Kevin Henkes Attribute Chart

On one of the side walls in our classroom the class has been working on an attribute chart of Kevin Henkes' books. Pictures of the books' covers run across the top of the chart. Down the left side are the headings for a retelling: Characters, Setting, Problem, Events and Solution. Each category represents a mini-lesson on a different day. For instance on one day we talked about Kevin Henkes' characters, the difference between main characters and supporting characters and how characters change during a story. I modeled selecting the main character from one of the books, drawing a picture of the character and writing the name of the character on an index card. Then each student was invited to choose a favorite Kevin Henkes' book, draw a picture of the character and write the name on an index card of his own. Then we chose a card for each of the titles. To show the children how the information in the mini-lesson transfers to a book of their own, each child was invited to identify a main character in a fictional "just right" book in the individual book bin and then to share out their discovery in our closing meeting.

On another day, the children completed cards on settings, problems and solutions. The events took a little more time since the children had to identify the events that show the steps in solving the problem of each story. In this case, I modeled one story and then invited the children to turn and talk to a partner. Together we wrote the events for each story over several days. This attribute chart will be a reference as the children begin writing their retellings.