Happy December! Ready for a month filled with love, Christmas cheer, and excited children? There is nothing like an elementary classroom during the holiday season, so much excitement and anticipation!
Today I am sharing a Christmas read aloud favorite of mine…
Cranberry Christmas
I just love the Cranberry book series by Wende and Harry Devlin (you can see my Cranberry Thanksgiving post here).
This book lends itself well to several standards, but especially…
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7
Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)
There are so many places you can point this out in the story, but I am going to highlight a few of my favorite spots to stop and discuss this particular standard.
You may want to use a sticky note to mark the pages in the book, that has always been helpful to me as it is so easy to get caught up in the story and read right through the discussion points!
➜ To begin, on the first two pages of the story the mood is set. The text says Mr. Whisker’s is “deep in gloom” and the illustrations reflect this. The color tone is muted and dreary, the plant is drooping, the room looks messy, there is food stuck on the side of the pot sitting on the stove, Mr. Whiskers is slumped over the table with his head in his hand.
As we turn the page we discover the cause of Mr. Whiskers’ gloom… his neighbor Cyrus Grape. Ask students to describe Mr. Grape and his disposition by just looking at the illustration. We are able to discover quite a bit about Cyrus Grape just from the picture.
➜ Next, take a close look at the illustrations (shown below) as Sarah, Mr. Whiskers’ sister, arrives at his home on Christmas Eve. What kind of mood do you feel as you look at the outside of the cabin, and then on the next page the inside of the cabin? Has the mood of the story changed from the beginning of the story to this point? How has the mood changed, and what has caused this change?
➜ You might also want to point out the simile that is used describing Mr. Whiskers as he skated “like a great black-whiskered bird”. I love how this illustration conveys the meaning of the text perfectly.
Click here to grab the FREE Cranberry Christmas Reading Response Activity!
