On Monday When It Rained Lesson

Background: On Monday When It Rained  written by Cheryl Kachenmeister, with photographs by Tom Berthiaume, is a unique book about children's feelings.  With a straightforward approach to feelings, the author does not patronize readers.  Children explore a little boy's week and turn the page to find out how he felt about each day's event.   Mr. Berthiaume's photographs are treasures!

Objective: By reading On Monday When It Rained, and creating their own book, children explore feelings, practice journal writing and review the days of the week.

Materials: Picture book, On Monday when it Rained, 12 pieces of construction paper tied or stapled together to form an empty book for each child, crayons, pencils, markers.  Book pages should have two lines at the bottom, an inch apart, for sentence construction.  Classroom teachers or home school moms may want to recruit an older child to help with this project.

       

Procedure: On Monday, introduce On Monday When It Rained  by asking the children how they feel when it's sunny and they go to the beach with friends.  Or maybe they live someplace where it snows a lot and one day they can't go outside because they have a cold.  How do they feel when they see their friends playing outside without them? Read On Monday When It Rained.          

The children will recognize a pattern - one page is about the boy's day; the next is about how he felt afterward (excited, sad, embarrassed).  As the book draws to a close, encourage the children to guess how the boy will feel before you turn the page.

After reading this delightful book discuss the different emotions the boy felt.  Ask the children if they feel any of the same feelings.  Allow students to infer why, on Saturday, the boy wondered about something.  What do the children think he might have been wondering about?

Well before the end of each school day, young authors will tell the teacher or a classroom helper about their day or an event. Their sentence(s) should begin with "On (weekday) when . . .  " Decide before the lesson how little or how much each child should write on their own, if they are older than preschool age.  If they can print a few words, give children time to write.  Help them add their thoughts, and do not place emphasis on spelling.  If time permits, children can draw a simple symbol  or picture to represent the event, but remember that the next picture is more important to this assignment.

On the next page, students draw a picture of their face showing the expression they felt after their day. If teacher's have extra help, a photo of the child pretending an emotion is a fun twist to add to some days.  On Friday, an adult or classroom helper should help each child write about Mom or Dad tucking them in on Friday evening and talking about their week.  On the last page, students should copy these words, "Hmmmm . . . I wonder."  

I was . . . disappointed.

Evaluation: Following the writing of their books, children publish their books by sharing with peers.  Did their peers understand the emotion they felt  on each day?  Were they able to guess what the face of the author would look like on a certain day?  Did the child take their time illustrating  and printing parts of their sentences?  

Teacher's Notes:  If your schedule lacks time for a book project, a simple follow up for a one day lesson includes one page about their day and their feelings, instead.  Print out the page connected with this one day lesson at Scribd.  The boy in the book wonders, out loud, on Saturday.  For lesson purposes I suggested that students end their books on Friday.