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Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

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Ideas, tips and resources for primary language teachers

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Mange ideer til arbejdet med Pete the Cat

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I've witnessed many trends over my thirty some years of teaching and the balanced literacy framework was one of the most profound for me. It encompassed the way I felt reading should be taught. The main focus is on reading comprehension but also takes into account the use of phonics and whole word learning in terms of teaching decoding. I feel both phonics and whole word learning should be taught because they both appeal to different learning styles (auditory and visual learners). Whatever trends may come in the future, they can still be applied within this framework.

I just read the book "Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses" by James Dean. It was a phenomenal book that captures the interest of children, relays a positive message and can be easily used to help your students develop higher level thinking skills. I knew I wanted to use this book within my classroom as a base to teach reading. My plans are outlined in this blog post. You will notice that it does follow the "balanced literacy" framework.
Building Higher Level Thinking Skills
The theory behind changing the curriculum outcomes was based on the need for students to develop higher level thinking skills. The trend is increasingly moving away from rote style learning. In this plan, I will focus on how we can assist students to develop this higher level thinking within a balanced literacy classroom.
Making Connections
At the beginning of the book Pete the cat is grumpy but it is left open-ended as to the reason why. This is an ideal opportunity for the students to make connections as to what made him grumpy in the first place. Students can reflect on their own personal experiences as to what makes them grumpy and this helps them relate to the main character.
Making Inferences
This is an ideal book to use for modeling how to make inferences from reading the text. This book indirectly tells a great deal about the main character (Pete). The ideas generated would be printed on chart paper and would be used for supporting the students' writing.
He is kind. He likes skateboarding. He has many friends. He is a good listener
This is where the bulk of the reading instruction takes place as the teacher models the reading process. I always wanted my shared reading to connect with my read aloud and this was the main reason for creating my program. Many of the emergent readers do connect with a literature selection. I have just created a simple retelling of the book "Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses" that I used for shared reading ( see sample page above). It is a patterned version that will allow the students to read independently, once it has been read through several times. I projected the colored version on the Smart Board so all the students could see the print. I modeled the reading process as we read through the selection together. My initial focus is always making the print meaningful and then moving towards teaching strategies.

In this lesson I focused on the inital letter sounds of "c and g" heard in the words within the story (cat and glasses). l also introduced the sight word "the". I also have been working with my students on using initial letters and picture clues to help them determine what the word is. This is the focus of my mini-lesson but there are certainly more opportunities found within the reader.

WORD STUDY - LITERACY CENTERS

My word study component is always related to the mini-lesson. It is an opportunity for my students to practice what I introduced during shared reading time and is encompassed within my Literacy Centers. I have outlined my Literacy Centers in the document below.

GUIDED READING AND BENEFITS OF PRINTABLE READERS

I used the black and white version of the emergent reader for guided reading. I monitored if my students can track words, correlate text to picture, use initial letter sounds associated with the picture and identify a few sight words. I make a copy for each of my students so they can take these home to read to others. I absolutely love using printable books because it allows my students to "mess them up". Many of the readers have an interactive component where the students are required to interact with it in some form (circle words, highlight sight words, color pictures, cut and paste pictures that correspond to the text, etc.). This adds a greater sense of ownership and meaning for the students.

Many of the students will be able to read the emergent reader independently once it has been read through several times because it is patterned (pretend reading). Students should be encouraged to read these over many times as research has proven this is the most effective method in successfully teaching children to recognize sight words (opposed to rote learning in using flashcards). My color version is printed on cardstock, laminated, and placed in our reading book library.
SHARED AND INTERACTIVE WRITING
The students generated inferences about what we learned about Pete the cat and I (with help) printed these on chart paper. My students came forward and helped me print words using letters that have already been introduced "share the pen".

GUIDED AND INDEPENDENT WRITING

A guided "Pete the Cat" drawing lesson was demonstrated to small groups. At this point, many of my students still need guidance in their writing. It is rare that I get a child that is fully independent.
How Do I Access This Mini-Theme?
This mini-theme has been added to the "Pet Theme" unit. If you are currently a member, you can access it on that theme page.

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I've witnessed many trends over my thirty some years of teaching and the balanced literacy framework was one of the most profound for me. It encompassed the way I felt reading should be taught. The main focus is on reading comprehension but also takes into account the use of phonics and whole word learning in terms of teaching decoding.

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Mange gratis ideer, men det kræver et login.

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Find the latest Pete the Cat books including Pete the Cat activity books, collection books, picture books, song books, I Can Read! books, and more.

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Film ca 4 min. - super god til fællessang og fortælling

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Pete the Cat - I Love My White Shoes - Live Telling

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Film ca. 5min.

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'Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses' by Kimberly & James Dean - READ ALOUD FOR KIDS!