Chrysanthemum By: Kevin Henkes

How can I help facilitate

learning at home? Summary
The book Chrysanthemum has wonderful The book Chrysanthemum
concepts that can help foster learning. First, the tells the story of a young
main character’s name, Chrysanthemum, is a
beautifully long name! This can be a great way to girl who is made fun of
help your child learn how to identify and count by her classmates for her
syllables in words. You can work on this concept by unique and long name.
asking your child how many parts they think the At first, she is
name Chrysanthemum has. Next, you can clap each embarrassed by her
part of her name while saying Chrys-an-the-mum.
name, but due to the
This activity can be extended by asking children to
clap out their own names as well as the names of guidance of her teacher,
family members, friends, favorite foods and pets. both she and her
Phonological awareness skills such as syllabification classmates come to
are great precursors to literacy skills. appreciate the beauty of
Second, you can provide your child with her name.
paper and allow them to freely draw. Children may
want to draw images from Chrysanthemum, make a
book of their own, or draw something entirely
different. Family members can ask children to
describe their pictures to promote oral language
development. If children create their own book,
family members can help increase book and print
knowledge by noting the cover, title, and author.

Created by: Kristina Modica