Go Away Big Green Monster Literacy Activity

KidsSoup literacy activities engage children in conversations about language and literature in fun and develomentally appropriate ways. Each literacy activity is correlated to Kindergarten Common Core Standards and includes detailed points of discussion with guiding questions written in child-friendly language. Supplemental materials are provided to support group discussion and extend learning. Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley is the focus book for this week's literacy activity, which we are pleased to share with you here. During and after reading, children answer questions and categorize vocabulary words.

Go Away, Big Green Monster!

Objectives/Skills:

Print Concepts: Children understand that stories are made up of words.
Word Recognition: Children read high-frequency words.
Fluency: Children read familiar text with others.
Vocabulary: Children sort words by category.
Comprehension: Children identify details in text.

Kindergarten Common Core Standards:

Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details
K.RL.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Foundational Skills: Phonics and Word Recognition
K.RF.3c Read common high-frequency words by sight (has, two, yellow, a, big, red, blue, with, little, go, away)

Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
K.L.5a Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

What you need:

Book: Go Away Big Green Monster
Color, Size, and Body Part Word Card printables
Scissors
Pocket Chart

Prior to reading the book, display the cover and read the title. Point to different body parts on the monster in the cover illustration, and ask the following questions:

“What part of the monster’s body is this?” (his nose, his ear, his eye, his hair)
“What color is the monster’s nose/ear/eye/hair?” (green; yellow, white, and black; purple)

Read the story through a few times without interruption, allowing children to chant “You Don’t Scare Me!” “Go Away!” and “Don’t Come Back!” along with you on the appropriate pages.
After children are well acquainted with the story, display three labels in a pocket chart that read: “body part words,” “color words,” and “size words.” Explain to children that you will read the story again, but this time children need to listen carefully for words that name body parts, colors, or sizes. If a child hears one of these words, he/she should give a quiet thumbs-up.
After reading each page, stop and call on children to answer the following questions:

Did you hear a word that names a body part? What is it? (eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, hair, face)
Did you hear a word that names a color? What is it? (yellow, blue, green, red, white, purple)
Did you hear a word that names a size? What is it? (big, long, little)

As children name words from the different categories, place the cards (showing the words in written form) in the correct columns or areas of the pocket chart.
Once all of the words from the story have been sorted into categories on the pocket chart, ask if children can think of any other color or size words that can be added to those two categories. As children name additional words, add them to the appropriate groups (i.e. pink, brown, black, gray, tiny, huge, short, wide, thin)

Free Printables:

Sorting Words into Categories Folder Game Title Page	Color, Size, and Body Part Word Card printables	Color, Size, and Body Part Word Card printables 2	Color, Size, and Body Part Word Card printables 3
Preschool Activities: Media Root	Preschool Activities: Media Root	Preschool Activities: Media Root	Preschool Activities: Media Root
Color, Size, and Body Part Word Card printables 4	Categorizing Words Sorting Mat	Color, Size, and Body Part Word Cards small
Preschool Activities: Media Root	Preschool Activities: Media Root	Preschool Activities: Media Root

Activity: Sorting Words into Categories

Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
K.L.5a Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

What you need:
Color, Size, and Body Part Word Card printables
Categorizing Words Sorting Mat printables
Two-pocket folder
Scissors
Glue

Print the Color, Size, and Body Part Word Cards, laminate if desired, and cut out each card. Print and cut-out the sorting mats. Place the cards in one folder pocket and the mats in the other. Print the activity cover sheet and glue it to the front of the folder.
Demonstrate how children use the sorting mats and cards to separate the words on the cards into categories based on what they name: colors, sizes, or body parts.

Written by Erin Lassiter

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