About this Book
A cast of nocturnal creatures are the surprise stars in this funny tale about nighttime fears, set in southwest Kenya.
We are excited to share Handa’s Noisy Night, our Learning Without Tears Writing Journal, and our Building Writers student activity book with your kindergartener. Here are some strategies to encourage your student to reach for literacy success.
Tips for Reading to and with Your Young Reader
Dedicate 30 minutes for reading each day. Several studies indicate students’ reading abilities decline or stall during the summer because of a lack of exposure to literacy. However, students who read at least 30 minutes each day encounter more vocabulary and reinforce essential reading skills.
Encourage your child to read a book at least 3 times with 1–2 days between each reading and consider reading it aloud with your child.
Before Reading
Introduce the book by looking at its cover—”What can we see?”
Introduce the title of the book and the name of the author and illustrator.
Have children use the cover and title to predict what the story might be about.
During Reading
There is so much to be enjoyed in this book! The animals are each introduced by the sounds they make, and as heard by Handa and Akeyo. This means the reader meets each animal before Handa does. She assumes it is her family causing all the racket.
Make a “W” Chart: While you and your learner read books together, make a chart filling out the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the book as you both discover them.
After Reading
This reading and writing pack also includes resources to help your learner practice foundational writing skills while responding to reading in fun and creative ways. Commit to 10–15 minutes of writing, 3 times a week. That adds up to just 30–45 minutes each week to help students improve their letter and sentence formations!
The Writing Journal provides space for your child’s responses to the provided prompts, or their own reactions and descriptions of the story and its connection to their life.
Writing and Conversation Prompts
Help your reader respond to these prompts in their Writing Journal or in conversation with you.
• Those animals were so noisy! Do you ever hear noisy animals at night in your house? (Suggest possibilities: squirrels, deer, insects, or birds)
• Point out the animals pictured in the end. Revisit and name each one!
• When Handa sleeps over at her friend Akeyo’s house, she hears lots of strange sounds in the night. What sounds do you hear at your house at night?
• Can your young learner place the animals in order of their appearance?
• What sounds did the animals make?
If children, do not live where they hear animal sounds on a regular basis, consider finding the sounds on the internet, so children can experience and discuss.
Pay Attention to Handwriting
After enjoying and talking about the content of their writing, look for any letters in the Building Writers or Writing Journal that are less legible. Point out a model of that letter in Building Writers and coach your learner to write a line of that letter in the Writing Journal, with coaching as needed, to improve legibility. To access the Handwriting Without Tears Letter Formation Charts go to LWTears.com/letter-number-formation-charts
CursiveCapitalsFormationChart
Building Writers
NumberStories
startsintheStartingCorner. makesaBigLinedown. stopsinthecorner.
makesaBigCurve. walksstopsinthecorner.awayonthebottom.
NumberNumberStories Stories startsintheStartingCorner.stopsmakesaBigLinedown. inthecorner. startsintheStartingCorner.stopsmakesaBigCurve. inthecorner. walksawayonthebottom.startsintheStartingCorner. themakesaLittleCurvetomakesmiddle.anotherLittleCurvetothebottomcorner.
themakesaLittleCurvetomakesmiddle.anotherLittleCurvetothebottomcorner.
startsintheStartingCorner. tomakesaLittleLinedownwalksthemiddle.acrossthedarknight.“umpstothetopandsays, didit.”(BigLinedown)
middle.makesaLittleLinedowntothe tstartstorain. putsmakesaLittleCurvearound. aLittleLineontoptostoptherain.
tomakesaLittleLinedown themiddle. walksacrossthedarknight. “jumpstothetopandsays, didit.”(BigLinedown)
middle.makesaLittleLinedowntothe tstartstorain. makesaLittleCurvearound. toputsaLittleLineontop stoptherain.
startsintheStartingCorner.goesisababybear.downtocurlupinishibernating. startsintheStartingCorner.makesaLittleLineacross betterslidedown.” doesn’tisdifferent.likecorners. beginsstartsatthetopcenter. withSandthen goeshome. hasissospecial. makesitsowncorner.aLittleCurveandmakesgoesptothecorner. aBigLinedown. comesusestwoplaces. first. isstartsatthetopcenter. finished.
goesisababybear.downtocurlupinthecorner. ishibernating.
themakesaLittleLineacrosssays,top.“betterslidedown.” doesn’tisdifferent.likecorners. beginsstartsatthetopcenter. withSandthen goeshome. hasissospecial. makesitsowncorner.aLittleCurveandmakesgoesptothecorner. aBigLinedown. 0comesusestwoplaces. first. startsisnext.atthetopcenter.isfinished.
©2020LearningWithoutTears
©2018LearningWithoutTears
©2018LearningWithoutTears
Continue to help your child improve their writing ability by using Building Writers. Building Writers helps children develop key narrative, informational, and opinion writing skills by providing a step-by-step model to build confidence. Building Writers includes an easy-to-follow writing checklist to help children develop good writing habits.
Learn about Kenya through books from your local library and/or by doing an online search together.
To view a YouTube video of the story being read by the author Eileen Browne, see the following link:
In addition to our Summer Reading and Writing Packs, we also have free resources to support your students. Be sure to visit our site for letter and number formation charts, strategies to build sight word automaticity, and much more! LWTears.com/resources/summer-learning
