Reederama ReedALOUD: Hoot and Peep

Happy belated Book Birthday 

to Hoot and Peep by Lita Judge!

I shared this lyrically-written and stunningly-illustrated book with my kindergarten students yesterday (the actual book birthday). The students were instantly drawn to Lita Judge's brother and sister duo. How could one not love these two owls? The glorious and mystical setting of the Paris-inspired rooftops adds to the magic of the evening adventures.

I introduced the story by discussing siblings and the sharing of knowledge, thereby helping students to identify with either Hoot, the big brother and the holder of older sibling knowledge or Peep, the little sister and bringer of new perspectives and ideas.

While reading the book, I had the students take on the role of Hoot, by saying "hoo" whenever it appeared in the text.  I started this by asking the students what the traditional owl sounds like. They hooted beautifully and took on the role fabulously. (On the page where Hoot is rather emphatically explaining to Peep that owls only say Hoo, I explained what emphatic meant and asked them to show me. They were perfect!) 

After finishing the story, I was met with the chant of "Read it again!" -- a sure sign that the students connected with the story.

After reading Hoot and Peep, we revisited our conversation about siblings and sharing of knowledge. I then invited the students to contribute their voices to a poster splash about the book or to a Voicethread.