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The Father Who Had 10 Children by Benedicte Guettier

Every day the father who has 10 children gets up and makes breakfast for them. He helps them get dressed, takes them to school, and goes to work himself. Then he picks them up, gives them a bath, makes dinner for them, and puts them to bed. One night he builds a boat and, leaving the children with their grandma, sails off. But after one day he misses them and comes back. He picks up his 10 children, and they all sail off in the boat.

Introducing the Story

• Read the title of the book on the cover while pointing to each word. Say the title together as you point to each word. Have the child point to the father. Then count the 10 children together.

Reading the Story for the First Time

• Read the story, moving your finger under the words as you read.
• Give the child enough time to look at each of the pictures. If the child is interested, you can keep counting the children, the dishes, clothing, and so on as you read.

Reading the Book Again and Again

• Each time you read The Father Who Had 10 Children, leave more of the "reading" or retelling to the child. Give open-ended prompts on each page. For example, ask: What is happening in this picture? Where are the children?
• Give prompts about objects or activities in the pictures. What is on the table? (There are ten cups, one spoon, and two loaves of bread.) Use your finger to point to what you are asking about. Evaluate the child's response. Expand it by giving more information. Ask the child to repeat the answer. If he or she needs help in answering a question, ask that question again the next time you read the book. Good words to ask about are listed in the vocabulary section below. Be sure to talk about objects and actions the child brings up, too.
• You may wish to discuss the prompts shown below.

Building Literacy

• Use the words and the pictures in this book to start the child talking about how he or she gets dressed, eats breakfast, goes to school, and performs other parts of his or her daily routine.

Prompts

Ask the child questions after the second and third readings of The Father Who Had 10 Children, to start a conversation about the book. You can prompt the child on every page, using the questions below. If the child says something spontaneously about a picture, expand on it and ask the child to repeat it. There are questions for every one or two pages of the story.

1. Who do you see in this picture? (The father is sitting with his 10 children.)
2. What is the father doing in this picture? (He is getting breakfast for his 10 children.)
3. What's going on here? (The father is helping the 10 children get dressed.)
4. What do they put on? (They put on underpants, T-shirts, jeans, socks, and shoes.)
5. What do you see here? (Everyone is in a pink car.)
6. Where are they going? (Father takes them all to school.)
7. Where does the father go? (He goes to work.)
8. What's happening here? (All the children are in the bathtub.)
9. How many children are in the tub? Let's count them together. (There are 10 children, but you can see only the feet of one child.)
10. What is the father doing? (He is cooking eggs and spaghetti.)
11. What are the children doing while father cooks? (They climb on the stool, hang from the lamp, climb on his head, and play with the stove.)
12. Where are the children now? (They are all in bed.)
13. What is the father doing now? (He is building something.)
14. What did the father build?(He built a boat.)
15. What is happening in this picture? (The children and their grandma are waving good-bye. Father is sailing away in his boat.)
16. What is the father doing? (He is resting on the boat.)
17. What is the father doing now? (He is fishing.)
18. What do you see here? (The father is covered up with a quilt, and he is sleeping on the boat.)
19. Do you stretch like this when you get up in the morning?
20. Where are the children? (They are back with their grandma.)
21. What is the father thinking about? (He misses his children.)
22. What is happening here? (Father has sailed back to get his children.)
23. What happens then? (They all sail away on the boat.)

Vocabulary

The words listed below come from the story and its pictures. As you page through the book, point to the pictures and ask the child to name the object or the action shown. This will help the child learn new words. You can use the words below, or you can choose words you think will interest your child. Below are words for every one or two pages of the story.

• children, father, lap, kissing, hugging
• pajamas, cups, bread, swinging, lamp
• underpants, T-shirts, jeans, socks, getting dressed
• pink car, driving
• running into school
• briefcase, running into work
• bathtub, bubbles, washcloths, snorkel, duck
• spaghetti, fried eggs, salt, stirring
• bed, pillows, tired
• hammer, nail
• sailboat
• grandma, waving good-bye
• water, resting
• fishing, fishing pole
• nighttime, sleeping, quilt
• stretching, waking up
• stack of cups
• thinking
• sailing home, jumping up and down
• can, fishing pole, sailor hats, sailing away