Friday, January 4, 2013

Where Do You Get Those?

The second graders (all in their pajamas, due to a school-wide pajama day) listened to the cassette recording of THE SNOW PARTY by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers today. Most had never seen a cassette tape, and a discussion ensued about how it worked. Then, one person asked, as if he was going to buy one, "Where do you get those?"

It was honestly difficult for me to listen and turn the pages instead of speaking the words! The children loved the narrator's voices and the sound effects. Eventually, they associated certain tones and the words "But listen!" with yet another group of stranded travelers arrives at the Dakota farmhouse. To the delight of the woman - and the astonishment of my listeners - at the door, "eighty-four grown-ups, seventeen children, seven babies, six dogs, a cat, a parakeet, a canary, and a little pet skunk" end up with her during the storm. The best part for the characters and the listeners was when the K-M Bakery man knocked at the door! Knock-knock. Knock-knock-knock. Small hands tapped the same rhythm on the wood around them. Suddenly, the snow part had delicious food! As we moved to the computer lab to begin creating amazing snow removal equipment, they buzzed with the same excitement of the farmer's wife!

8 comments:

  1. Love this! Want to be in your library, listening . . . Also: v. funny re: where-do-you-get those cassette tapes! xx

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  2. Will you be pullin' out the ol' 8 track next week? hahaha

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    1. They would really wonder about those! I remember my grandpa's collection of country 8 tracks :)

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  3. when you come to visit is it like the k-m baker arriving at the door?

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    1. It would be lovely to think of the K-M man ringing the doorbell, but honestly, our condo cake looks better than his chocolate party cake!

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  4. What an enchanting lesson! I know what you mean about it being hard to be passive rather than the active story reader. I love that they had the exposure to another form. A library where i worked had the old fashioned machine in which you popped in a film strip & cassette of a book. A few families still enjoyed them!
    I love the follow up activity.
    PS Do you know the picture book Oliver by Birgitta Siff?

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    1. I found those cassette/filmstrip machines fascinating! I have not seen OLIVER, but I put it on my reserve list. Thanks for the recommendation!

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  5. Such lucky children to hear so many different voices!

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