Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Written by: Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Illustrated by: Lois Ehlert
Published by: Simon & Schuster 1989
Grades: K-1
Genre: Picture Book, Educational
Boston Globe/ Horn Book Honor
Written by: Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Illustrated by: Lois Ehlert
Published by: Simon & Schuster 1989
Grades: K-1
Genre: Picture Book, Educational
Boston Globe/ Horn Book Honor
Synopsis: This picture book tells the story of the letters of the alphabet and their encounter with a coconut tree. There is a race between the letters to the top of the coconut tree. The letters are introduced and described in alphabetical order. As the first letters go to the tree, the other letters follow suit and want to do the same. There is always the question of there being enough room and putting too much weigh on the tree. In the end the tree drops the letters, leaving them upside down.
Theme/Skill: Alphabet, Phonemic Awareness, Repetition, Rhyming.About the Authors: Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Bill Martin Jr.
Bill was born and raised in Kansas. He graduated from Emporia State University in Kansas with a teaching degree. He taught in Kansas and was an elementary school principal in Chicago. In 1961, he started to develop the literature-based reading programs Sounds of Language and The Instant Readers for Holt, Rinehart, and Winston in New York City. Bill Martin Jr. wrote for almost 60 years and published more than 300 children’s books. His first book he ever published was The Little Squeegy Bug-The Story of the Firefly in 1945. He is the author of many classic books including Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? , Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear?, The Ghost-Eye Tree, Barn Dance, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and Swish. Bill Martin Jr. lived in Texas when he passed away in 2004. He is known today as one of America’s favorite children’s author.
Source used: http://www.billmartinjr.com/bill_martin
John Archambault
John was an eager reader and writer as a child and was inspired by the book Charlotte’s Web. His writing career started in high school when he had a job at a local newspaper part time. He soon became a full-time reporter. He graduated from the University of California at Riverside. Archambault has authored and co-authored over 20 books. He has worked side-by-side with Bill Martin Jr. on a variety of projects including the creation of a supplemental reading program called the Sounds of Language. The first book they co-authored was The Ghost-Eye Tree. They have also written Barn Dance!, Knots on a Counting Rope, and White Dynamite and Curly Kidd. He is developing a series of Big Books for Childcraft Education Corporation to help develop fluency and intuitive associations with print for developing readers. In these Big Books he is incorporating CDs with read-along and sing-along versions to engage and make reading more fun. He is now known today as a children’s book author, poet, storyteller, and musician. He currently lives in Yorba Linda, California with his two sons, Arie and Kevin.
Source used: http://www.billmartinjr.com/bill_martin
John Archambault
John was an eager reader and writer as a child and was inspired by the book Charlotte’s Web. His writing career started in high school when he had a job at a local newspaper part time. He soon became a full-time reporter. He graduated from the University of California at Riverside. Archambault has authored and co-authored over 20 books. He has worked side-by-side with Bill Martin Jr. on a variety of projects including the creation of a supplemental reading program called the Sounds of Language. The first book they co-authored was The Ghost-Eye Tree. They have also written Barn Dance!, Knots on a Counting Rope, and White Dynamite and Curly Kidd. He is developing a series of Big Books for Childcraft Education Corporation to help develop fluency and intuitive associations with print for developing readers. In these Big Books he is incorporating CDs with read-along and sing-along versions to engage and make reading more fun. He is now known today as a children’s book author, poet, storyteller, and musician. He currently lives in Yorba Linda, California with his two sons, Arie and Kevin.
Source used: http://www.johnarchambault.com/about.html
Pre-Reading Activities: Bring in a small tree and hang the letters of the alphabet on it. Each of the children will come up and take one letter off the tree. After this ask such questions as: What letters are left on the tree? What letters did you take off the tree? Why do you think the letters are on the tree? Have the children come up with a word that goes with their letter and write it on the board or dictate it to the teacher.
Post-Reading Activities: Looking at the words in the book that describe the letters, see how they are different from what the children came up with. Ask such questions as: Why do you think we are putting the word blue with the letter “B” and the letter “C” with the word color? Then after discussing this, have the students make their own letter out of paper and attach a word to it off of the list of words from the pre-reading activity. Then have them place the letters on the tree that will stay in the classroom.
Ideas to use in the classroom: http://littlegiraffes.com/teaching-ideas/123/chicka-chicka-boom-boom-activities/
Reflection: I think that Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is such a classic book that it will be used by numerous teachers for many years to come. It is such an engaging story that gives alphabet leters some characters. It allows early readers who are just starting to learn their letters along with sounding out words a book to follow along with and learn the letters. It gives such a simple concept of letters going up a tree more complex ideas to expand upon such as cause and effect, the descriptions given to the letters, and the identification of letters with children. There are many engaging lesson plans teachers can use from this that will make if fun for children. The repetition of the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom will also help students who are unfamiliar with their letters still to participate in reading the book and chanting.
Ideas to use in the classroom: http://littlegiraffes.com/teaching-ideas/123/chicka-chicka-boom-boom-activities/
Reflection: I think that Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is such a classic book that it will be used by numerous teachers for many years to come. It is such an engaging story that gives alphabet leters some characters. It allows early readers who are just starting to learn their letters along with sounding out words a book to follow along with and learn the letters. It gives such a simple concept of letters going up a tree more complex ideas to expand upon such as cause and effect, the descriptions given to the letters, and the identification of letters with children. There are many engaging lesson plans teachers can use from this that will make if fun for children. The repetition of the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom will also help students who are unfamiliar with their letters still to participate in reading the book and chanting.
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