The First Step

Every month at Chets Creek Elementary, our principal, Mrs. Phillips, selects a book that will be shared amongst the entire school community. The books Mrs. Phillips has selected over the years have been filled with profound lessons and rich literature that extend across content. Both younger and older students are able to engage with the text at various levels. As a teacher, I enjoy her book of the month presentations and I am always eager to participate in her lessons. Mrs. Phillips models new and tried and true ways of teaching, which enrich my own practice.


This month's book of the month is Giant Steps to Change the World, by Spike and Tonya Lewis Lee. The book is filled with quotes and text about fulfilling your dreams and taking chances.

I began this lesson by activating the students' schema prior to reading the text. I shared with the students only the title of the text and asked them to draw a picture of what they thought the cover of the book might look like. Then the students wrote their predictions of what the book was about.

After sharing the text with the class, the students were asked to summarize what the text was about and share their summaries during our closing session. I was very proud of how the students expressed their understanding of what it meant to follow your dreams, take chances and not let anything get in your way of your goals and aspirations. One student said during our closing session, "The first step is the hard one and then you start running." So true! 

The video below was shared with my class as an example of how students can respond to literature using music.