Jakari and the Golden Lion Tamarins
by Maureen Slamer
Jakari and the Golden Lion Tamarins
Jakari stared out the bus window. Nana’s tonight. Dad’s working late, AGAIN. I got that dumb report to write. Nana can’t help. What does she know about the Golden Lion Tamarin? Noth’n! I need Dad. He knows stuff about animals. Teacher won’t let me take her books home. The bus rumbled to a stop. Jakari shouldered his backpack and stepped to the curb as Nana watched from the open door.
“Hey, Jakari, how was third grade today?” Nana greeted him with a quick hug.
“Okay. Gotta write about animals. Due tomorrow.” Jakari shrugged off his backpack. “Can I call Dad? He knows about Golden Lion Tamarins.”
“A Golden what?”
“Golden Lion Tamarin, you know the monkey that looks like a lion.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that kinda monkey. Could we YouTube it? Would that help?” Nana waggled her phone. “Your dad showed me how to YouTube.”
“Okay, Nana, you YouTube it.” Jakari rolled his eyes and went to get a snack.
“Look, Jakari! I found YouTube!” Nana held out her phone proudly.
“That won’t help. I need information, Nana. You don’t get information from YouTube. You only watch YouTube for fun stuff.”
“Well, I don’t know about that. What do you mean by information?”
Jakari explained. “You know facts and stuff, what they eat, how they look, what they do.”
“Well…where would we look to find that? Let’s see. There has to be something helpful. Your dad told me to just type it in the search bar at the top. Like this.” Nana quickly typed Golden Lion Tamarin into the search bar. “Look for a minute or two. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Jakari watched and searched. “Nana, here’s one! It’s from the zoo!” Jakari held the phone out. “Listen…”
“Jakari, what did she say? I didn’t get that.”
“Nana, I’ll put on the caption thingie. Dad does it when he doesn’t want to hear the phone talk when I use it. Then you can just read it.”
“Oh, she’s talking about the tail. Could you use that for your report? That’s information, right?”
Jakari cocked his head and looked at Nana and grinned. “Yup, Nana, that’s information. Thanks.”
Using Devices as Resources for Writing and Reading
We all have experienced situations, as caregivers, when we are not sure how to help or if we should help. Jakari did not have any resources available to support him as a writer of a report. He needed information. He knew his dad would have some information. He assumed his Nana did not.
Since Jakari could not take any books home from school, the resources he had available were limited. His grandmother was able to provide a resource, one Jakari did not think would be useful. Nana was able to use her phone to provide a starting point for Jakari to find the information he needed. He was able to get the information directly from the zookeeper on the video.
In today’s world everyone seems to have a cell phone, even Jakari’s Nana. How might this device be used to help our young writers and readers?
Consider:
• Think about safe educational sites that may provide reliable, credible information.
• Think about using your device as a resource to explore questions.
• Think about using your technology (phone, laptop, tablet) as a way to learn together and share insights and conversations.
Jakari’s homework assignment might cause major concerns for an unprepared caregiver.
• Quick check with parents to see if there are websites to avoid or are a no-no.
• Monitor where our little ones land, so we can provide support.
