Thank you, Mr. Falker
Patricia Polacco
Published by Philomel Books
Copyright 2001
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| Mr. Falker |
In school, have you ever felt as if you just weren't getting things as quickly as the other kids? Maybe you don't do your math times tables as fast? Maybe you weren't as creative when it came time to draw or paint? Maybe you didn't run as fast? For Trisha, she couldn't seem to read as well as everyone else. As years went on her teachers really never paid much attention to the fact that she wasn't able to read very well. She could create beautiful pictures but when it came to words on a page all she saw was a jumble of letters. Soon other students started to pick on her and bully her. This caused her to become very isolated and scared. It wasn't until her teacher Mr. Falker realized what the issue was and was determined to help Trisha overcome her reading problem - dyslexia. Trisha became very thankful to her teacher Mr. Falker for helping her overcome her fears, frustrations, and reading impairment. These are the types of teachers who make a difference and help children realize what their potential really is despite what others may say or do to make us think otherwise.
Reading Level: Grades 3-5; Lexile: 650L
Suggested Delivery:
Read-Aloud, Small Group Read
Web Resources:
Author's Cite: This is the author's website where you can find information about the book and it's author, art work from the text and you can even create your own postcard with the illustrations from the text. You can also browse the other children's books that she has created!
Key Vocabulary: torture, elegant, cunning, bravery, ladle, twilight, mole, odyssey
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| Patricia Polacco |
Lesson Planning: This is an example of a lesson plan that focuses on the development of comprehension using the text Thank You, Mr. Falker. This lesson plan provides worksheets, diagrams, and helpful discussion questions that will engage the reader all while helping them develop their comprehension skills.
The following links are more examples of lesson plans that could be used to help students expand their thinking about the text and other connections they can make to other subjects, life situations, etc. These lessons include writing activities, vocabulary, art, topics for journal writing, etc.
Key Vocabulary: torture, elegant, cunning, bravery, ladle, twilight, mole, odyssey
Suggestions for Activities for Students:
Before Reading: Before showing the book cover ask the questions (Questions were taken from this lesson plan by Nancy Drew of Tecumseh, Ontario) -
- Have you ever really wanted to learn to do something? How did you do it? Was it easy or difficult?
- If it was difficult, how did you feel? Were you able to do it? Who or what helped you? Who or what didn't help you?
These discussion questions can be used as a good initiation to get into the text. As the student discuss what challenges they have had or are having the teacher could write these challenges on a large piece of chart paper. (Note: Do not write names next to the difficulties each student is having as it might be a sensitive subject and we want to make it clear that they are not the only ones who may have this difficulty. Maybe give examples of other well known individuals that might have their difficulty.) Next to what the students might be having difficulty with write down what they say helped them or what other students say might help that
difficulty.
Other questions you might want to ask the students before reading the text are:
What are your predications for this story after seeing the cover of the book?
Why do you think the author titled the book Thank you, Mr. Falker?
Who is Mr. Falker?
It would also be helpful to mention the vocabulary words that the teacher selected for the students to focus on during the read-aloud or small group reading.
During Reading: As the teacher reads the story students should focus on the vocabulary that was mentioned before the lesson. After reading the sentence in which the vocabulary word is in ask the students if they can use context clues to help them figure out what the word means. Have the students try and connect the vocabulary words to their own life or an experience that they have witnessed. For example, ask the students if they have ever met someone who was "cunning" or if they can share with the class an act of "bravery" that they have seen or heard about.
After Reading: A fun and creative activity that a teacher can use to give to their students would be to make a character time-line. The students could be given a sheet of paper that has the significant events that happened to Trisha in the story (click here for an example). Explain that the students have seen the illustrations in the book but you want them to make their own illustrations using what they know from the story. Encourage the students to make their illustrations as original and creative as possible and not rely so much on the illustrations in the book but just the text and the information on the timeline provided. Students can take long pieces of blank white paper, cut out the words from the timeline provided, paste them on their timeline paper, and begin to draw/color their illustrations to go with the text.
Awards and Acknowledgements:
Parent's Choice Honors, 1998Rhode Island Children’s Book Award Winner, 2000
Publisher's Weekly Review:
Fans of Polacco's (Thundercake; Pink and Say) work know well her talent for weaving her colorful family history throughout her picture books. Here Polacco shares her childhood triumph over dyslexia and discovery of reading in an inspiring if slightly formulaic story. Young Trisha is eager to taste the "sweetness of knowledge" that her grandfather has always revered (here symbolized by drizzling honey onto a book and tasting it, which harkens back to Polacco's earlier The Bee Tree). But when she looks at words and numbers, everything is a jumble. Trisha endures the cruel taunts of classmates who call her "dumb," and falls behind in her studies. But finally the encouragement and efforts of a new fifth grade teacher, Mr. Falker, trigger a monumental turning point in Trisha's life. She begins to blossom and develop all of her talents, including reading. Polacco's tale is all the more heartfelt because of its personal nature. Young readers struggling with learning difficulties will identify with Trisha's situation and find reassurance in her success. Polacco's gouache-and-pencil compositions deftly capture the emotional stages?frustration, pain, elation?of Trisha's journey. Ages 5-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Booklist Review:
Ages 5^-9. Like many of Polacco's picture-book stories, this one is autobiographical. Who would believe that this gifted storyteller had started off with a serious learning disability? From kindergarten on, Trisha gets attention because she can draw; but she hides the fact that she can't read--all she sees on the page are "wiggling shapes" --until her fifth-grade teacher discovers Trisha's problem, gets her special help, and sets her free. "That little girl was me," Polacco says in a final note. As always she tells the story with intense emotion: no understatement here; reading is "torture." The big line-and-watercolor illustrations are bright with color and theatrical gesture, expressing the child's happiness with her grandparents in a family of readers, her fear and loneliness in the classroom ("she hated hated hated school"), her anguish when the kids jeer at her in the schoolyard, and her joy when finally she reads the words on the page ("she was happy, so very happy"). Trisha isn't idealized: we see her messy and desperate, poring over her books. This will encourage the child who feels like a failure and the teacher who cares. Hazel RochmanSchool Library Journal Review:
hello this is by patrica so da!
ReplyDeletethis is not helping in school
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