Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Christine Balcarcel


It seems that no one is able to forget their favorite childhood book. When I was younger, my favorite book was The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister. At the time it may have only been my favorite because of the bright and colorful illustrations. Today, however, I see that this story has a great lesson for young students.
The story is about a young fish that has scales more bright and beautiful than all the other fish. When asked to share his scales he refuses, because he does not want to lose his beauty. By the end of the book, Rainbow fish realizes that sharing his fins not only makes the other fish happy, but he finds joy in sharing as well. This story teaches students that it is more important to share, and to be a good friend than it is to have material posessions.
This is a great book to share with a kindergarten or first grade classroom because many students at that age will have trouble learning to share, especially when they are first starting out at school and having to share classroom objects with their new classmates.

1 comment:

  1. I always really loved the rainbow fish as well! It is such a great story, and like you I have always been fond (and still am) of the illustrations, which are really works of art! All of the colors and the contrast of the shimmery scales makes the whole design of the pages stand out to you. I used to really enjoy just looking at the pictures. The book really does relate well to younger children because it shows the reward the little fish feels when he gives and shares with others. The shiny, sparkly scales are definitely a good representative of something a young child might want to keep for themselves. The whole book does a great job of getting down to some of the thoughts that a young child might have about letting someone else use or have something they like, but here they can learn that they have friends to gain from sharing the things they love!

    Great book choice!

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