child and in some cases it might be the first book they have felt successful with in terms of keeping their child engaged in shared reading. I always encourage parents to connect books with real life. A father recently shared that he used the framework of the text from this book to play a game with clothing as he was getting his toddler dressed. He took different clothes from the drawers, labeled the color and the item of clothing, then ended the sequence by putting a sock on his toddler’s hand, pants on his head, or shirt on his legs and of course, saying “oops." What a great extension activity! So, what is your favorite predictable book?
