Cat

Another book I discovered on my recent trip to the library is perfect for our classroom to participate in a shared reading, buddy reading, and using our picture clues to read. Cat written by Mike Dumbleton and illustrated by Craig Smith is written with the emergent reader in mind. The text is simple, repetitive and uses sight words within short phrases. Here's a sample of how it starts...

"Cat.

Dog.

Dog. Cat.

Tall tree.

Thank goodness for that!"

Cat then crosses paths with a mouse, sprinkler, bird, bike, milk, and a mat. Did you notice how the order of cat and dog are repeated and reverses in order, Dog. Cat? This pattern continues throughout the book with each thing the cat comes across. The phrase, "Thank goodness for that!" is repeated throughout the book and will be a fun way to engage the students with the text. The more I read this book I am quite impressed with the illustrations and how supportive they are to the text. The students will easily be able to figure out the text because the illustrations truly and precisely match the text. The author and illustrator team are from Australia, a leader in early literacy instruction. It's no surprise Mike Dumbleton is a literacy consultant currently and worked as a Literacy Coordinator. This book is worth a peek for any K/1 classroom.