Thinking First Grade: I Can Help by David Hyde Costello

Next year I am heading back to first grade. I love having the summer to find simple new picture books that I can read aloud once and know they will fit right into the hands of most first grade readers. I know the first month of reading workshop for first graders is planting seeds for loving reading, sharing books, helping kids learn how to find books, find a reading spot, and then modeling reading to self and with others for a short period of time. I really am not over-concerned with them choosing an appropriate "level" the first month of school(in fact, I do everything I can to avoid that). I want them to have a variety of books to choose from that they are interested in reading: song books, wordless picture books, series picture books, poetry, non-fiction, and repetitive picture books.

The newest book I am adding to my classroom library is I Can Help by David Hyde Costello.

It is a repetitive picture book. The story begins with a picture of a little duck happily walking through some reeds. His expression changes on the following page as you find out, he is lost. A curious monkey offers to help and duck the cycle of help and appreciation begins. Uh, Oh. I'm falling. (says the monkey...now can you guess who might be tall enough to catch a falling monkey..yep a giraffe) Thank You Giraffe! The alternation between helping and thanking continues through the story with other animals. The ending is circular as little duck needs some help again.

After reading I Can Help a few times, I thought about how it will help kids to think in many ways. The repetition will have them begin predicting text and events. There is some subtle inferring work I can pose with which character is speaking, problem-solution and picture inferencing. I know that it will help us as we study high frequency words like...can, thank, you, have. It will be a place for them to read these words and use the book as a reference to check words in their own writing. Finally, it will be a great mentor text for writers when we study pattern books early in the year. I love books that are versatile enough to meet literacy needs across the day!