After reading the book Horton Hears a Who, our kids (grades Pre-K-2) created a wordle highlighting the main ideas of friendship in the book.
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
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After reading the book Horton Hears a Who, our kids (grades Pre-K-2) created a wordle highlighting the main ideas of friendship in the book.
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
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and Diary of a Spider
to her three year old brother. They both enjoyed the books and I began to think of ways I could use this book in our language arts program.
Activity 1:
Use Dabbleboard to create a 3-column chart. Label each column with either noun, verb, or adjective. Search through the books and record at least ten examples of each.
Activity 2:
Using Google Docs presentation tool, create your own "Diary of a __________" book. Choose your favorite animal to research. Following the format found in these books, write a short story about your animal. Include the following information:
***************************************************************************************
Ellie chose to research a dolphin, a favorite around here. I helped her find information and images to include in her story. Throughout the process, I taught her how to insert images, add slides, etc... She really had a great time and took ownership in her work. Although I did assist in typing at times, she was pleased to have done the majority of work herself. Check it out!
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, writes about a true porcine wonder! Mercy is feisty, spunky and always ready for an adventure. This was a great choice for our own feisty, spunky girl to begin her explorations in literature.
Activity 1: Mercy Watson Word Cloud
I am a huge fan of wordle! However, I wanted to explore a new program called Word It Out. So, using either program, create a word cloud highlighting key people, events, or traits related to Mercy Watson to the Rescue.
Activity 2: Homonyms
What is a homonym? Basically, homonyms are a group of words which share the same spelling but mean different things. For example, let's look at the word bear. The following definitions are taken from Webster's Word Central.
bear (noun): a family of large heavy mammals that have long shaggy hair and small tails and feed largely on fruit, plants, and insects as well as on flesh
bear (verb): to move while holding up and supporting; to hold in the mind
As you can see, the meaning of the word bear depends upon its part of speech. There are many examples used throughout Mercy Watson to the Rescue. Use the following handout to explore homonyms more closely.
Activity 3: Figurative Language
Author's often choose to make their writing more interesting by using figurative language. Personification represents one particular type. Personification consists of giving inanimate objects human traits.
Example: The wind whispers through the trees.
We all know that wind cannot talk, therefore, it cannot whisper. However, by choosing to use the word whisper in this sentence, you can visualize a soft, cool breeze. Figurative language allows writers to paint a picture with their words. It makes the story more fun and interesting!
Now, it's your turn to dive deeper into personification with Mercy Watson.
The Watsons' bed sighed loudly and crashed all the way through the floor.
Activity 4: Fact Versus Opinion
Throughout Mercy Watson to the Rescue, Eugenia Lincoln has an opinion on just about everything. This is a great opportunity to explore the concepts of fact and opinion.
Fact: something you know to be true
Opinion: a personal view or belief
Using dabbleboard, create an online fact/opinion chart. Use Eugenia's examples form the book or include your own. If you need help, refer to this great website on the wonder of pigs. Check out our chart!
These activities were adapted from a teacher's guide created by Candlewick Press. I thought it would be fun to add a techie twist! We have had a blast exploring literature with Mercy Watson! Check out the rest of the books in this funny and light-hearted series. Happy Learning!
Abby- 9 years old
Luc- 7 years old
Ellie- 6 years old
Andrew- 3 years old
We are going to use these beautiful clouds to inspire a poem or narrative about some of these specials times. I'll post when they are finished.
Peace and Joy!
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by Jane Yolen. In the story, the boy and his father go owling and are hopeful to spy a Great Horned Owl. What is hope? What does it mean to you? I asked our children and they created a wordle to reflect their thoughts.
Further Exploration
At the end of the story, the author, Jane Yolen, uses a beautiful metaphor to describe hope.
"The kind of hope that flies on silent wings under a shining Owl Moon."
Use these questions to guide a discussion
Go to Bubbl.us and create a new thinking map. Brainstorm what the book, Owl Moon, has to do with the idea of hope. Use thoughts from your discussion above to spark your imagination. Now, dive deeper into your thoughts and think about what the story has to do with change, specifically the change associated with growing up.
As you think about hope and the idea of change, relate this to your own life.
