Water Table Retell

Mrs. Wishy-Washy is a favourite character to explore at the beginning of the year, especially because the texts are so easily read and accessible for the children. We read two of our favourites today. 

We asked the children if they wanted to explore the text further. After a discussion as to who the characters were in the books, the children set to work around the room finding all the animals that were in the books. They decided that they each wanted to role-play being Mrs. Wishy-Washy.

We thought the water table would be the perfect place to retell the events of the text. I laminated pages from the story and attached them directly in the water table for reference with heavy duty clear tape.

The children used a variety of brushes to wash the animals and retell the text as they went along.

It was so much fun to hear the children singing "wishy-washy, wishy-washy" and pass the animals and different scrubbers back and forth!

Having the text directly in the water table supported literacy by encouraging the correct sequence of events and helping children connect the written words to the pictures.

Some friends were even inspired to revisit the big book and copy the pictures so they could have their own copy of the text!

Mrs. Wishy-Washy Retell

We've been reading the big book "Mrs. Wishy-Washy" during our shared reading time. A copy of it was sent home in your child's blue shared reading duotang on Friday. These duotangs will come home on a regular basis with your child, after we've spent a week studying a piece of literature (poem, story, chant, finger play) together. In addition to the suggestions listed on the first page, we will also include activities to complete with your child specific to the reading. Feel free to do any of these activities to help support your child's emergent reading experiences.

Here is the big book, as retold by one of our children.

In order to encourage children to practice retelling the story, we set up a "Mrs. Wishy-Washy" center where children could act out the story....with real mud! What fun!

Here are Mrs. Wishy-Washy and the animals next to her tub.

The children retell the part of the text where the animals roll in the mud!

Mrs. Wishy-Washy bathes them!

Oh, lovely mud!