Tip #73 from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents (McKinley & Trombly) - story endings

 


Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.

 

#73

A Real Cliffhanger

 

I find it ironic that happy endings now are called fairytale endings
because there's nothing happy about most fairytale endings
. ~Joe Wright

 

            Many of the long-running television shows accomplish their popularity by keeping the viewing public wanting more. They do this by ending each show with a question, problem, or situation that makes you want to watch it next time to see how it develops.

Books can do the same thing. Part books are often written so that each chapter ends in a cliffhanger, enticing the reader to continue and making it hard to put the book down. Picture books can also be read in a way to make your child want more. Try this with your child. After reading a chapter or a few pages in a picture book, stop. Ask your child to predict what will happen next. You will know by her answer if she is comprehending the book so far. If the answer is way off (and you know she is not just being silly!), you might consider rereading some of the text or important phrases or paragraphs to increase her understanding. In picture books, you can have her refer to the pictures to aid in comprehension.

By predicting the text, your child is now invested in the book. She wants to be right. She will pay particularly close attention to the story to determine if her guess is correct. If her prediction is not true, make sure she knows she is not wrong. Her prediction was probably a good one, but the author chose a different one. If she seems disappointed and thinks her prediction would have made a better story, challenge her to write the story her way. She can finish the story the way she thinks best and then compare it to the way the author chose to write it. (More experienced writers could be challenged to write their own ending in the same style as the author!)

To get children interested in a chapter book, you might read the first chapter aloud to her during shared reading time. Tell her that's all you're going to read and that if she wants to know more (surely she will), she'll have to read it herself!

 

Two books we really like for this activity are Abiyoyo by Pete Seger for young readers, and Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt for upper elementary.       

    


     Cindy McKinley Alder                                            Patti Trombly

 

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For excerpts from more books, click HERE.

For more excerpts from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents, click HERE.

          For more posts about books about parenting, click HERE. 



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