Diverse Learners Text Set: Military Connected Students K-2
Summary of Text:
Night Catch, written by Brenda Ehrmantraut, tells the story of a young boy and his father coping playing catch with the north stat during the father's deployment. The father begins comforting his son by describing the way they can stay connected despite him being so far away.
Critical Review:
Strengths: A strength of this book is the lightness of the rhyme and the way the rhyming on each page helps the story move in a rhythm the entirety of the book. The rhyming on each page creates a fun vibe and helps the reader feel the joy the father is trying to illustrate for his son. Another strength of this book is it's creativity and relatability for young boys in military connected families. The illustrations are another strength because the story is vivid and keeps the eyes of the reader hooked onto the pages at all times. The illustrations show the reader what the father is saying, in case there are children who do not understand all of the words on the page. The book honestly pulls at your heartstrings and would be an amazing book to read to a child who is military connected.
Weaknesses: A weakness of this book is difficult to find because I think the author truly knocked it out of the park. The only thing I would call a weakness is the difficulty of some of the words in the text, Even so, this would be a great opportunity to ask the students if they know what those larger words mean. Some of the words could be added to the student's vocabulary for the week and this weakness would quickly become a strength.
The family represents a race other than white, due to the dark skin Wehrman has illustrated. There are no connections to this race in the plot line, and the race is never identified. This leads me to believe that any race could have portrayed this family and the story would not have changed. Therefore, the members of this minority group may be used as a token to include diversity in the story. I don't think this is a weakness because it is important to include diversity and help each child in the classroom feel understand and represented, but the lack of description about the family's race could leave the students with less opportunity to connect with the family.
My favorite pages are 9-10, because Wehrman has fun with illustrating the globe and big ideas in the areas of the world. The cultural details are very vague and basically not represented at all. She illustrated animals, athletes, sunflowers, building, and so on. The sunflowers have been a theme throughout the book, which leaves me wondering if they live in the location where the sunflowers are illustrated on the map on pages 9-10. The lack of cultural details could be fixed by editing the illustrations on those pages and including cultural themes across the world. This could help teachers incorporate geography lessons into this book by getting the students thinking about locations and unique aspects of that location.
The author provides a unique perspective of a father who is sensitive to his son's sadness and comforts him by planning a long term game of catch. The stereotypical father would be tough and encourage the son to get rid of his worries and not let emotions rule his days. It is typically the mother's role to comfort and soothe their children, providing them with the gentleness and touch of a woman. However, the father in this story is quick to comfort his son and thinks of a beautiful and creative way for them to remain connected while he is deployed. He is also speaking in rhyme, which does not seem to me as a masculine thing to do. This father defies the stereotype associated with being a military father.
The illustrations are my favorite part about this story. The way Wehrman used vivid colors and created the scene was so creative and helps the reader feel connected with the story. I love the details around the actual text, and how they always relate to what is being said. The illustrations are perfect for a student who cannot read yet, because they would easily be able to follow along and understand what is occurring on each page. The body language of the father alludes to that fact that he is always thinking of the well being of his son and wants what is best for him. That kind of father-son relationship can be inspiring to a young boy reading this story. The illustrations take this story to a whole new level and demonstrate the impact that can occur between night and day.
Classroom Connections:
Main Themes: The main themes of this text are that even though someone may feel far away, there is always a way to connect with them. It is important to never feel alone because you are never alone. Students will benefit greatly from learning how they can do something as simple as blowing into the sky, and a star could fly across the world. They should learn the importance of never giving up and always remembering that loved ones are within their reach, they simply need to try.
Possible Activities: An activity the students could participate in after reading this book would be to begin a lesson about rhyming. The students could practice rhyming and analyze what makes a "good rhyme". Once this is mastered, the students could write a two line rhyme for their parents telling them something kind. Another activity, is we could begin pen pals after this book and teach students the many methods of communication for those who may be far away.
Additional Resources:
1.www.iowanationalguard.com/Family%20and%20Services/Youth%20Programs/Documents/Youth_Documents/Night%20Catch.pdf The link above takes you to an Iowa National Guard Teen and Youth Program activity in a PDF. The activity is designed for children ages 3-9, and is based on the book Night Catch, by Brenda Ehrmantraut.
2. https://www.education.com/lesson-plan/rhyming-words-for-kindergarten/
The link above takes you to a website with a kindergarten lesson about rhyming. The lesson has a book and a worksheet for the students to participate in.
3. http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/rhyming_games
The link above takes you to a website with games that help students learn and practice rhyming. Rhyming improves with repetition and the games in the link will help the students grasp the concept.
