Blogger Graphics
Yoko Writes Her Name
By: Rosemary Wells
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Copyright: 2008
Genre: Fiction, Multicultural Literature
Grade Level: Kindergarten- 3rd grade
Brief Synopsis: The main character, Yoko, is a young cat who is very excited to be starting Kindergarten. Her excitement quickly fades when two girls from class make fun of her Japanese writing of her name. This happens right after the teacher tells Yoko how beautiful her writing is. The girls tell Yoko she will never graduate Kindergarten, and Yoko becomes very worried that she is doing something wrong. A fellow classmate takes an interest in Yoko and he begins teaching her English writing in exchange for her to teach him Japanese. After this the whole class, except the two girls, becomes interested in Yoko. Her Japanese writing becomes a big hit in her classroom. In the end everyone has a successful graduation that includes both English and Japanese language.
About the Author:
Rosemary Wells- She is a multiple award winning author of children's books. She has written other stories in this series called Yoko and Yoko's Paper Cranes. She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. This video is an interview with Rosemary as she describes her life growing up and what inspires her.
Interview with Rosemary Wells from Weston Woods on Vimeo.
- Japanese calligraphy in the story is done by Masako Inkyo.
Rosemary Wells- She is a multiple award winning author of children's books. She has written other stories in this series called Yoko and Yoko's Paper Cranes. She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. This video is an interview with Rosemary as she describes her life growing up and what inspires her.
Interview with Rosemary Wells from Weston Woods on Vimeo.
- Japanese calligraphy in the story is done by Masako Inkyo.
Themes: - Feeling left out or different from a group
- Getting to know and appreciate people around you
- Celebrating our differences
- Offering a helping hand to those who need it.
Pre-Reading Activities:
- Students will interview a partner and then present the information to the class. Make sure the students partner up with someone they don't normally work with. In conclusion have a discussion with the students with the focus being getting students to realize that by getting to know each other will help them better work together. They will learn to appreciate each other based on their similarities AND differences.
- Give a mini-lesson on how the author and illustrator work together to produce the characters' emotions. Examples to discuss would be : emotions expressed through facial expressions and words that show us feelings. Walk through a book together and model what to look for. Have students quickly practice finding character feeling and emotion a short book with a small group.
Post Reading Activities:
- After finishing a read aloud of the story have students focus on the feelings that Yoko experiences throughout the story. Have them fill out a graphic organizer of when Yoko experiences specific emotions.- Have students experiment with Japanese language. Give them simple expressions to practice writing. They can be creative with this and decorate their Japanese expression to be displayed around the room.
- Have students respond to Yoko Writes Her Name, and include how they felt the teacher could have responded differently in the story?, How could the class have made Yoko feel more included into their classroom from the very beginning?
Reflection:
I really enjoyed this story to introduce students to thoughts about tolerance. I am a huge advocate for making sure my classroom is always accepting and tolerant of everyone, and that everyone feels just as safe and open to expressing themselves and participating. Yoko shows us her Japanese culture and is more comfortable with writing in her Japanese language because she is not familiar enough with English. A Kindergartener can relate to this because school is so unfamiliar to them even with having English as their first language. ESL students would feel connected to this story even more because they may experience very similar situations as some people may not know how to act around new languages.
Yoko feels lows and highs when participating in school activities, and a lot of her feelings are based on how she is treated by those around her. By having Yoko and classmates drawn as cats help to make students critque the book and what happens without feeling like it is highlighting their own behaviors. It helps to put the story at a distance for the students.
Students can learn a lot about accepting others no matter what differences they may have. I would talk about celebrating our differences instead of looking down on them...just like Wells does in this book!!!
I love the Japanese caligraphy that is added on each page of this book. They can be used in my activity of introducing simple Japanese expressions to have students practice writing. I believe students would be very excited to try this activity because it is different from what they are used to, and those that do practice the Japanese culture will take pride in the whole class taking notice to their language.
Reflection:
I really enjoyed this story to introduce students to thoughts about tolerance. I am a huge advocate for making sure my classroom is always accepting and tolerant of everyone, and that everyone feels just as safe and open to expressing themselves and participating. Yoko shows us her Japanese culture and is more comfortable with writing in her Japanese language because she is not familiar enough with English. A Kindergartener can relate to this because school is so unfamiliar to them even with having English as their first language. ESL students would feel connected to this story even more because they may experience very similar situations as some people may not know how to act around new languages.
Yoko feels lows and highs when participating in school activities, and a lot of her feelings are based on how she is treated by those around her. By having Yoko and classmates drawn as cats help to make students critque the book and what happens without feeling like it is highlighting their own behaviors. It helps to put the story at a distance for the students.
Students can learn a lot about accepting others no matter what differences they may have. I would talk about celebrating our differences instead of looking down on them...just like Wells does in this book!!!
I love the Japanese caligraphy that is added on each page of this book. They can be used in my activity of introducing simple Japanese expressions to have students practice writing. I believe students would be very excited to try this activity because it is different from what they are used to, and those that do practice the Japanese culture will take pride in the whole class taking notice to their language.
Links:
No comments:
Post a Comment