The Garbage Barge

Fun read aloud with older students. It is a longer book so students need a good attention span. YouTube has an interesting video on how the book was made. I showed this first to the students. Make sure you use your New York accent when reading the story. There's one line where the New Yorker says, "forget-about-it" but the spelling is funky so I completely misread it. The kids laughed the hardest at that... I sounded like a baby gurgling. You can also use a crusty sailor voice so it is a fun read aloud. Make sure to tell students it's based on a real story.

I have had some interesting conversations about recycling because I live in Taiwan and their recycling program is incredible - about the only thing I throw away is tissue paper and tape. Everything else is recycled 6 days a week. Ironically, when the garbage truck in Taiwan shows up it plays a similar tune that the ice cream truck used to play when it came to my neighborhood in the U.S. in the 70s (Well maybe not a similar tune - I don't think the ice cream truck's tune was Beethoven like the Taiwan garbage truck but the dinging bells are similar.)

If you don't get into reading this book and ham it up, it will be a long, dull read aloud. You have to have fun with it. One teacher told me that the illustrations reminded her of the creepy Lady Elaine on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Ha! Do you remember her?