ReedALOUD: a greyhound A GROUNDHOG

I first read a greyhound A GROUNDHOG with students during Children's Book Week in May. It was an instant hit. The marriage of narrative and art creates a joyful and energetic adventure. Emily Jenkins' playful language is perfectly paired with Chris Applehans' spare and sprightly illustrations. While the reader romps through the tongue twisting text, the illustrations invite the reader deeper into the plot. We see the two animals waking up and stretching. We see their surprise and meeting each other. We absorb the joy of their adventure. It's wonderful.

I just love how these paw prints lead us into the story, where we meet this sweet and playful looking greyhound...

...and this adorable groundhog.

Mutual stretches from a long nap...

...lead to a chance encounter and the joyous adventure begins.

That lolling pink tongue! Those bodies in motion! The game of chase in on! But it's not just their game of chase, we readers are brought into the action through Jenkins playful and tongue-twisting text. 

As the new-found friends' energy increases so does the readers. The pacing is superb.

I read this today with my first graders and it was just a fun as last year. In fact, after I read the book, the students took over for the second round, which made it even more fun.

BEFORE reading the book, I asked students, "What is a tongue twister?" I used VoiceThread to capture some of their responses. You have to listen. It is just too sweet.

AFTER reading a greyhound, A GROUNDHOG, the students had a few options to connect with the story. They could share a tongue twister using VoiceThread:

OR, they could write their own tongue twisting page:

Too much fun, right?