Courtney Owen

10/15/15

Due:

CURR 611

Dr. Peck

Interactive Read-Aloud
1. Book Information & Context:
a. Book: Grumpy Goat
b. Context: A grumpy goat lives on a happy farm, but he is not always
grumpy.
c. Format: Childrens picture book.
d. Author: Brett Helquist
e. Publication Date: 2013
f. Relevance to curriculum: G1 Reading 4. Identify words and phrases in
stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
2. Rationale for choice
a. Instructional & Student Goals: Students will identify different emotions,
why people (or animals) may feel that way, and discuss ways that
people can appropriately express those feelings and how others can
help/ be a good friend.
b. Embedded instruction: Students will project their understanding of
emotions onto animals to better identify feelings.
c. Rationale: My first placement landed my in a classroom with very
emotional first graders who already came with a lot of emotional
baggage. One student had recently lost a sibling, another had a sibling
diagnosed with cancer, another had lost a grandparent, and another
was neglected at home, just to name a few. Needless to say, many of
these students were experiencing a lot of emotions that they had
difficulty expressing appropriately and would act out in ways that were
not conducive to the learning environment and werent healthy ways
of coping. Therefore I wanted to focus on a text in which a range of
emotions was expressed and the reasons why could be very clear or
unclear at times. I wanted it to be emotions felt by animals because
studies show that young children are able to project their feelings onto
animals and other things before they can fully comprehend it in other
people and themselves.
3. Method for
a. Activating Prior Knowledge
b. Material: yellow, blue, red, and green circles
c. Sign Language
i. Have you ever felt happy? What makes you happy? Use this
yellow circle to write one thing that makes you happy. How do
you show others that you are happy? On the other side of the
yellow circle write how you show your happiness. This is the sign
for happy.
ii. Have you ever felt sad? What makes you sad? Use this blue
circle to write one thing that makes you sad. How do you show

others that you are sad? On the other side of the blue circle
write how you show your sadness. This is the sign for sad.
iii. Have you ever felt mad? What makes you mad? Use this red
circle to write one thing that makes you mad. How do you show
others that you are mad? On the other side of the circle write
how you show others you are mad. This is the sign for mad.
iv. Have you ever felt scared? What scares you? Use this green
circle to write one thing that scares you. How do you show
others that you are scared? Use the other side of the green
circle to write how you show others when youre scared. This is
the sign for scared.
d. Previewing Text
i. *Read title* Why do you think this Goat is Grumpy? Do you think
he is always grumpy? What other feelings might he have? Why
would he have some of these feelings?
ii. Before we start this book, I want you to practice the feelings
signs. Anytime you see an animal expressing one of these
emotions, I want you to sign it. Lets practice. If you see a
grumpy goat- what sign will you make? *mad* What if you see a
happy pig? A scared cow? A sad sheep?
4. Reasoning
a. Intentional pauses:
i. Pg. 4- Look for signed emotions to gage involvement and
understanding of directions/ emotions being expressed in the
book.
ii. Pg. 13- But at the top of Sunrise Hill- there is about to be a
change in the story, I want to pause so students recognize when
they are given a cliffhanger in a book and its intention.
iii. Pg. 15- allow students a chance to relate the goats feeling of
nostalgia or a reminder of something happy.
iv. Pg. 21- Again, for students to note that there will be another
change in the story and possibly a change in how Goat is feeling.
v. Pg. 25- There was nothing Goat could do. Let students realize
that sometimes there terrible things happen and you cant do
anything about them.
vi. Pg. 29- Until one day Students will see the third pattern and
know that the story and goats feelings will change again!
5. Interactive Questions
a. Pg 4. *Look for signed emotions* Why do you think hes never had a
friend? What emotions is goat expressing? How do you think the other
animals are feeling? Sign their feelings.
b. Pg. 6- *look for signed emotions*
c. Pg. 10- *Signs* Is that a good way to express your feelings? How could
he do it differently?
d. Pg. 16- How do you thing goat is feeling now? Why?
e. Pg. 19- *Look for signs*
f. Pg. 20- Whats different?

g. Pg. 23- There was nothing Goat could do. Have you ever felt that
way? Helpless, like you couldnt do anything about something and it
made you feel sad?
h. Pg. 24. Are the animals being good friends?
i. Did you like the way it ended? Why? Did it make you feel good? What
did it make you feel? *happy*
6. Follow Up Engagements based on text
a. Discussion
i. So was the goat always grumpy?
ii. What other emotions or feelings did he express?
iii. When he was grumpy, how did he show it? Happy? Sad?
iv. Look at your circles- do you show your emotions in the same
way or a different way than goat and his animal friends?
v. Do we know why goat was grumpy in the beginning? Do we
always know why people are mad?
vi. Do we know why that flower mad him happy? Do we always
know why people feel the way they do?
vii. What did the animals do when goat was acting out (mad, happy,
sad?)
viii. Were the animals good friends? How can you be a good friend
when someone acts out like that?
ix. How can you in turn help your friends help you when you act out
that way?
b. Worksheet
i. Pick an animal
ii. Pick one of your circles, any color
iii. Use that animal and tell me why your animal feels that way
iv. Like the sheep, pigs, and cow- How can other animals help?

