Welcome to the series Posts from Your Archives, where bloggers put their trust in me. In this series, I dive into a blogger’s archives and select four posts to share here to my audience.
If you would like to know how it works here is the original post: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/smorgasbord-posts-from-your-archives-newseries-pot-luck-and-do-you-trust-me/
Pre-school teacher of over 30 years, Jennie Fitzkee, has been a welcome guest here many times but this time, Jennie has let me loose in her archives… this will be fun. She is always coming up with creative ways to engage the children.. and here is just one.
“The Stop Game”, From Dinosaurs to Poetry
I invented a game for reading-aloud children’s books that are, well…long or potentially boring in the eyes of the child. Poetry! Fact books! In my heart, I know these books are hugely important. I just needed to find a way to engage children and help them see, the way that I see. Or, perhaps the way that I know. I do know, and the “how to do it” just comes to me. The Stop Game is the perfect answer, a solution that children love.
Here is how it works: I hold a book up and partially open it, so I can fan the pages with my thumb. I tell the children, “On the count of three, say STOP.” I begin to fan the pages on the count of one. Breathless anticipation is an understatement. I keep fanning the pages, and when I get to three the children yell STOP. Oh, how they yell, because they’re excited. Then, I show them that page, the one when they said STOP.
We are learning about dinosaurs this month. Besides making great dinosaur art projects, I wanted to teach children facts. After we used a 100-foot measuring tape in the hallway to see the real size of dinosaurs (Brachiosaurus was 85-feet, the entire length of our hallway), I knew children were ready for more learning. I had a great fact book about different dinosaurs, so we played The Stop Game. Oh my, today is day three of children begging for this. And, they remember the facts! The Stop Game repeated a dinosaur page today. When children asked where the dinosaur lived, Kate blurted out, “Australia!” There is a column along the right that lists location, size, enemy, food, and more. I am grilled on these facts every day. Isn’t that wonderful?
Children are excited to learn specifics about dinosaurs. They can’t get enough. They’re four-years-old. Thank you, The Stop Game.
Poetry is a fundamental in reading, words, and rhyming. The simplest of words written in poetry have the most powerful meanings. I read poetry to children. And, we play The Stop Game to make the words come alive. Poetry+The Stop Game=Understanding.
The first poetry book I fell in love with was Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic. It is a classic, and continues to be one of the best poetry books for children. Every page that The Stop Game lands on, is a good poem.
My favorite new children’s poetry book is Outside Your Window. The poetry goes through the seasons and all the animals within each season. There is a wide variety of poetic style, so every poem sparks a different conversation. Children love this book. They love poetry. Playing The Stop Game allows them an opportunity to really listen to the words. It is wonderful.
“The Stop Game” actually started with the dictionary, years ago. A big Scholastic Children’s Dictionary. Every time we read a new word, I used the dictionary to look it up, with the children of course. It was exciting to pull out this big book, show children the fore edge (opposite the spine) with red markings that indicated the letters in the alphabet- and then open the dictionary to see those red alphabet markings. Honestly, this was very exciting. After we looked up the new word, we wanted to look up many more new words, over and over again. So, we played The Stop Game, opened a page, and discovered a world of words. Author Patricia MacLachlan would have said, “Word After Word After Word.”
©Jennie Fitzkee
About Jennie Fitzkee
I have been teaching preschool for over thirty years. This is my passion. I believe that children have a voice, and that is the catalyst to enhance or even change the learning experience. Emergent curriculum opens young minds. It’s the little things that happen in the classroom that are most important and exciting. That’s what I write about.
I am highlighted in the the new edition of Jim Trelease’s bestselling book, “The Read-Aloud Handbook” because of my reading to children. My class has designed quilts that hang as permanent displays at both the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, and the Fisher House at the Boston VA Hospital.
Connect to Jennie
Blog: https://jenniefitzkee.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennie.fitzkee
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jlfatgcs
My thanks to Jennie for permitting me to share this post from her archives and there will be another one next Thursday..
Lovely woman – Enjoyed this piece
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Jennie is fabulous and such a great teacher..thanks for dropping in…
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Thank you!
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You’re welcome Jennie! I’m enjoying your blog 🤗
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That’s so nice. Happy reading and many thanks. 🙂
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Thank you, Sally! Delighted to be here.
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We always look forward to your visits.. ♥
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❤️
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Reblogged this on A Teacher's Reflections and commented:
Sally Cronin shares with readers some of her favorite blog posts. I am delighted that my story of The Stop Game and reading to children is included.
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All your posts are my favourites Jennie.. tough to share just four..hugsx
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That’s so nice, Sally. Thank you!
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When it comes to small kids and education, it doesn’t get any better than Jennie. She should be the benchmark by which all other teachers are judged. 🙂
Thanks for featuring her, Sally. She’s a gem!
Best wishes, Pete.
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She is Pete.. could not agree more…
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Thank you for your kind words, Pete.
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I love this post from Jennie. She makes learning fun. I wish I was in her class!
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Thank you so much, Darlene!
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That would be fun to visit for a day… I wonder what her class would think of us all… grannies on the web….xxx
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This is a grand post, I’m going to pinch the Stop Game for my grandkids!
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Thank you! It really works!
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I read a few of your blog posts, they made me cry they are so lovely your little ones.
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That is so nice. Thank you!
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Great.. they will love it..x
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Kids love learning new things and Jennie has come up with a way to let them learn in little bites. Great blog to share.
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Thank you, Elizabeth!
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Terrific Post, Sally. Jennie is a treasure.
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She is that John…hugs
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😊
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Thank you, John. 😊
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😊
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Another brilliant teaching tool from an amazing educator. ❤
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Quite ♥
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Thank you, Debby. ❤️
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Such a great idea for teaching small children, Jennie and Sally. I must say that my boys loved non-fiction books and also nursery rhymes.
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Thanks Robbie..hugsx
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Thank you, Robbie.
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I love the “Top Game,” Jennie, that’s brilliant. Thank you Sally for featuring Jennie.
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Thanks Miriam..hugsx
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You’re welcome, Sally.
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Thank you, Miriam.
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“Stop Game”
You’re welcome, Jenni! 🙂
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🙂
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