Dylan Stacey

4 May 2015
C&T 4133

Interactive Read Aloud 3rd Grade

Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China, By: Ed Young
How will you introduce and set the purpose for reading?
This frames the reading and all instructional moves below should support.
Okay, my friends. Today I want to share with you this wonderful story. Its called,
Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China. Who is familiar with the Red Riding
Hood tale? Im thinking it must be pretty similar to the story were about to read. It
was written and illustrated by Ed Young and I see here it won the 1990 Caldecott
Award. The books that win this award are given it for their outstanding illustrations
and I know Lon Po Po has some beautiful illustrations. I bet we can learn as much
from the pictures as we can the text.
Also, this story is a Chinese folktale. Folktales are stories that have been passed
down generations and often tell us a lot about a particular culture. Since were
starting a unit on China, I wanted to read this book with you and see if we can learn
anything about Chinese culture and perhaps some of the things they value. We can
do that by looking closely at the two main charactersthe wolf and Shang. Lets
pay close attention to their actions and motivations throughout the storywhat
they do and their reasons for doing it. Okay, lets get started! Lon Po Po, by Ed
Young

Describe how you can include the following

Turn and Talk (specific pages, what will you say?)
p. 7 So the wolf shows up and their house and tells the children hes their
grandmother. Im wondering why Why does he knock on the door and asked to be
let in? What are the wolfs intentions here? Turn and talk to your neighbor
p. 15 From the previous page we learned that Shang saw the wolfs hairy face.
Maybe she doesnt know theres a wolf in their bed, but Im thinking she must know
this isnt their grandmother. I think I would be so scared! But Im noticing she seems
quite calm and then she asks the wolf about ginko nuts. I wonder why Shang is
asking the wolf about ginko nuts Turn and talk to your neighbor; why is she asking
the wolf about ginko nuts?
Think Aloud (pages, what exactly will you say?)
p. 9 Wow just look at that illustration on these pages. I think that is just beautiful. I

really like how I can see the movement of the wolf moving past the children. The
whole illustration seems to be affected by the wolfs movement across the picture.
Im also noticing how we dont even see the wolf; just his shadow. Its so dark and
huge, looming over the children. It gives me a very ominous feeling about the whole
scene.

Vocabulary Elaboration (choose 1 or 2 words and write how you will

elaborate)
p. 12 awl :: An awl is a sharp tool used for punching holes in things like belts and
shoes.
p. 19 scurry :: Scurry is a great word. It means to move really quickly. I often see
chipmunks and squirrels scurry across the park outside. Lets pretend our hand is a
chipmunk and lets make it scurry across our lap.

How can you utilize voice, pace, and/or expression?

This story is fun to read aloud with kids because you get to do a voice for the wolf. I
want to make it subtlea little raspy and deeper than the childrens voices. I should
slow down at the more dramatic moments in the story and right before the turn and
talks.

Accountable Talk questions:

-- Lets compare the actions and motivations of the wolf and Shang
-- Remember this is a folktale, and folktales often tell us a lot about a culture
whats important to them, what are their beliefs and values, what are they afraid
of? Were we able to learn anything about Chinese culture from Lon Po Po?
Reflection
This read-aloud went quite well, overall. The majority of my class seemed
really captivated by the story throughout. I think its worth mentioning there was a
moment during the read-aloud when a student, Nancy, raised her hand and said,
Can you just keep reading the story? I almost laughed out loud in front of the
class! I picked up the pace a little after that. I realize I was asking a lot of
comprehension and clarifying questions throughout the read-aloud, which I think is
beneficial for a number of students, but not for everyone. Where do I find a balance
for the whole group? Are my think-alouds and turn and talk moments enough for
certain students to pick up on comprehension of the story?

I also wonder if perhaps I tried to fit too many tracking points into this readaloud. I wanted the class to focus on the wolfs and Shangs motivations since we
were beginning our unit on China. I also really wanted to look at the illustrations of
the story as well since I think they can add so much to the story. And I think my
third graders could benefit from being reminded of this. But I feel the illustration
focus may have been lost in the process of squeezing in too much, so I think next
time I would just try to find two separate read-alouds for the two foci. Or, we could
read Lon Po Po twice and have a different focus for each close reading.