Then (when I began teaching smarter) I used her books as an author study rather than individual lessons. I ended up realizing that all of her books include humor, morals, and incredible play on words that make you and the students laugh aloud! The organization of her stories is also perfect to teach the common story elements such as: character, setting, problem and solution. She is one of those extra talented authors that is not only the author, but also the illustrator. In addition to her brilliant writing you will find a ton of visual literacy elements in her books that enhance the plot of each and every story. My favorite is her use of foreshadowing through the pictures in Badger's Fancy Meal. This is a must read!
The Keiko Kasza author study began by reading each of her books aloud over a week or two and doing a lot of "think alouds" to point out the craft and six traits of writing. The next step was having students pair up and write down what they noticed in their pairs and remembered from the "think alouds."
The students did a great job picking out the six traits of writing. Next step was creating the Keiko Kasza poster below and writing down all of the observations, coming up with a theory of why she might have done what we noticed, and last naming it. Click on the poster to the left for examples of what was found. Click on the picture to the right for the reproducible of the Six Trait scavenger hunt form.
One of the things that we returned to Keiko Kasza'a books again and again for was her organization. As elementary teachers we are constantly teaching story structure. This can be difficult as texts get more sophisticated. It can be challenging to find that simple, yet well written, story structure that students can use as mentors for plot (including a problem and solution) along with setting and characters, interesting leads and endings. One of the activities we did is use Keiko Kasza's books to unfold the structure. This is a very powerful activity for students to practice determining importance and understanding one way that fictional stories can be organized. Below is an example of taking Badger's Fancy Meal and laying the main ideas out in a comic strip graphic organizer. It also lead to us realizing one of her craft techniques which was adding an "Mmm..." to each consecutive page three times in a row. (A great way to elaborate on the plot.)
After students practice taking apart stories like this it is easier for them to use this same type of format to do their own prewriting for a story they create on their own. Keiko Kasza is the perfect author to practice this strategy!
Finally, I have to mention that if you are looking for a fantastic author visit to your school that won't let you down - invite Keiko Kasza! She was a hero of mine for years until I finally had the privilege of meeting her face to face when she did a school visit in a neighboring district. Below is a picture of my niece (who also happens to be a student of mine in my 1st/2nd grade classroom) at her author visit. She was smiling from ear to ear for days.
If you have fallen in love with Keiko Kasza's popular My Lucky Day book be sure to check out the sequel My Lucky Birthday!
