Spookley the Square Pumpkin

Last night I was watching "Spookley the Square Pumpkin" for what felt like the 100th time.  This has become a standard in my household now.  It's like eating a potato chip--you can't have just one.  Well, The Malkis can't watch things just once.  However, as my students know, I have become obsessed with the movie Moana because I've watched it so many times that I keep noticing new things as I watch.  As I notice these things, I become so aware of the beauty that comes along with story-telling.  With the excitement of the Halloween season, Spookley is now airing several times a day, and my kids want to watch it every time.  Of course, I am noticing new things about this story each time we watch.  I openly admit, we watch a lot of TV in my house, but I am starting to use this TV time in a new way.

Since I have to watch Spookley so much, I've decided that my children and I need to discuss some of the things happening in this story, just like I would if I was reading with my students in the classroom.  I think people forget that shows and movies are stories too.  We can use our comprehension skills as we view, just like we would as we read.  You can infer, predict, question, connect, and do anything a reader would do, but as a viewer.  Last night, I tried this out with my son and daughter.

My daughter Lilly is already using her inference skills when she cried to me, "Spookley is sad, mommy."  Now since she is only two, I can't really dig deeper with her, but I asked Jacob, "why do you think he is sad?"  Jacob thought for a minute and said, "The other pumpkins are not nice."  I asked him to tell me more about what they are doing that isn't nice.  He proceeded to tell me that they won't let him join their contest because he's square.  This is exactly the conversation I would have with any of my fifth graders if I was talking to them about something they read.  I would ask them for an idea, and then to back it up with evidence from the story.

As parents and teachers, we can do this with anything--movies, books, articles, science experiments, the list is endless.  I finished by asking my almost five-year-old son to always let other kids play with him; to never treat anyone the way the round pumpkins were treating Spookley.  The beauty of this is that he got it.  He understood how Spookley felt, and how he could use the message in his life.  Even though I didn't read with my children last night, we still practiced comprehension skills and had important conversations.  So, next time you are watching something instead of reading (which is totally okay!), try out some of our reading strategies and see how it goes.  I would love to hear about it!