The Stag at the Pool

Before today, I didn’t even realize I had a copy of Aesop’s Fables laying around my house. Reading through the book, I later realized that I didn’t know a majority of the short stories told by the former slave, Aesop.

So I read them.

“The Stag at the Pool” tells the story of a stag gazing at his own reflection in a pool. Seeing himself, he admires his antlers, while feeling contempt for his seemingly weak legs.

While looking at his reflection, the stag is attacked by a lion. He quickly escapes thanks to his legs, but is halted when his antlers become entangles in tree branches. The story presents a sense of irony. His legs, which the stag hated so much, were possibly his biggest strength, while his antlers, which he was proud of, became his downfall.

Like all of Aesop’s Fables, and most traditional stories, the story contains a moral – in this case, “what is worth most is often valued least.” I see another moral here as well – “nothing is appreciated until it is needed.”

I see traditional stories, such as this one, as reflective stories. They are fun stories to tell, but they are meant to present to you a moral that causes reflection on your own life. From “The Stag at the Pool,” what can you find in your own life that is undervalued?

I think the presence of moral thinking in a classroom is a positive addition in itself. Encouraging your students to read traditional, reflective stories has multiple benefits. These include (the obvious) reading skills-building, critical thinking involving the double meaning behind the story, and the contribution to the student’s moral compass.

While short, the readings can be used in a variety of ways for a variety of reasons. Admittedly, I never saw the benefit of passing stories down from generation to generation, but now…

I think I do.

"Popcorn" by Alex Moran

For this post, I wanted to challenge myself a bit. I found a box of old books in my house and decided I would read and talk about the first book of poetry I found. The book I eventually stumbled on is titled "Popcorn" by Alex Moran.

This emergent level poetry book, oddly enough, starts out as a cookbook, describing in simple terms the process of making popcorn.

“Popcorn. Popcorn. Put it in a pot.

Popcorn. Popcorn. Get the pot hot.”

After making the popcorn, the unnamed characters quickly realize there is WAY too much popcorn, as it overflows, with the characters attempting to catch it as it flies into the air. Eventually, it fills up the house and flows out the door. All is well in the end as everybody enjoys the snack.

“Popcorn. Popcorn. Get it while it’s hot.

We are happy. We like it a lot!”

At fourteen pages, with only one or two sentences per page, the book is obviously intended for beginning readers. Each stanza makes use of rhyme, as evidenced in the quotes above. The phrase “Popcorn. Popcorn.” is repeated throughout the book, signifying the use of repetition, a qualifier of poetry books. You know when you look at a word so many times it starts to sound weird? That’s what the word “popcorn” is to me right now.

Illustrations take up roughly 75% of each page, with each image directly correlating to the particular stanza. The first two pages have a drawing of the characters, who appear to be a rabbit, cat, raccoon and two children, gathering around a pot, with the phrase “put it in a pot” located directly under the image. This is a strategy by the author and illustrator to help beginning readers draw a connection between the words on the page to the physical item they represent. This is continued throughout the book with images of popcorn, a door, and smiling faces corresponding with the words “happy” and “like.”

This book is, altogether, a short poem at most. In this short poem, we find repetition and rhyming. Sight words are prevalent and multi-syllable words are few and far between, but are located within the text. The illustrations and use of poetry tag-team to give context clues to the reader.

If you are looking for a book to introduce sight words or multi-syllable words to a beginning reader, or if you are looking to learn how to make popcorn, I highly recommend this book.