Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Duck at the Door

Duck at the Door, by Jackie Urbanovic is another book I've used this week for helping my children think about predicting.  The animals and Irene hear a knock at the door during a winter storm.  They are surprised to find a Duck stuck in a snow bank.  Duck, aka Max loved spring and decided to stay and not leave with his flock, assuming he would like winter.  His plan didn't go so well and Irene was kind enough to take him in for the winter.  Max learns a lot about living in a house with gadgets.  Max's adventures with his new learning is quite funny.  Just as spring arrives, Irene and the animals need a break from Max and at the same time Max hears his flock returning and rushes off to join them.  Everyone misses Max.  When Fall comes there is a knock on the door and everyone is hoping for the same thing on the other side.  The ending has a delightful twist. 

Many of my students had already heard this story before so our discussion about predicting was a bit challenging.  Those who knew the story just wanted to share the ending and steps along the way.  It's hard for young students to wait or not share with excitement with thinking.  When I got to the point where I wanted to talk about making a prediction, I found it was hard for them to focus on the question and not the ending.  I then went on a search to find books for prediction that may not be so common.

No comments:

Post a Comment