We have been having so much fun participating in the Virtual Book Club for Kids! This month’s author, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, was new to us and we excited to see her book Spoon in the Scholastic book order last month.
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Spoon is the story of a little spoon who begins to fret that his friends, Knife, Fork, and Chopsticks, have it so much better than him. His friends think he is the lucky one, but he can only see the things that they can do–until his mom reminds him of all of the things that make him special.
The kids LOVED the story and had no trouble picking up the theme or recalling story details. It was easy to see how much they were able to identify with Spoon’s situation.
After reading the story we took turns looking into a spoon and talked about how you don’t see yourself correctly–you are upside down and misshapen. Then we flipped the spoon around and noticed it was much easier to see youself clearly.
I pointed out how it was the same for Spoon in the story. He couldn’t see all the great things about his life until his mom pointed them out, she was the one who “flipped the spoon over” for him. We talked about times when we have felt the same way as little Spoon and what we could do about it next time it happened. They decided that instead of complaining about what they didn’t have they could think of all the things they did have.
We made a spoon for each kid to help them remember some of the great things about themselves. The kids brainstormed special things about each other and I wrote them on a paper spoon. They decorated their spoons and we hung them on their bedroom doors.
The best part is that the lesson didn’t end there. Later, when we were running errands and one of the kids began to complain, we “spooned” her! I said, “Uh oh! You sound like little Spoon. Let’s flip this around and think about all of the great things you do have instead of worrying about what someone else is getting.” The other two joined in and before you know it everyone was smiling again. (Did I mention how much we loved this book?!?)
This was our first Amy Krouse Rosenthal book and we were definitely impressed. I can’t wait to read more!
Be sure to follow the Virtual Kids Book Club on facebook for all of the fun:
