There are so many habits we take for granted. Looking safely to cross the street is one of those for me. We live rurally and have very little traffic on the road at the end of our drive. Our occasional ventures “into the city” are generally focused on the task and not taking advantage of some of the opportunities presented. When I saw “Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again” by Ginger Pate from Greene Bark Press Inc. come up for review, I knew I wanted it to use with our youngest children.
The bright colors and adorable Wally Waddlewater drew in our youngest children (ages 3 and 5). We snuggled on the couch and read right through – and immediately again. The children — all of them — were so excited at teaching this to the younger siblings that they started acting out the story as one of them read it — right in the living room. Then they stepped up their “training” to involve bikes and wagons as vehicles and our driveway as the road. I love their enthusiasm (even if they did prohibit picture taking *pout*).
We have a routine set up that each of our six children has “their” day to get the mail. Our mailbox is at the end of the drive – directly across our road. Someone older than ten must go with anyone five and younger is how we have stated the rule. The older children and I naturally check both directions for vehicles before crossing — we do it without thinking about it. We have curves and hills in both directions, so we also listen as we can hear something coming before we see it. I’m sure I instructed the older children as they were growing, but I realized I haven’t done so with the the two youngest.
We often use books and stories to emphasize and illustrate our lessons. We also use real-life opportunities. We don’t have many real-life opportunities to practice safely crossing the road, so I am very glad to have this cute book to use with my children. I hope this is developing into a habit for them, just as it is for the older ones.
“Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again” follows Wally Waddlewater as he first sets out to mail his card to his grandmother. His mother comes along and saves him from a near miss. She goes with him teaching him as they go. They encounter more than just cars as they walk through town and practice crossing safely. For his “final test” to cross by himself, all of these things are listed again — my little ones loved this! The important part of the instructions is repeated throughout the book making it memorable (and often repeated around here).
“Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again” is written by Ginger Pate and available through Green Barke Press ($8.50). It is a board book aimed at 3-8 year olds. My youngest children (ages 3 & 5) enjoyed this the most, though all of my children had fun reading it or acting it out.
