Crocodile O Crocodile!

An amazing story from Session Plan 7, 1st Implementation 

It is such a joy to see a child make the connection between books and print knowledge, phonological awareness, and alphabet knowledge all at the same time! That is exactly what happened today during session. Tears were almost coming out of my eyes, because I was so excited! I felt like a mother watching her son win first place in a competition.

This happened during our first implementation of session plan 7 in February. It was my turn to be at the writing center for center time, and the kids were told to write freely about whatever they wanted. One student immediately chose to go to the writing center and told me he was going to write a book titled “Crocodile O Crocodile!” During circle time, we recited the “Three Little Monkeys” poem. The sad thing was that in the poem, the crocodile eats two of the monkeys, but the last monkey survives. Instead of seeing this as a scary thing, the little boy told me that in his story, the crocodile, who he decided to name Lilly, was going to try to eat all of the monkeys, but that one special monkey would say, “Stop, let’s be friends” to the crocodile. Then, the crocodile and the monkeys would become friends! I felt so happy to hear him say this! It brought such joy to my heart.

Not only did the little boy create a fascinating and complex story about friends in his mind, he brought it to life by drawing all the pictures in his book as well. Once he was all finished, he came to the realization that he needed to write the title of the book on the cover. Instead of creating his own letters, he asked me how to spell “crocodile.” We figured it out together by sounding out all the parts to the word and then figuring out which letters portray those sounds. Once he spelled “crocodile” the first time, he told me he didn’t need my help for the second spelling of the word, because he was going to copy the way he spelled it the first time. I was so amazed by how smart this kid was! It was fascinating to hear all the thoughts and ideas coming out of his mouth. Finally, after writing an amazing title, the boy realized that he needed to write his name on the cover as well, because he was the author and the illustrator of the book! Wow, was all I could thing to myself! This kid is a genius!

After finishing his wonderful book, he shared it to his fellow classmates during sharing and goodbye. It was such a memorable experience! Even though there may be hard times and struggles during session, it is these moments that help corps members realize that we truly are making a difference in these kids’ lives; they are learning from Jumpstart! I feel so honored to be a part of such an amazing organization!

~Nicole Rouhani

Corps member

Team Joy 2