Reading Strategies

Fluency

Poetry is meant to be heard.  Encourage students to join in the unifying refrain throughout the story, “Black cat, black cat, we want to know, where is your home, where do you go?”  Younger children will enjoy clapping along with the beat of the verse.

Fluency Activities: To build students’ fluency, read the story several times, then try the following:

• Give students a copy of the poem (older students), or a portion of the poem (younger students), to perform for the class.

• Give them time to practice reading the text- making sure they are familiar with the words, and getting help with phrasing, intonation, and expression before they perform.

More information on teaching fluency:

1.     The Fluency Manual

2.     PoetryTeachers.com

3.     Improving Reading Fluency in Young Readers 

This book is an example of unrhymed, rhythmic poetry.  There are also several examples of assonance (repetition of vowel sounds) in the story.  For example:

• Creeping down our city streets

• Dancing to the banging beats of passing jeeps

• Ducking under the red circling of sirens cutting through the night

There are also examples of simile (when two unlike things are explicitly compared, usually using the words “like” or “as”- as in “she is like a rose”) in this story.  For example:

• sauntering like rainwater

• balanced like bottles

• eyes like the green of empty glass bottles

Some discussion ideas for the story:

• Discuss how the author uses real pictures in his art.  For this book, Myers took 700 photographs (shot in Brooklyn & Harlem) and chose 50 which best represent the neighborhood.  When reading discuss which parts of the illustrations are pictures of real things & which are collage & paint.

• Students may make text-to-text connections about the collage artwork in this book.  Some other illustrators who use collage artwork in their books are Eric Carle, Leo Leoni, & Lois Ehlert.

• Have students discuss why they think the cat is roaming in the city as opposed to the country

• Younger students will love to point out where the cat is in every picture.  Notice things in the pictures together, notice that the cat rarely encounters anyone else- except at the basketball courts & playground.

• Where would students go in a city if they were a cat?

• The book may encourage discussion about "home" and what makes a place (or several places) like home to us.

Questioning -  Take a picture walk through the story (not reading the text, just looking at the pictures) and discuss questions students may have about the city or the cat before reading.  After reading, see if the students’ questions were answered. 

Visualizing - This story is an eye opening journey through the urban landscape.  Have students visualize exactly what a large city would look like through the eyes of a cat.  You may want to stop every few pages and have students describe what they are seeing in their minds as you are reading.  This will also help with detail recall & story comprehension.

Building Background & Making Connections

In this story, students will be able to see another way of life in America- the urban life- through the lens of a loveable cat.  Students who have visited large cities may make connections from their experiences to the images in the story.  Have students discuss cities they’ve visited and what they saw there.  For students who have not had the experience of visiting a large city, you can build background by sharing other books about cities.  Doing this before reading Black Cat will encourage children to make text-to-text connections when you read the book of the month.  Children who have never lived in the city may not be familiar with things like housing projects or playground cages.  A child totally unfamiliar to the city may have difficulty following parts of the book, as its images are urban- hot tar beaches, brick music falling, the quiet language of invisible trains.  It is important to provide background information to make the book relevant to children of more suburban backgrounds.

This is a poem that describes the cat’s journey through the place he lives- have students describe their own neighborhood.

To help build background for students on what an urban area is like, you can read other stories about city life.  Some of the titles available in our Media Center are:

1. City Seen from A to Z by Rachel Isadora - 26 black & white drawings of scenes of city life suggest words beginning with each letter of the alphabet.

2. It’s My City!  A Singing Map by April Pulley Sayre - A brother & sister head for the market for birthday party supplies, they sing a song describing the city sights, sounds, and smells as they pass along the way.

3. Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson - Illustrations of objects in an urban setting present the letters of the alphabet.

4. Listen to the City by by Rachel Isadora - Illustrations and simple text describe the sights and sounds of a day in the city.

5. City Fun by Margaret Hillert - As two girls explore the city, they watch buildings being torn down and built, ride the subway, visit the park, watch a parade, play games, and visit the library.

6. The Adventures of Taxi Dog by Debra & Sal Barracca - A stray dog in New York City is adopted by a taxi driver, with whom he thereafter rides and shares adventures each day. 

Venn Diagram Activity: 

Differences between urban, suburban, and rural life may be readily apparent to students, but it is also important to look for similarities & commonalities.  Create a Venn Diagram with your students.  Under each heading list traits that are specific to that place, in the center sections list characteristics that the places have in common.

Vocabulary Building

Before beginning the Venn Diagram activity, familiarize students with the following terms:

• Urban- of, pertaining to, or designating a city or town

• Suburban- pertaining to, inhabiting, or being in a suburb or the suburbs of a city or town

• Rural- of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the country, country life, or country people; rustic

Books to read aloud from our Media Center that will help students make connections and begin to compare/contrast urban, suburban, & rural life:

1. Moo in the Morning by Barbara Maitland - Tired of all the loud city noises early in the morning, a mother and child visit a farm, where very different noises greet them when the sun comes up.

2. Round Trip by Ann Jonas - Black-and-white illustrations and text record the sights on a day trip to the city and back home again to the country. The trip to the city is read from front to back and the return trip, from back to front, upside down.

3. Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant - Text and illustrations describe the sights and sounds of nighttime in the country.

4. Living in a Rural Area by Lisa Trumbauer - Presents a simple text and color photos that show what homes, work, and fun are like in rural areas.

5. Town Mouse, Country Mouse by Jan Brett - After trading houses, the country mouse and the town mouse discover there's no place like home.

6. Living in a Suburb by Lisa Trumbauer - Presents a simple text and color photos that show what homes, work, and fun are like in suburban communities.

7. Anastasia Again! by Lois Lowry - Twelve-year-old Anastasia is horrified at her family's decision to move from their city apartment to a house in the suburbs.

8. Tooter Pepperday by Jerry Spinelli - Hating to leave her familiar surroundings, Tooter resorts to sabotage when her family moves from their suburban home to Aunt Sally's farm.

Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey