Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Brown, M. W. (1947). Goodnight Moon. New York: HarperCollins. Age: Pre-K.

Award: Caldecott Medal (1947)

Subject Area: Language Arts

Genre: Fiction

Summary: This book is a poem that is classically favored among many as a wonderful bedtime story. The bunny in the book takes time to say goodnight to all of the objects in his room before finally heading off into his slumber. These objects consist of things such as the kittens, the mittens, the dollhouse, the mouse, the red balloon and of course, the moon. Saying goodnight to these objects becomes a nightly ritual for this bunny.

Themes/Topics: Bedtime; family

Initiating Questions and Activity:

• Questions: What are some of the things that you do before you get into bed at night? Do you ever read bedtime stories? Who do you say goodnight to?
• Activity: Discuss with the class different bedtime rituals that I perform each night and ask them to discuss what they do before bed. The students will be encouraged to ask questions throughout the book as we go through each page.

Culminating & Extending Questions:

• Questions: What was your favorite part of the story? Do you see anything on these pages that the bunny did not say goodnight to? What objects do you think you would say goodnight to? Which objects wouldn't you say goodnight to?
• Activity: After the book is finished, the students will go to their seats and will be asked to draw a picture of their own room and the objects that are in it. They will draw pictures of the objects that they will say goodnight to in the same way that the bunny does in the story. Throughout the activity the students will continue to discuss the parts they did and did not like about the book.