I consider myself pretty lucky because my parents never did anything to cause me oodles of embarrassment during my school years. Unfortunately, the main character in The Day My Mom Came to Kindergarten by Maureen Fergus and Mike Lowery can’t say the same thing. The little girl in the story realizes her mom has been a little sad now that she goes to Kindergarten everyday so she invites her to stay. But mom doesn’t know the rules of Kindergarten, which mortifies her daughter. She traipses into the classroom with outdoor shoes, calls out answers, doesn’t clean up her messes, and just generally doesn’t follow all of the rules. Once the little girl is at her wit’s end her teacher reminders her, “Sometimes it takes a while to get comfortable with something new. Once your mom gets used to the way we do things, I’m sure she’ll learn how to express her thoughts and feelings in more appropriate ways.” (Spoken like a true Kindergarten teacher!) The little girl becomes more understanding of her mother, as a result of her teacher’s advice. I’ll refrain from spoiling the ending, but I’ll just say the mom and daughter make peace even though mom is still making mistakes right through ’til the end of the school day.
Over time, something that was embarrassing usually becomes something one can laugh about. Therefore, stories about embarrassing times are fodder for funny narratives. The Day My Mom Came to Kindergarten can be used as a topic choice mentor in writing workshop. Here are other things you can use this book for when you confer with young writers:
- writing about events that happened in a sequence
- combining writing and drawing to tell about an event
- embedding action verbs to show, not tell
- using onomatopoeia effectively
- crafting a text with unique voice
- elaborating on an event using action, thinking, and dialogue
- including speech bubbles (if illustrations are used) in addition to the story’s dialogue
- creating a humorous text
- providing a resolution to a story
Finally, and unrelated to writing workshop, this is a phenomenal book to share with any child who will be heading to Kindergarten this fall!
Take a look at some page spreads from The Day My Mom Came to Kindergarten:
Giveaway Information:
Many thanks to Kids Can Press for sponsoring this giveaway. One lucky commenter will win a copy of The Day My Mom Came to Kindergarten by Maureen Fergus and Mike Lowery.To enter for a chance to win a copy please leave a comment on this post about independent writing projects, how you’d use this book in your classroom, or an embarrassing story from your childhood that you could share with your students.All comments left on or before Friday, May 24th, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. EDT will be entered into a random drawing using a random number generator the following day. I will announce the winners’ names at the bottom of this post no later than Sunday, May 26th.Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment, so I can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, my contact at Kids Can will ship the book out to you. (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you only leave it in the e-mail field.)
Comments are now closed. Thanks to everyone who left such enthusiastic comments about The Day My Mom Came to Kindergarten. Diane’s commenter number was selected by the random number generator so she’ll win a copy of this book. Diane wrote:
This book could be read several times through out the year with a different focus. At the start of the year to talk about rules of the school, later if a new student arrives to help them along and they also could write about when they didn’t follow the rules or didn’t remember them. They could also write their own classroom routine and procedure book.
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 
Great post! I love the idea of using it as a jumping off point to talk about using embarrassing moments as great writing material. It is great to see how those mortifying moments can be downright funny with a little bit of time and perspective.
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Since I’ve spent a lot of time this year in the younger classrooms, I love the language of the teacher from this book, Stacey. It sounds just exactly like the primary teachers. I will be sure to find it for next year! Thanks!
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This book could be read several times through out the year with a different focus. At the start of the year to talk about rules of the school, later if a new student arrives to help them along and they also could write about when they didn’t follow the rules or didn’t remember them. They could also write their own classroom routine and procedure book.
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Absolutely! Those are the best kinds of books.
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Looks like a great book! My brother and sister loved to make me laugh, especially when I was drinking my milk. They used to make me laugh so hard that milk woud come out my nose and land all over my dinner, hitch I would still have to eat. Thank you!
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Looks like a great book and I bet the kids would LOVE it!! 🙂
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Independent writing is difficult for my English as a Second Language kids. This book would help them to think about what we do and don’t do in kindergarten. I think I might use it around Mother’s Day. Each child could draw and write about his/her mom coming to kindergarten. Would be fun to share with moms at our awards day event at the end of the year.
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This book sounds wonderful! I’d love to own a copy!
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I had my own very embarrassing moment at school this week so the topic is fresh on my mind. I think this book along with personal recollections can lead to a powerful writing experience
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Read this at a bookstore and found myself chuckling outloud.
Would be a treat to have my own copy!
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Kindergarteners always act differently when their mom is in the room. I’m sure many of them could relate to this–would be interesting to see if they see the humor in it!
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I would love to read this to my class!
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What a great story! Would love to share this with my son.
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What a great mentor text to wrap up the year! I would love to have my kinders write letters or a story about what not to do in kindergarten for next year’s class to read. And what a great first day of school read aloud too!!!
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I think it would be a fun way to remind students how important our rules are. Especially at the beginning and ending of the year.
aaparsons@hotmail.com
Andrea 🙂
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This book is very versatile. I would love to use right now for the end of year wiggles!
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This would be a great book to begin the year with and expand upon during the year. At the end of the year when we have days that parents come to school for various reasons…Field Day, AR Water Day, Kindergarten Program….it would be great to revisit this book and write about things they hope their parents will not do to embarrass them.
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I would love to win this book for my daughter and my speech therapy students!
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That would be sooooo fun to use in class! What a great idea for a book. I love it!
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Oh, wow! I’ve never seen this book! What a great one….looping with my kinders to 1st grade and what a fantastic beginning of the year mentor text to use! Thanks for the chance to win! Krissy Miner
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As a kindergarten teacher, this book sounds perfect for a mentor text!
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Oh, I would have loved to have this today! I have a kid who is writing a personal narrative that this seems to be PERFECT for! I could use it for any one of the suggestions you provided that I just can’t seem to help him with. (His revision technique today? Going over the writing he did in pencil with a pen…)
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So many angles to take with this book. Lots of teaching points, but it looks like a good one to read just for fun! What a great addition to any classroom library.
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Love this book and can’t wait to read it ans share it with my students. I’m even thinking about my 5th graders who will be going off to middle school with all the new rules, both written and unwritten. Thank you for sharing. Would love to win a copy to add to our school’s mentor library.
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I love books that have a unique perspective. This looks so fun, thanks for the info.
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I think this is an adorable turn around book. I think it would also be fun to read early in first or second grade when talking about classroom rules. They often like to read books that have a lower grade level name in them. There were way to many crazy moments with my mom to share right now…perhaps a slice or two or three. xo
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This books reminds me of all the times I embarrassed my own children. Singing along with Elvis Presley with the car windows open, telling embarassing stories about them to their newest boyfriends…. oh yes.. 😉 What a wonderful mentor text! This book will be so fun to read to my granddaughter that will be heading to Kindergarten next year. Thanks for sharing!
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This looks fun. We need to revisit school rules every day in our final weeks.!
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Ooo, this would be great to use with my creative writing kids. They could take one of their own moments and turn it into a children’s book. Love it!
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Looks like a fun book to read with lots of possible teaching points.
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