EEK! Bugs everywhere!

    But you won't mind these bugs!  They don't bite or sting or buzz in your ear! In fact, they are just plain cute! So cute, in fact, that they are in The Best Bug Parade!

       The Best Bug Parade, by Stuart Murphy, is a favorite among kindergarten teachers and students!  Students love the vibrant, colorful bugs, and teachers love that it introduces measurement as a math concept!  In the story, different types of bugs go marching by on "parade".  The captions compare the bugs as they stroll by, using terms like big, bigger, biggest, and long, longer, longest.

     Summarizing is a good reading comprehension strategy for students that involves more than simply retelling what they heard or read in a book.  In summarizing, students point out the main points of a book. It can be used for fiction or nonfiction books.  In fiction, students point out the main characters, the setting, the events, etc.  In nonfiction, students point out the main ideas or key points.  Teachers can offer sentence prompts like first, next, finally, etc.


      One strategy that is good for summarizing The Best Bug Parade is called exit strategy.  In this one, the teacher writes an answer on a note card and students must answer it correctly before they can leave the room  (for block, lunch, etc.) or the table (if it is group time).  For example, the teacher writes shorter on one side of the note card and longer on the other.  Then the teacher holds up or points to two items.  She asks the students "Is the pointer shorter or longer than the flagpole?", and students who hold up the right answer get to line up or leave the table to go back to their seat.
  

     Synthesizing is a reading comprehension strategy that takes summarizing a book one step further. Instead of just repeating what is heard in the book, students relate what they already know about the subject to the book.  Then they take the new things they learned from the book and add it to their existing knowledge.

     There are several  strategies that work well for synthesizing this book.  One is called "say something".  In this activity, students pair up and take turns reading the text.  After reading a page or two, students each take a turn making a significant comment about what they read; it might be something that the book reminded them about or what the readers thinks is important; it might even be a request for clarity on the matter.  The teacher might suggest statements like:

• This reminds me of...
• I did not understand when....
• I know something that is ...(longer, shorter, taller,etc.)

So if you are looking for a good book to introduce students to measurement concepts and comparisons, check out The Best Bug Parade", and see if these aren't just the cutest little bugs you've ever seen!