Take-Me-Home Book Ideas

The literacy coaches in Kentucky and Wisconsin solicited Take-Me-Home book ideas from their teachers. That effort resulted in a compilation of 40 ideas. Our special thanks to Sharon Gieselmann and Linda Hensel, two of our literacy coaches, for leading the effort.

Sending the Take-Me-Home books home is one of the four Essential Practices. Sharing the Take-Me-Home books with families serves several purposes. The books connect families with the classroom. Reading and discussing the books gives children a way to remember, think about, and talk about what was shared at school. When families talk and read together each day, the child's understanding of words, use of words, and ability to talk about stories improves.

The Take-Me-Home books are also an important resource for use in the classroom. We have categorized some of the ideas by type of instruction, i.e. whole-group, small-group, literacy centers, or independent activity, and included them here.

Whole group

Copy each page from the Take-Me-Home book on overhead transparencies. Cut the transparencies out "book size" and allow the children to match them to the pages in their Take-Me-Home books.
Choose a page in the Take-Me-Home book. Students place marshmallows or M&M's on words matching those read by the teacher.
Ask a question related to the story's content. Have the students answer the question on the blank pages and illustrate.
Distribute Take-Me-Home books. Invite children to follow along in the book as the story is read aloud.
Invite children to draw their own cover for the Take-Me-Home book, using one of the blank pages at the back of the book. Encourage the children to think carefully about drawing something that represents the main idea of the story.
Use the Take-Me-Home books for a synonym or antonym hunt. Invite the children to hunt through their Take-Me-Home book to find the specific synonym or antonym for a given word.
Circle color words with that specific color, i.e., use a red crayon or marker to circle the word "red."

Small group

Use green to color the first word (or the first letter in a word) of each sentence and red to color the punctuation at the end of the sentence.
Let the children draw speech bubbles on the Take-Me-Home book pages that have quotation marks. Have students write in the dialogue (or create their own new dialogue).
Circle high frequency words with a crayon, using different colors for each word selected.
When studying digraphs, have students circle all the "th" or "ch" words. Brainstorm a list of "th" or "ch" words on the blank pages.
Circle rhyming words in the Take-Me-Home books. Extend this activity by having students list other rhyming words on the blank pages.
Circle nouns, adjectives, or verbs on each page. Have students complete a tally on the blank pages (total number of nouns, adjectives, and verbs).
Invite students to draw word webs or graphic organizers on the blank pages of the Take-Me-Home books pertaining to skills taught with the book, i.e., web "str" words.
When studying long and short vowels, have students circle all the short a words or long e words. Have students brainstorm a list of short a or long e words.

Literacy Centers

(Remember that literacy center activities should be introduced, modeled, and practiced in whole group and small group before being incorporated as an independent activity in a literacy center.)

Let children record the Take-Me-Home book on a blank cassette they brought from home. Send home on Friday with the Take-Me-Home book.
Take apart a Take-Me-Home book and cut the sentences off the bottom of each page. Laminate the sentences and pictures. Have student match the sentence with the correct picture.
Use green flat marbles as markers for the beginning of a sentence and red to mark the end of the sentence.
Have the students use a variety of pointers to read the Take-Me-Home books during center time, i. e. paintbrush for Mix It Up, tip of a party horn for A Party.
Cover up vocabulary words in the Take-Me-Home books, matching what was covered in the Big Book during whole-group instruction, with book cover or highlighter tape during center time.
Write the story on sentence strips and cut the words apart. Have students place the words in pocket charts, on the table, or on the floor, in the correct order and then use the Take-Me-Home books to check their work. To extend this activity, begin each word on the sentence strip with a lower case letter, and have upper case letters available to match each beginning letter, i.e., "A" for apple. When students put the sentence strips in order, they decide if the word should be begin with a lowercase or uppercase letter.
Copy the sentences in the Take-Me-Home books on overhead transparencies and cut apart. During center time, have students match the overhead sentences to the correct page in the Take-Me-Home book.

Independent activity

Have students create (write and illustrate) a new ending for the story with their parents. Return the Take-Me-Home book to school so that students can share their stories with the class.
Read the Take-Me-Home books with a buddy.
Use the blank pages of the Take-Me-Home book to write a new ending for the story. Share with a partner.
Have students work with a volunteer to create a new ending to the story.
Send the Take-Me-Home book home to read with family members. Students return the book with a parent signature after reading it with their family.