Activity
Take a sheet of paper and fold it into thirds. Label the sections past, present, and future. In the "Past Section," draw a picture of yourself as a baby or younger child. List the things that you think were important to you then. In the "Present Section," draw yourself as you are now. What is important to you right now? Make a list under your picture. Finally, in the "Future Section," draw yourself as you think you will be when you grow up. Think about what you HOPE to be and what you HOPE to accomplish. As you look back over your trifold, think about how you change as you grow and how what is important to you changes. Glue a piece of construction paper to the back of your trifold to make it sturdy and stand it on your desk in front of you.
**Note: You could take this same activity and use Scriblink a free, online, interactive whiteboard.
Writing Connections
Think of a time in your life when you have experienced a change, for example, maybe you have had to change schools or play soccer on a team where you were the "new kid on the block." Using bubble.us, list details associated with this change. Using these details write a story about this event using either a fictional character or yourself as the main character. Upon completion, you can bring your story to life by publishing it on TikaTok complete with your own illustrations. Have fun and be creative!
**The main idea for this lesson was taken from Beyond Words, a literature study focusing on the idea of change created by the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary.
There are lots of other great resources for this Thirsty Thursday! Check it out!
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This was created by our second grader. Hope everyone enjoys their hunt for treats Halloween night!
A Halloween Treat by aaallain on Storybird
Our 4th Grader, Abby, created this Storybird to celebrate the spirit of friendship during this Halloween season. Enjoy a story about four monsters who experience an unexpected surprise. Happy Halloween!
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Frindle. The Literature Circle Discussion Guide serves as a great way to measure comprehension and discuss key concepts from the novel. Below, I have outlined three fun, extension activities.
Activity #1: In the same spirit of the novel, choose a common object and rename it. Explain why you chose the new name. Then, create a dictionary entry for your word. As a class, compile your entries and publish using Google Docs. Take it a step further and create a visual dictionary using images from Flickr or your own scanned creations. To add to the fun, continue using the new words around the house, with your family and friends, and in your writing over the next few weeks. See if any of the new words start a trend!
Luc's Example:
New Word: gulpy= cup
Reason: When you take a drink, you swallow liquid or gulp. So, a new name for a cup should be "gulpy."
Dictionary entry:
gulpy- /gul-pee/ n. an object from which you take a drink
synonym- cup
The boy drank his lemonade from a red gulpy.
Activity #2: Create a wordle to highlight the key events and people from the novel. Use this as a means to give an oral book report.
Activity #3: Rooting Out Meaning: Morpheme Match-Up
This activity was taken from Read*Write*Think and contians an excellent extension activity for vocabulary develpment in a fun. creative manner.
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. To supplement her reading, we used the study guide published by the author, Katherine Paterson. This study provided discussion questions, vocabulary and writing opportunities. As a final project, she chose to write about the symbolism of the bridge and created a digital poster highlighting the main characters in the novel. To showcase character traits, she created wordles for both Jess and Leslie and included them in her poster.
Final Project
Resources
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Read: "Mirror" by Silvia Plath and "To Autumn" by John Keats. Identify example of personification used in these poems. (Resource) Write two examples of personification on a topic you love. Illustrate and share.
Practice: Identify whether each of the following is an example of personification.
An Exercise in Using Personification:
Fill in the blanks with a verb that gives human qualities to the non-living object in the sentence.
1. The flowers _______________ at me as I walked through the park.
2. The fall leaves ________________ to the ground.
3. The rain __________________ his cheeks as he ran home.
4. The train _________________ the family through the woods and over the mountain.
5. The soccer net _________________ the ball in mid air.
6. The rainbow __________________ the sky with brilliant colors.
7. The thorn bush ________________ at our ankles as we walked on the trail.
8. I watched the flower bulbs _________________ out of the soil after the light spring rain.
9. Spider webs ________________ in the moonlight from the trees in my front yard.
10. The basketball ________________ from my hand as I released my final shot of the game.
Resources and Examples:
Anthropomorphism in Literature
Read Write Think: Personification Lesson
Final Project: Think about your favorite season. Complete an idea web listing things that describe your season. Write several sentences describing your season that use personifcation. Illustrate your writing and share with everyone.
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