Scintillating Setting

Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins served as the springboard for our study of setting during first grade reading workshop. Students noticed that the setting takes place on a farm and that the season was early fall since the apples were ripe on the tree. As they observed carefully, they talked about the details of the setting-a haystack, fence, mill, pond, and beehives that all served to move the action forward. In this story, the setting served to show the reader the path that Rosie takes on her walk.

The Lost Lake by Allen Say is a beautifully descriptive book to talk and write about setting. The actions of the characters, a father and son, are shaped by the setting. Students observed how the setting changes in this book, beginning in the town and the home, to a beautiful meadow, a lake on a clear and sunny day, to the misty rainy mountains, to a stream filled with boulders, and then sunrise giving vision to a lake. At one point in the story the setting is described as "It was kind of lonesome." The journey of the father and son ends with the two awakening to a setting affected by the rising sun. " For a long time we watched the light change on the water, getting brighter and brighter."
As you read books at home with your child, notice how setting appears in your book and have conversations with your child about careful observations of setting.