ELA

Kevin Henkes

Happy Sunday Funday, friends! Last week my classes dove into a Kevin Henkes author study. It’s definitely one of my favorite units of the year! We focused on character traits, comparing books by the same author, finding common themes, and making connections!

I love using Hollie Griffith’s unit during our Kevin Henkes’ week! You can find that HERE. We compared ourselves to our partners after reading Chester’s Way. We wrote about Wemberly after reading Wemberly Worried.

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0855a picmonkey2bcollage5

Throughout the week we kept up this chart so that we could discuss how the stories were alike and different.

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55444 img 6398

We also did a lot of reading responses in our journals! We made a text-to-self connection with Wemberly Worried and wrote about our worries. We described Chrysanthemum using a bubble map. We also wrote about our favorite Kevin Henkes’ book, but I forgot to snap pictures!

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57d5f picmonkey2bcollage

On Friday we celebrated the author by watching THIS video. Then it was time for a little Friday fun with a directed drawing of a mouse! Here are the steps we followed:

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ee3ad picmonkey2bcollage2

This activity morphed as we were completing it. Some students asked if they could make up their own Kevin Henkes’ character, while others wanted to make their mouse look like their favorite character from one of his books. I let them run with that idea and I love how they turned out!!!

4718e 2015 09 20

4718e 2015 09 20

You can see below how several of my boys turned theirs into superheroes, ninjas, and secret spies, ha! I was so thrilled to see their imaginations run wild while their creativity wheels were spinning!

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7c20a picmonkey2bcollage3

Hi, I'm Amy

Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.

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FREE SAMPLE OF ROOTED IN READING!

Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!

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10 Responses

Karen F. says:

September 20, 2015 at 3:58 pm

OH my gosh!!!! 2 of my absolute favorite people !! EEEKKK!!!! This is going to be one of the best resources !! Sooo Exciting 🙂
Karen
Paola Fujimoto says:

September 20, 2015 at 4:15 pm

I absolutely love everything you do!!!! Have you ever considered doing your reading units in Spanish? It's very difficult to find great things in Spanish and I can't think of anyone who would be the perfect fit.
Elaine Frix says:

September 20, 2015 at 9:32 pm

I absolutely love everything you do. I think I have purchased almost everything in your store. Will this unit be 3rd grade applicable? I teach 3rd grade but have the gifted class this year. Thank you so much.
Stephanie Tyson says:

September 20, 2015 at 10:11 pm

I love this! I am starting a Kevin Henkes unit next week. Thank you for the fabulous ideas! Also, I am looking for a second grade class to be pen pals with my students this year. I teach in SC and have 17 students. If you know of any one that may be interested, will you please help me connect with them?
Courtney B says:

September 20, 2015 at 10:45 pm

Can't wait for your new unit! Your drawings turned out so good. Love the personality they show!
thekrugers says:

September 21, 2015 at 12:47 am

My two favorites!!! I can't wait for this product!! Getting my books now!! 🙂
AshleyB says:

September 21, 2015 at 1:15 am

Hi Amy! I love your Blog and all of your ideas! I tried doing a Kevin Henkes author study last year near the beginning of the year. I found the books to be too long for my new second graders to sit through and make meaningful connections. When do you do Kevin Henkes and how long do you take for this author study? Is it just a week?
Thanks for any input!
Ashley
Positively Learning says:

September 23, 2015 at 10:46 am

YESSSS!!!! I'm so excited about your new project! LOVE the titles, too! Thanks for all the teaching ideas – we are exploring Kevin Henkes next week 🙂
Amanda says:

September 26, 2015 at 3:45 pm

I love your blog, seriously you have the cutest ideas! My kids are going to love them!
wallred90 says:

September 27, 2015 at 2:33 pm

I teach third grade, and I love using Kevin Henkes for an author study. I typically use his books to focus on the skill of character traits. Great idea to do a drawing lesson since he is also an illustrator who loves mice! Do you compare his style to other authors?