Small Group Read Aloud Program: Integrative Strategy Guide
Title: Memoirs of a Goldfish
Author: Devin Scillian
Illustrator: Tim Bowers
Age Range: 6-9
Topic/Themes: Sharing
Vocabulary: Memoirs, Disgusting, Ridiculous
See video of this book read aloud here: Memoirs of a Goldfish
I. Introduction (Prep Questions)
a. Use the title and cover to predict what the story is about.
b. What word in the title is one you don’t know (memoirs)? Have students guess its meaning but don’t tell them the meaning. Instead, say that you’re going to read the story and see if they can discover its meaning from the story line and text format.
II. Integrative Strategies
Post Reading Discussion:
· Review the story using the picture walk strategy, having students retell story events.
· What do you think the word memoirs mean? Is there a part of the word memoirs that reminds you of another word that you know? (memory) Discuss meaning with students.
· The author chose to write his story using first-person narrative. Who remembers what that means? (the person who is telling the story is part of the story). Reread p. 1 and elicit from the students which words helps us know the writer/narrator is part of the story (I/my). Explain that it is different from many other books written in third-person narrative, which means that the writer/narrator is not part of the story. Ask why it was necessary for the author to choose first-person.
· How did you feel about this story? Why? What do you think the author’s reason was for writing this story?
· What was your favorite part? Why? What was the funniest part for you? Why?
· How did Goldfish feel at the beginning of the story? How did he feel after the other animals and things were added to the bowl? How did he feel at the end?
· What did the Goldfish learn by the end of story? How did his feelings change? What parts started to show that his feelings were changing from the beginning of the story to the end of the story?
· Is the story fiction, a make-believe? Or, is the story non-fiction, true information that gives you facts to explain something? Why do you think so? What happened in the story that could not have happened in real life?
· Reread some of the pages and ask students why the author thought the readers would laugh (p. 11/watering the plants; p.18/sunscreen; p.23/umbrella), etc.
· What could have been a different problem for Goldfish to solve instead of crowding?
· Which character in the story would you want to be? Why?