Dear Teachers, Parents and Carers,
As we strive to implement Sustainable Development Goals within our Early Years Curriculum, it is our hope that our book inspires you and your children to join us in our effort to revolutionize and save the world.
Using this guide, you will find our suggested strategies to use while reading this book with your children.
With love,
Katharina Ehrenfried & Matthew Carlyle
Heads of BCS Kindergarten & Preschool
Suggested pre-reading strategies to follow when reading this book with children:
Explore the title by naming the letters with your child. What is the title? REVOLUTION
Are some letters backward? If so, which ones? What word is spelled within the title backward? LOVE
Engage the child by making predictions as to what a revolution may mean.
Ask the following questions:
What do you notice on the cover page?
What emotions do you see on Planet Earth and on the character’s face?
How does this make you feel?
Now, explain to the child the difference between letters and words by reading the subtitle of the book located on the title page in German, English or both. It is important to point to the words while reading as this is an early print concept that young children need to learn in understanding that text conveys meaning.
Take a picture walk through the story. Stop and speak about the pictures with your children. Ask questions such as:
What do you see on this page? What does this remind you of? Tell me more…
For children who are emergent readers, ask them if they notice any patterns within the English text from page to page. Maybe they notice the letters Re.
After the picture walk, ask your child to tell you what the following words mean as this will test their prior knowledge and allow you as the adult to think of extension questions to ask while reading.
Rewear, Repair, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Regift, Restore, Refuse, Replenish, Repeat
Depending on their responses, you may keep a journal or make a poster to illustrate the child’s prior knowledge.
Suggested while-reading strategies to follow when reading this book with children:
Identify the German words and English words. Ask the child to point at the German text and the English text.
Show your child the difference between letters and words. Explain to the child that the letter I is also a word in English. Ask your child to circle a letter and to circle a word within the text to check for understanding of this early literacy print concept.
Show your child the various punctuation marks and explain the purpose. Within this book, readers will find the period, question mark and the apostrophe. For older children that may question the use of an apostrophe, it is suitable to follow their interest and list compound words on a poster and explain the meaning. This however would be a skill that is suitable to share with children at least six years of age.
Ask the child to share the emotions of the characters within the story.
Ask the child to identify the colours they see within the pictures.
Ask the child to share similarities and differences between the characters. For example, they both have short hair and green pants. The older brother is taller than the younger brother.
Speak with your child about different abilities that are noticed within the characters portrayed. Share that people of all abilities are about to work together within a community to save the world.
Utilising the questions within the book, have the child share what things they can do to rewear, repair, reduce, reuse, recycle, regift, restore, refuse, replenish and repeat. Following the discussions that take place, ask the child to illustrate the pages and to write the words.
Suggested after-reading strategies to follow when reading this book with children:
Ask the child which pages within the book did they enjoy the most.
Ask the child if they would like to try out one of the ‘Re’ words within the community or at home.
Ask the child if they would like to ask friends, siblings or other family members to join them in the project.
Keep a journal with illustrations and photos of your child making a difference. Consider sharing their work with friends and family to inspire change.
Empower your child to develop values that they can use in their daily lives revisiting this book as an ongoing reminder of the importance to:
Repair things
Rewear things
Reduce our usage of things
Reuse things
Recycle things
Regift things
Restore things
Refuse things
Replenish things
Repeat things