This is a story illustrating the international problem of losing socks in the laundry.
Mothers especially like to read this story to children, as it is a reminder of numerous bad habits that children exhibit daily – i.e. putting clean clothes in the laundry for washing, sometimes finding dirty clothes under their beds, things left in pockets that can go through the laundry, turning the legs and arms inside out when removing clothes, messing rooms, leaving toilet seats up, etc.
These habits always need some additional instruction and reminders to be changed but the story goes a long way to provide an atmosphere for positive reinforcement.
It’s an instructional story when considering how, collectively, we sometimes pass blame onto others for problems that may be a result from our own actions. There is always a group to support every claim, regardless of how outrageous it may be.
Ideal for a bedtime read.
If you like this one, other stories like ‘Cross Your Fingers’, ‘Everyone has a Name’, ‘Gingersnap Dragons’ or ‘Sick Again’ you will find great for family laughs.
Alternatively, I have several fully illustrated stories, like ‘Monsters I Know’ or ‘Kids I know’, and some others that are simply magical to experience, like ‘The Immovable Rock’ or ‘The Very Last Apple’…these are the feel-good kind of bedtime stories that everyone looks for when reading to children. The best illustrations are often inside the imaginations of children.
My stories are designed for both the reader and the listener.
Children will request parents to re-read, over and over again, a story that has caught their imagination.
If not in rhyme, these stories will quickly become dull and a burden to read.
When written in free verse, a story is both a delight to read and to hear.
The reader feels accomplished when reading my stories and, in the act of story telling, begins exaggerating tone, inflection, and mood.
When constructed in free verse rhyme, while reading along, children quickly begin to retain portions of each story.
Once the child begins reading independently, these stories act as memory assisting templates to guide the beginning reader through their first reading selections. The reading successes of a child will fuel additional comprehension activities and help to jump start reading skills that greatly motivate the young reader.
For the adult reader these stories are always a treat.
I understand the necessity to include a readers interests and needs as part of the story telling activities.
The length of these stories is designed to be between 10 to 15 minutes, to act as a short break or bedtime activity. Unlike Dr. Suess, I have avoided making up new nouns and adjectives for purposes of rhyme,
other than some tintinnabulation (words designed to give greater description of sounds), finding that teachers do not appreciate this activity.
I find that by identifying children by full name, as the story characters, it adds a sense of character reality and identity. The children accept the diversity of people, which, in turn, opens the imagination to accepting limitless fictional situations and opportunities.
My stories constitute several conceptual elements to motivate reading and precipitate a positive child’s reading development.
For all teachers and Friends, I applaud your support in exposing free verse reading to young children. Your efforts to improve early perceptions of reading will provide children with a foundation for continued learning comprehension and development.
