Off We Go

Yolen, Jane. (2010). Off We Go. L. Molk (Illus.). Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Company

No matter what animal, big or small, the best place in the world will always be grandma's house. From spiders to snakes, mice to moles, they all enjoy going off to grandma's house.

Connecting to the Standards
Kindergarten RL (5): Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).

• This story is a clear example of a rhyming poem.

Kindergarten RL (6): With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

• The author and illustrator are important aspects of the story. Without them, the story wouldn't exist. Students should understand this.

Kindergarten RL (7): With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

• The illustrations and text are clearly related in this story as they go through different animals.

Kindergarten RF (2): Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). a. Recognize and produce rhyming words

• There are rhyming words in this story.

Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to recognize that this story is a form of rhyming poetry. They will explore the variety of rhyming words used in the story. They will also recognize the recurring theme of "Off to grandmother's house I..." and "Sings little..." Students will be able to name the author and illustrator and will go back through the story and explain how the text by the author relates to the art by the illustrator.

Adapted to the Classroom
This story is a great way to introduce a different type of rhyming scheme (AAAB) repeated throughout the story. Students should be carefully listening for the ending rhyme sounds of each stanza. Students should try to figure out what the rhyme scheme is. The teacher will establish a rhythm so the students can understand the meter of the story.

Students will then take what they heard, go back through the book, and identify each rhyming word in the poem. As a class, they will discuss what makes a rhyming word a rhyming word. Through teacher guidance, students will be given the chance to name other words that rhyme with the words from the books. Students will hopefully recognize homonyms as well.

Bloom's Taxonomy
Give an example of a word that rhymes with _____. (Application)
What is a rhyming word? (Knowledge)
Restate some of the rhyming words in the story. (Comprehension)

Differentiation
Students with aphasia may have difficulty recognizing that certain words are rhyming words. Maybe giving them basic rules to understand what words rhyme with what, like similar spelling endings, could help them. However, this won't help when it comes to homonyms.