A Piece of Chalk

I stumbled upon A Piece of Chalk by Jennifer A. Ericsson on a trip to the library before school and thought it made a great first day read aloud.  A little girl builds a piece of art on her driveway using a brand new set of chalk.  A realistic setting many kindergarten students can connect with.  Each two page spread adds another element to the big picture on the driveway.  The text always starts with this phrase, "I take a piece of chalk."  My favorite line on each page is the second which is naming the color chosen to work with.  The author doesn't state the color with your normal one word label.  She adds richness to each with description and an association;  "A brick red one."  As the little girl adds gray clouds, it starts to rain and her colors turn into puddles.  The students and I held writing workshop outside on our first day with our own brand new tubs of chalk.  We were inspired from this read aloud and began building a community and a memory of time together.