A Morning with Grandpa by Sylvia Liu is the book I received for Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2019. The official website for the book is at this link. The publisher has a teacher guide which may be downloaded here, also. The book is also part of a book collection by Lee and Low publishing for helping establish grade one classroom communities. The publisher is Lee and Low Books.
As a teacher, I find this book makes an excellent mentor text for writing workshop as the figurative language is child-appropriate and understandable. Children like to act out what they are reading, and the illustrations and familiarity with Yoga, Karate, and Tai Chi will support mind-body brain-based learning. Some of Mei Mei’s actions might be pantomimed. Gong Gong (grandpa) is excellent at Tai Chi, while Mei Mei is more active at exercising. Classrooms with brain breaks and mindfulness programs will benefit from the illustrated Yoga and Tai Chi exercises at the end of the book.
I appreciate books with Asian characters as I have an adopted daughter from Korea. I feel there should be more diverse picture books. I received this book free as part of the Multicultural Children’s Book Day even for January 2019. It will be donated to a kindergarten at Forest Elementary in Robbinsdale where I volunteer.
For several years, I have participated in MCBD, and the links to the other book reviews and free printable educational resources are further down in the post.
This is the official book trailer.
Gong Gong (grandpa) teaches Mei Mei Tai Chi, while she shows him Karate. Karate isn’t really his thing, so she tries some Yoga. They both enjoy the session. The figurative language in the book is wonderful and children will be able to notice some similes and metaphors in the text. Don’t know what Tai Chi is? Grandpa explains.
K-2-simile-and-metaphor-garden-theme-freebie
My free printable has letter-sized teaching posters that could be used in a discussion with a large group, small group, or on a bulletin board. It has a garden theme to match the illustration in the book. Other books could also be used, although it would be so nice to have A Morning with Grandpa on hand. Children know it can be difficult to explain something and may realize they have even used a simile or metaphor themselves.
An example of a simile poster is in the next image.
And metaphor can be difficult but at the most simple level, it is a simile without using the words like or as. That is good enough for primary grades to begin to understand. They will probably think of a bunch of balloon color metaphors.
One poster suggests the teacher will now read a story with figurative language for the children to notice. The poster doesn’t name a book, so the teacher has a choice of texts. Eventually, the students may hear language in other stories or in spoken words as the days progress. Hopefully you can read A Morning with Grandpa.
You might also like the book reiviews and free educational resources from previous Read Your World Years.
