Written by Martin Jenkins & Illustrated by Jane Chapman 

Written by Maya Karthik 

Written by Polly Dunbar 

Written by Jeanne Willis & Illustrated by Jarvis 

Written by Elizabeth Rusch & Illustrated by Alice Brereton

This project helped me gain a new perspective when it comes to teaching. Our book, And Tango Makes Three, was centered around some topics that could be considered controversial or not easily understood by young children. However, I learned that you do not always have to focus on what seems like the blatant theme of the book. Instead, you can find other ways to make connections between what the students are reading in the book and other educational themes or topics. 

Ultimately, I feel as though this project gave me many valuable insights for my future career. First, I have never used Padlet before, which allowed me to learn a new way to create and share information. Next, I think this project allowed me to understand the importance of creating lessons, games, and activities that are inclusive for all students and their families. Having to include resources for special needs students and different means of communication helped me realize how important that is to have in a classroom. Finally, this project helped me make the connection between play and learning. It is extremely valuable for students’ growth, development, and learning to incorporate play in the classroom. 

The book And Tango Makes Three, was able to teach me many valuable lessons. Whether that means how all different types of families are present, the life cycle of a penguin, or the geographic region that penguins live in. There are so many different extension activities that this book can help implement. I was able to obtain so much information while doing this project. I think this project was a great way to understand the connection between play-based activities and comprehension. I learned that there are many different directions you can go when trying to create a lesson plan based on a book. For example, our book, And Tango Makes Three, is a great example of this. We were able to create extension activities focusing on science and geography even though these were not the main focuses throughout the book. I also learned how important it is to create activities and lessons that are inclusive for all students. I was able to realize this when I found our special needs extension activities. Overall, this project was a great reflection of the key learning concepts that we learned throughout the semester. 

I learned a lot about incorporating play within the classroom and it helped me with this assignment as coming up with ideas to help the students retain more information throughout the story. I learned that you can create many different themes from one specific book. This book showed me that there is more than one theme within a story and how to focus on not only one specific theme itself. 

This course has shown me a lot throughout my college experience and this activity has also shown me that play based activities can help with comprehension for students. Moving forward, it is important to create a safe space and allow open communication with the parents as well. It is important to incorporate activities that are inclusive and benefit all students as well.