I See A Leaf (level 1)

by Grace Maccarone, Alayne Pick, Laura Freeman (Illustrations)

Building on the success of Hello Reader!, the Hello Writer! books have been created especially for new readers, with stories and hands-on activities to provide practice with reading & writing skills.

In I SEE A LEAF, Kate and Jill each give a leaf to their teacher Mrs. Hill. Not to be outdone, Jack gives a huge armful of leaves to Mrs. Hill--and the class uses the leaves to make a "tree." The enjoyable story has familiar words, short sentences, and colorful pictures. In addition, a Word List and hands-on activities that come after the story provide practice with skills such as word and sentence building, grammar, reading and listening comprehension, following directions, and handwriting and letter formation.

Genres: School

32 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

Grace Maccarone is an American children’s book editor and author, notably of Miss Lina’s Ballerinas, illustrated by Christine Davenier, and its sequel Miss Lina’s Ballerinas and the Prince. She has also worked as an editor at Scholastic, Wireless Generation, and currently Holiday House.

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I see a leaf is informational book. It's good for practice english and their other activities and fun games ot play!

[Cheryl]

Celia's young students love this.

[Celia Buell · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids at work love this one.

I See A Leaf is another of the early readers I either "rescued" from a teacher's giveaway or bought because it looked cute, I can't remember.

The story is simple: three friends see fall leaves while walking to school and want to bring them as gifts to their teacher. But Jack wants to go a little further than Jill or Kate...

The illustrations are vibrant and also diverse, and this is a good book most kids can understand through reading the pictures on their own as well as the words with assistance from a stronger reader. My kids enjoy the twist at the end and seeing what Jack decides to do with the leaves, as well as the teacher's reaction.

I also appreciate that the teacher in the illustrations is a black woman. I feel like diversity in teachers is not something you often see in children's literature, and I love the depiction here.

This one is great for preschool or primary students who are learning to read because it is decodable and has good accompanying illustrations. Late first grade or second grade is where I would expect students to be able to read all the words on their own, but I would definitely implement this one earlier either way.