Reading with the 2nd and 3rd Graders

This morning before school started we met with a few of the second and third graders at Coral Reef Elementary. We read two stories: Three Little Piggies, written by Monica Chang and Jeff Macon and illustrated by Vivian Minn and Helen Wang and Giraffes Can't Dance written by Giles Andreae and illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees. The children took turns reading and they all did a wonderful job. After each of the stories, we discussed what the stories meant to us.

Some of the comments about Three Little Piggies included:

"If you plan, you build a better house."

"The pig that took the longest time to build the house built the strongest house."

Some of the comments about Giraffes Can't Dance included:

"Anyone can be good at something. They just need to find the right something."

"If you find the right music, you'll be able to dance!"

By the way, this story was about a Giraffe named Gerald who was very clumsy. At the annual jungle dance, all the animals would laugh at Gerald because he couldn't dance. Until one day, he met a cricket who played violin. The cricket said,

"But sometimes when you're different you just need a different song. Listen to the swaying grass and listen to the trees. To me the sweetest music is those branches in the breeze. Som imagine that the lovely moon is playing for you - everything makes music if you really want it to." 

Then the cricket started to play his violin and Gerald started dancing. Once Gerald took the time to listen, he was able to dance!

The children and I talked about what we were good at. Some of the talents we had in the group were:

baseball,
hunting and fishing,
dancing,
cheer leading,
figure skating,
running, swimming,
and even walking!

Each of us had our unique talent!

Meanwhile, Sammy mingled among the children and enjoyed getting his belly rubbed. It was a great way to start off the morning :-)