Smell, Taste, Hear, and Feel Books

I tell my kids, "Reading is better than going to the movies."  In fact, I say it often enough they can finish my sentence for me.      Letting them in on the beauty of seeing the book like a movie in the mind is of course a key ingredient to reading enjoyment.  The piece that I touch on but need to delve even further into is how the reader uses all the other senses at the same time.  A reader who can do that is pretty much a goner.  They're lost in the book, which is exactly where I want them.

Today I introduced the idea that readers don't just visualize.  They smell, taste, hear, and feel while they read.  We practiced by way of four poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends, a chart, and some small post-its.  For example, I asked them to think about what they could taste while I read "Eighteen Flavors" twice through.  Then each one quickly wrote what they could taste on a post-it and attached it to our chart.  I quickly reported on some of their answers, and we moved on to the next section.  By the time we were finished, our chart looked like this.

I sent them off to Read to Self thinking about what they might smell, taste, hear, and feel during their own reading.  After Read to Self time, a few readers shared.  Carson could feel himself in the wind of the tornado he was reading about.  "Wow!  Only readers get to hang out in a tornado while sitting in a first grade classroom!  How cool!"

This discussion is definitely not complete.  We'll be returning to it repeatedly, because I want them fully and completely lost in their books...forever.

P.S.  Here are the four poems I chose:
        Eighteen Flavors - taste
        Rain - hear
        Pancake? - smell
        Boa Constrictor - feel