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Reading
Strategies ~ Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey
I Love You the
Purplest has many opportunities for using the 6
reading comprehension strategies. Right away the reader can
close his eyes and imagine a place that is being described
by the author. For example:
Visualizing:
Page 2 of the text.
The lake slowed
its thrashing to a soft, even beat. The mosquitoes
dipped low to the water and the water bugs skittered on
top. The moon glowed on one side of the lake while the
sun shimmered on the other. This was the time when
fishing was the best.
Giving students the
opportunity to draw what they visualize BEFORE seeing the
pictures is very powerful. They can compare their drawings
to the actual illustrations in the book.
Other opportunities
for Visualizing:
I love you the
color of a dragon fly at the tip of its wing. I love you
the color of a cave in its deepest, hidden part where
grizzly bears and bats curl up until night. The mist of
a mountain. The splash of a waterfall. The hush of a
whisper. (Can repeat with the description on Max on the
next pages.)
Another strategy that
may present itself right away is Questioning.
Students may quickly wonder "Why is the book called I
Love You the Purplest?" or "Where is the little boys'
father?" Remember how powerful it is to have students
question Before, During and After they read. Making
one of the BDA graphic organizers is a great lesson for this
book. Remember to discuss that some questions may not be
answered and others will.
Making
Connections:
Most children have
siblings and can relate to the competition that is felt in a
family. Children can share and or write about connections
they have to Max and Julian and their competitive nature and
need for wanting their mother's feedback, approval and love.
For the intermediate
grades, check Chapter 9 from Strategies That Work. There are
some strategy lessons you could use for students to
determine what is an important theme throughout the
story.
For primary grades or
(intermediate could adapt), check out pages 145 and 146 for
Synthesizing lessons. This story could be used
to help students begin to synthesize information through a
brief retelling of the story. This would be a good
opportunity for students to put together that Julian
(bluest) and Max (redest) equal mom loving them the Purplest!!
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Writing
Strategies ~ 6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham
I Love You the Purplest is a beautifully written and
illustrated story about two brothers who wonder who their
mother loves best. Barbara M. Joosse uses wonderfully
descriptive language to create two very different youon
brothers named Julian and Max. Each does things in his own
way, with a touch of competition that encourages them to ask
their mother which way is better. At every turn, the boys'
mother highlights the best that she sees in each of them,
celebrating their individual personalities.
Before you begin reading
I Love You the Purplest, make sure to preveiw these words
with your students...
- thrashing,
burglars, robs of the boat, bountiful, bobber and
reeled
*Teaching
Word Choice and Ideas*
Using Striking, Exact, and
Beautiful Language to Elaborate on Ideas
"Descriptive writing
makes an event, place, person, or situation spring to life
in a reader's mind," Ruth Culham explains. In I Love You the
Purplest, the author crafts her words describing Julian and
Max, and with each event, we see more of their individual
personalities emerge. On their way to the lake, "Max
exploded from the cabin," while "Julian shut the cabin door
tightly." Looking for worms, "Julian scooped the dirt,"
while "Max jumped on the shovel and flung dirt in the air."
Barbara M. Joosse doesn't just tell us what the boys did,
but how and why they did those things. We're combining
two triats with this story, integrating the use of striking,
descriptive words and phrases to elaborate on the simple
ideas in the story.
Ms. Joosse also carfully
selects "colorful words an phrases" to convey here messages.
She writes that "the lake slowed its thrashing" and
"mosquitoes dipped low" when she descriibes the setting at
the cabin. The "moon glowed" and the "sun shimmered," Max's
worms were the "liveliest" while Julian's were the
"juiciest," they fished "until stars sprinkled the sky" and
the "water turned dark as night." When Max catches
three fish, his mother describes him as a "bountiful
fisherman" and we see him "hoisting his fish in the air."
Over and over again, the author replaces common words with
more powreful and descriptive ones, making the story more
rich and beautiful.
Upon a second or third
read, we begin to see that the book is also an insightful
study of two very different personalities. Julian and Max
are two brothers who do things very differently, and the
author does a wonderful job of describing the boys' actions
precisely and without judgment. Julian, "the bluest," is the
thoughtful, deliberate one who takes care to protect the
cabin from "burglars and bears" and waits patiently for the
fish who is hiding among the weeds. Max, "the reddest," is
the spirited, exuberant one who "exploded from the cabin"
and whose breath "came out in a big, thundery laugh" when
his mother explained how much she loved him. The author
crafts beautiful descriptions of the boys' personalities,
and her word choice is perfect!
Lesson Ideas for Ideas: "Tell
Me Why!"
In this variation on
the "Show Me, Don't Just Tell Me" lesson, your students will
be asked to dig deeper into the why's and how's of their
characters' actions.
- In pairs, small
groups, or individually, have students come up with a
telling sentence and write it down. You could also
brainstrom a collection of sentences and have your
students/groups select one from your list.
- Then, ask your
students to consider "why" that idea is, or "how" it
will happen. For example, if the telling sentence is "I
went to bed," your students would need to tell WHY or
HOW they went to bed. "I was very sleepy from a long day
of playing in the sun, so I climbed upstairs and went to
bed." Or, "After my father read the last chapter of my
favorite book, I finally turned out the light and went
to sleep."
- Ask students to
rewrite their original telling sentence, this time
adding the new why's and how's.
- Share!!! Talk
about the impact that the elaboration has on the
sentence, how much better it sounds, and how much more
information it is.
(See the Ideas
chapter of 6+1 Traits for more teaching ideas!)
Lesson Idea for Voice: "What
Color Are You?"
This lesson will help
students discover their own voice, as they consider the
colors that are attributed to Julian and Max, and then
determine what color they are.
- Create a T-chart
on chart paper or on the overhead, and label the columns
with "Blue-Julian" and "Red-Max."
- Reread I Love
You the Purplest, but this time, stop and record the
descriptions or actions that are "blue" and those that
are "red." (Blue/Julian - shut the cabin door
tightly to keep it safe from burglars and bears; Red/Max
- exploded from the cabin, twirling the shovel in front
of him)
- Now, ask your
students to describe each color, how it makes them feel,
what it reminds them of.
- Next, consider a
few other colors - orange, purple, brown, yellow. How do
those colors make you feel? How would you describe them?
What do they remind you of? What kinds of actions do you
associate with those colors? You may want to make
additional charts for each color to record the comments
and connections your students make.
- Finally, ask
your students what color they are. What color do they
associate with the most? Which one best reflects their
personality, and why?
- Have your
students write about the color they chose. You could
give them a structure similar to The Important Book,
and begin with "The Important Thing about me is that
I'm pink." Then ask students to describe whay they are
the color they've chosen. They could write a poem
describing themselves in colorful phrases, or they could
simply write a few paragraphs describing their own
personalities and how they relate to the color they
selected.
- Encourage them
to recall their own personalities and colors when they
write stories later on. If they have an opportunity to
infuse their own personalitiy and color their work with
their own favorite color, write on!
(See
6+1 Traits, pgs. 125-138 for more lessons on Using
Voice in your writing.)
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