Classic Book Enthralls Non Classic Children

Imagine a classroom of five very active boys mesmerized by a book. This isn’t a book about dinosaurs or Star Wars or cars. These aren’t gifted children who you can leave in a library all day and come back and find them quietly doing their homework. These are very active fourth grade boys with a variety of learning differences some of which include such difficulties as hyperactivity, impulsivity, inattention and memory problems to name a few. 

The book I’m referring to is “Wild Swans,” a Hans Christian Andersen classic, retold by Mathew Price, published by Mathew Price. To tell you the truth I was leery about reading this book to them. It’s basically a love story with princes and a princess but it’s got a wonderful moral. The reason I decided to use this book is because it is available on Big Universe, it shows beautifully on the Smart Board, and the graphics are absolutely gorgeous. The combination of the graphics and the engaging language really pulled the boys into the story. 

The questions the children asked after the story were incredible and they were able to answer some fairly high level questions. There will soon be assessments available on Big Universe so I’ll be able to let my students take an assessment right after I read them any book or they read a book on their own! 

Children need language. Children need a lot of language. I have my computer set up at all times to be used with my Smart Board. Whenever we’ve been working for a length of time and I see the kids are getting fidgety I pull up a Big Universe book and read. It’s a great way to use language in the classroom and the children love it!