Dani Can

Dani can

Written by Allison Posey
Illustrated by Rima Rahal

Today is Dani's first day of kindergarten. She picked out her favorite clothes to wear and she ate a big breakfast. Now she is ready to go!

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At school, all the new friends sit together on the colorful rug. Dani finds a seat on the orange square.

The teacher has a special song to sing with the class.

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The teacher starts to sing a song about the days of the week. Dani and a few of the children try to sing the song with the teacher.

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The children were so surprised when the teacher used her voice AND her hands to sing the song! What fun! The teacher was using sign language to sing the song.

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Dani tries to sing the days of the week song using her hands. It feels strange at first.

It took a lot of practice for her to remember how to make the sign for Thursday.

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Sometimes Dani makes mistakes, but she keeps on trying!

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When Dani has trouble learning the sign for Monday, she gets help from her teacher. Her teacher gives her a hint to help Dani remember.

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After a lot of effort and practice , Dani can sing the days of the week with her hands.

She is showing her teddy bear how to do it, too.

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What might Dani learn next?

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Now it is your turn to learn the days of the week in sign language.

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Ella makes the hand sign for Sunday.

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Ella makes the hand sign for Monday.

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Here is the hand sign for Tuesday.

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Ella makes the hand sign for Wednesday.

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This is how you make the sign for Thursday.

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Here is the sign for Friday.

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Here is how Ella makes the sign for Saturday.

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Great job learning!

Which sign did you have to practice the most to learn?

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For more reading about Carol Dweck's motivational theory:

Dweck, C. (2000). Self-theories: their role in motivation, personality, and development. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. NY: RandomHouse. http://mindsetonline.com/howmindsetaffects/mindsetforachievement/index.html

This link includes an interview with Carol Dweck on NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7406521

Bronson, P. (February 11, 2007). How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The inverse power of praise. http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

Murphy, A. & Allen, J. (February 15, 2007). Why Praise can be Bad for Kids: while specific praise can be good, too much praise can bring down kids' performance. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=2877896&page=1

Time magazine. How to Help them Succeed. Sunday, Nov 6, 2005: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1126743,00.html

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