Night Catch, written by Brenda Ehrmantraut, tells the story of a young boy and his father coping playing catch with the north stat during the father's deployment. The father begins comforting his son by describing the way they can stay connected despite him being so far away.
Critical Review:
Strengths: A strength of this book is the lightness of the rhyme and the way the rhyming on each page helps the story move in a rhythm the entirety of the book. The rhyming on each page creates a fun vibe and helps the reader feel the joy the father is trying to illustrate for his son. Another strength of this book is it's creativity and relatability for young boys in military connected families. The illustrations are another strength because the story is vivid and keeps the eyes of the reader hooked onto the pages at all times. The illustrations show the reader what the father is saying, in case there are children who do not understand all of the words on the page. The book honestly pulls at your heartstrings and would be an amazing book to read to a child who is military connected.
Weaknesses: A weakness of this book is difficult to find because I think the author truly knocked it out of the park. The only thing I would call a weakness is the difficulty of some of the words in the text, Even so, this would be a great opportunity to ask the students if they know what those larger words mean. Some of the words could be added to the student's vocabulary for the week and this weakness would quickly become a strength.
The family represents a race other than white, due to the dark skin Wehrman has illustrated. There are no connections to this race in the plot line, and the race is never identified. This leads me to believe that any race could have portrayed this family and the story would not have changed. Therefore, the members of this minority group may be used as a token to include diversity in the story. I don't think this is a weakness because it is important to include diversity and help each child in the classroom feel understand and represented, but the lack of description about the family's race could leave the students with less opportunity to connect with the family.
My favorite pages are 9-10, because Wehrman has fun with illustrating the globe and big ideas in the areas of the world. The cultural details are very vague and basically not represented at all. She illustrated animals, athletes, sunflowers, building, and so on. The sunflowers have been a theme throughout the book, which leaves me wondering if they live in the location where the sunflowers are illustrated on the map on pages 9-10. The lack of cultural details could be fixed by editing the illustrations on those pages and including cultural themes across the world. This could help teachers incorporate geography lessons into this book by getting the students thinking about locations and unique aspects of that location.
The author provides a unique perspective of a father who is sensitive to his son's sadness and comforts him by planning a long term game of catch. The stereotypical father would be tough and encourage the son to get rid of his worries and not let emotions rule his days. It is typically the mother's role to comfort and soothe their children, providing them with the gentleness and touch of a woman. However, the father in this story is quick to comfort his son and thinks of a beautiful and creative way for them to remain connected while he is deployed. He is also speaking in rhyme, which does not seem to me as a masculine thing to do. This father defies the stereotype associated with being a military father.
The illustrations are my favorite part about this story. The way Wehrman used vivid colors and created the scene was so creative and helps the reader feel connected with the story. I love the details around the actual text, and how they always relate to what is being said. The illustrations are perfect for a student who cannot read yet, because they would easily be able to follow along and understand what is occurring on each page. The body language of the father alludes to that fact that he is always thinking of the well being of his son and wants what is best for him. That kind of father-son relationship can be inspiring to a young boy reading this story. The illustrations take this story to a whole new level and demonstrate the impact that can occur between night and day.
Classroom Connections:
Main Themes: The main themes of this text are that even though someone may feel far away, there is always a way to connect with them. It is important to never feel alone because you are never alone. Students will benefit greatly from learning how they can do something as simple as blowing into the sky, and a star could fly across the world. They should learn the importance of never giving up and always remembering that loved ones are within their reach, they simply need to try.
Possible Activities: An activity the students could participate in after reading this book would be to begin a lesson about rhyming. The students could practice rhyming and analyze what makes a "good rhyme". Once this is mastered, the students could write a two line rhyme for their parents telling them something kind. Another activity, is we could begin pen pals after this book and teach students the many methods of communication for those who may be far away.
Additional Resources:
1.www.iowanationalguard.com/Family%20and%20Services/Youth%20Programs/Documents/Youth_Documents/Night%20Catch.pdf The link above takes you to an Iowa National Guard Teen and Youth Program activity in a PDF. The activity is designed for children ages 3-9, and is based on the book Night Catch, by Brenda Ehrmantraut.
2. https://www.education.com/lesson-plan/rhyming-words-for-kindergarten/
The link above takes you to a website with a kindergarten lesson about rhyming. The lesson has a book and a worksheet for the students to participate in.
3. http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/rhyming_games
The link above takes you to a website with games that help students learn and practice rhyming. Rhyming improves with repetition and the games in the link will help the students grasp the concept.