Staff member:

• to provide a storytime or other activity to occupy the children during the parent preparation time.

Staff member:

• to prepare parents to read "Bein' With You This Way" with their children.
  
• to demonstrate how to make the face puppets.
  
• to collect participant evaluation forms at the end of the program.

Parent Preparation:
Work with the parents to do a "pre-reading" activity. The "pre-reading" activity is the presentation of questions that relate to the subject of the book or activity. These questions are asked and discussed before reading the book.

Pre-Reading Activity
These are questions to ask the parents before reading the book.
List attributes or characteristics of people. For instance, hair color, eye color, height, straight or curly hair, skin tone.
An activity to demonstrate attributes is:

• Tell the parents to have one person stand among them.
  
• Then have one more person come to stand beside him or her because they share an attribute. For instance, they may both wear an earring or have gym shoes on.
  
• When they come to stand beside them, they have to announce what they have in common. "We are both wearing an earring."
  
• Then another person comes to them, announcing what they share, and so on till everyone is standing.

Model reading "Bein' With You This Way"
Parents can share books.
Explain that the story's text has phrases that are repeated throughout the book.
Begin reading the first three pages and have the parents identify the phrases that are repeated throughout the book. For example the repetitive phrases include: "How perfectly remarkably strange, uh-huh!" "Different, mmm-mmmm, but the same, ah-ha!" "Bein' with you this way."
Have the parents read the book, then summarize the story with parents contributing their ideas.
Encourage the parents to have their children join in and say the phrases when they are repeated.

Demonstrate How Parents and Children Will Make Their Face Puppets
Note to the Facilitator: There are examples of puppets demonstrating each step in the "Story Kit." Use these examples when you describe the steps with the parents.

1. Elongate and round out a wire clothes hanger. It should look like a paddle.
2. Tuck in the hooked end of the hanger and wrap with duct tape to make a padded handle.
3. Slip the panty hose over the rounded area of the hanger. It may become very elongated when you do this but you can re-shape it into a rounded shape later.
4. Pull the hose down to the top of the handle and make a knot. Cut off the excess hose. Wrap more duct tape around the knot to secure the hose.
5. Cut out felt to show facial features like hair, nose, eyes and eyebrows.
6. Glue on facial features and hair.
7. Use the red adhesive backed felt to cut out the mouths. Make several shapes so the puppet can change expression. For instance, smile, frown, open-mouthed surprise, and kiss.
8. Put mouths on the puppets.

Discussion: How the Parents Can Work With The Children
Remind the parents to go over the repeated phrases when they first occur, letting the child learn the phrases. Remind the parents that the children can chant the phrases as a chorus when they occur in the book.
Parents can have their children use the puppets to chant the repeated phrases or to tell different parts of the story aloud.
This discussion time should be a time of clarification and review for the parents of the techniques the parents experienced during the modeling of the reading activity and the puppet-making activity. This time is intended to build the parents ability and confidence for working with their children.

Description of Family Activity:
In parent-child pairs, parents will read "Bein' With You This Way" with their children.
Parents and children will repeat the choral phrases in the book.
In parent-child pairs, parents will guide their children in making the face puppets.
Parents and children will reunite with the large group to share their face puppets.

Recommended Age of Children:
Three to ten year old children. This activity crosses a large age range because the activity is simply fun, appropriate at any age.

Ways to Alter Activity for Younger or Older Siblings:
For younger children, cut out the facial expression pieces in advance or make sure the parents understand that they must do the cutting.
Older children can make the facial expression pieces for the puppets more elaborate.

Extension Activity:
Talk about the displayed books and hand out the prepared lists of related books.
Talk about where to find books on diversity in the library.
Talk about where to find the rhyming books in the library.
Encourage parents to borrow rhyming books and to explore choral reading at home.
Encourage parents to use their puppets at home to put on puppet shows.

Related Books:
Books written by W. Nikola-Lisa: "Can You Top That?" "No Babies Asleep," "One Hole in the Road," "Night is Coming," "The Storm."
Books on diversity: "Black is Brown is Tan" by Arnold Adoff, "People" by Peter Spier, "Richard Wright and the Library Card."
Choral Reading books: "Big Talk: Poems for Four Voices," "Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices," both by Paul Fleischman. "Touch the Poem," by Arnold Adoff and "Mathematical Ideas in Poems for Two Voices," by Theoni Pappas

Evaluation:
There is a brief Participant Evaluation Survey included in the Facilitator's Guide.
These can be completed in writing or orally (by interview of staff one to one or in a group) depending on the English reading and writing abilities of the participants.
Explain that by telling us what they liked and what they didn't like, they help us put together better activities and they teach their children to think about what they liked.
The Participant Evaluation form asks about their satisfaction level and what they learned about reading books with repetitive text.
It asks what they plan to do with what they learned. It asks for their suggestions to improve this activity and suggestions for future activities.

To make suggestions and comments, email: ccolletti@ilsos.net

Notes to Myself - Lessons Learned for Next Time:

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