Grumpy Goat
1. Book information and context
a. What should we know about the book youve selected: consider context,
format, the author, the publication date, the relevance to your curriculum,
other similar works
i. Book: Grumpy Goat
ii. Context: A grumpy goat lives on a happy farm, but he is not always
grumpy.
iii. Format: Childrens picture book.
iv. Author: Brett Helquist
v. Publication Date: 2013
vi. Relevance to curriculum: G1 Reading 4. Identify words and phrases
in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
2. Rationale for choice
a. Ask: Why did you choose this text?
i. My first placement landed my in a classroom with very emotional
first graders who already came with a lot of emotional baggage.
One student had recently lost a sibling, another had a sibling
diagnosed with cancer, another had lost a grandparent, and
another was neglected at home, just to name a few. Needless to
say, many of these students were experiencing a lot of emotions
that they had difficulty expressing appropriately and would act out
in ways that were not conducive to the learning environment and
werent healthy ways of coping. Therefore I wanted to focus on a
text in which a range of emotions was expressed and the reasons
why could be very clear or unclear at times. I wanted it to be
emotions felt by animals because studies show that young children
are able to project their feelings onto animals and other things
before they can fully comprehend it in other people and
themselves.
b. What skills are you teaching- developing though this read-aloud?
i. I hope the students will make cultural connections from text to
self but more importantly be able to articulate feelings in
themselves and others and determine the appropriate reaction or
action with those feelings.
c. What makes it well suited for the skill you have decided to teach?
i. This particular book uses animals that exhibit an array of feelings.
By using animals, students can familiarize themselves with
emotions and project their emotions onto these animals.
d. What aspects of the book make it well matched for involving students in
the book?
i. The pictures in the book make it welcoming to the reader. The
concept of a grumpy goat seems humorous and therefore makes
the book more intriguing. It adds a note of mystery, always leaving

the reader on a cliff hanger before you turn the page to discover
what is about to change the story (Until one day...). Also, I hope
to incorporate active roles for the students, in which they use sign
language to indicate what feelings they notice in the animals. In
this way, students will feel more invested in the book and can
almost empathize with the animals.
e. Make connections between the attributes of the text, the context
curriculum, and the particular needs of your students.
i. The particular students I had in mind for this book had needs that
pertained to identifying and expressing their emotions. By choosing
this book, I am taking into consideration what type of book they
care to listen to (picture book, with animals) and what still
correlates with the curriculum (understanding feelings in reading
and writing).
3. Activating Prior Knowledge
i. I will ask students about four emotions (happy, sad, mad, scared)
and ask them what makes them *insert emotion* and how they
show others they are feeling that way. They will express these on
colored circles.
ii. I am hoping that some students will have watched the movie Inside
Out and connect the colored circles with feelings/emotions. It is not
necessary but it is one tactic for some students to easily make the
connection to something relevant in their lives, like a favorite
movie.
iii. With each emotion I will also teach the students the American Sign
Language sign for that emotion. I will ask the students to use these
signs to represent the feelings of the animals in the story.
4. Pauses and Questions
a. How are you inviting students into the text?
i. By noting which students are signing the different emotions, I hope
that will indicate which students are engaged and comprehending
the text, and which students I should invite into the book with a
question.
b. How are you engaging each and every student in the story?
i. Each student will be actively signing the emotions they note in the
story- this is how I can determine that each is engaged and invite
them to show me an animals feelings if I do not notice them
signing.
c. What are students expected to do during the read aloud?
i. ASL
d. Evaluate- how much can I or should I interact to engage students
WITHOUT interfering with the flow of the story and student meaning
making?
i. I only hope to engage students with questions during parts in which
it seems meaningful
5. Reader Response
a. What will you do to extend the learning and to engage students in the key
ideas from the story and your lesson?

b. What would be relevant and authentic?

i. Authentic- to use their own experiences- colored circles- to engage
their learning