Picture Book Activities GORDH Teachers Summer Institute 2013

8/22/2019 Picture Book Activities GORDH Teachers Summer Institute 2013

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Jacob Burns Film Center

Teachers Summer Institute 2013

Bill Gordh

Picture Book ActivitiesSeeing Stories Curriculum

designed by Bill Gordh

With each Story Book (unless specifically noted) begin by reading it aloud to the class.

Bark, George

by Jules Feiffer

TheBark, George Game

This is a great story to read to the class after they have heard and acted out The Rooster

that Mooed in the JBFC Seeing Stories program. The story's absurdity is great fun for

young children (and teachers as well). After reading the book,

Teacher: Now each of you will have a turn to be George the dog. When I say, 'Bark,

George! you can make the sound of one of the animals in the book or any other animal

you wish."

(Then go one at a time.)

Teacher: (to first student):, Bark, George!

Student: "Me-ow!" (or any other animal sound)

Teacher: "Wow! So I reached into George's mouth and pulled out a ---- "

Students: "A cat!"

Teacher: (To everyone): "Right!"

Teacher: (to next student):, Bark, George!

Student: "Quack-quack!" (or any other animal sound)


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Teacher: "Wow! So I reached into George's mouth and pulled out a ---- "

Students: "A duck!"

Teacher: (To everyone): "Right!"

..... until everyone has had a turn.

Note: After you have established the game, you can have all the children (except the one

being addressed) join you on "Bark, George!". This will help them enjoy and stay

focused on the activity.

The End

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hattie and the Fox

by Mem Fox

With all the story books that accompany this curriculum, you should

consider what works in your own schedule to decide when to share these

stories and activities. We have found that students often are energized by the

Seeing Stories Session and eager for more. You can take advantage of

this circumstance and use these stories to further your language arts/literacy

programs as well as reinforce ideas introduced in the Seeing Stories

Sessions. Often the activity, even though it was created specifically for the

designated book, can be used with slight alterations with many stories/books

you share in the classroom.

With each Story Book (unless specifically noted) begin by reading it aloud

to the class.

Acting out


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Hattie and the Fox

- The acting out of stories is central to the Seeing Stories Animal

Adventures Curriculum and can enrich the students' experience

with many stories. The children get to understand story structureby being part of it and by acting as the character that they most

identify with. There is a minimal amount of moving about in this

story which makes it a good story for you to gain comfort with

telling/reading a story as it is being acted out. One of the many

nice things about telling a story while children are acting is that the

students are focused on the activity more than on you as a

storyteller.

After readingHattie and the Fox:

Teacher:Now we're going to act out the story. Each of you will get to be

the character you choose as long as we have all the characters.

- Set up acting out space

Use the large carpet area. Each character will be assigned a spot

on the edge of the acting out space to be ready to enter when that

character is called.

- Name the Characters.

Look at the book with the class to name the characters (or have

them recall the characters from listening). The children will often

immediately begin calling out the character they want to be.

(Allow this for a moment as it acknowledges their enthusiasm for

being part of the activity/story)

- Give each character a particular spot around the acting area.

Once things have settled, go character by character and point to

spots to sit. There can be more than one of any of the characters

including Hattie and the Fox. However you must have all the


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characters. If you are missing one or more characters, point out

that all the characters are not represented and then the story won't

be the story! Then (generally) one or more of the children will

volunteer to be the missing character.

- Use text from book and storytelling.

In the book, characters are already in the pasture on the farm where

as you have children waiting to be their characters on the side of

the space. Narrate the student/character movement adding to the

text from the book. At the beginning, you can say, One morning a

fox (or several foxes) left the forest and came onto the farm and

hid in a bush. (Point to where you want the bush. You may find

that a student will want to be the bush. That is great). Along cameHattie the hen. She saw something in the bush.

- Use the dialog in the book.

There is a lot of repetition that will make it easy for the students to

join in on the dialog. Do not assume that the students will not

remember the lines from having listened to the story. Pause before

saying any of the dialog. This allows time for the students to say

the line if remembered, but does not put them on the spot. Then, if

nothing is said, say the line and let her/them repeat it. Say the linesfirst and then the student(s) repeats. When they have acted this

story out a few times, you can begin to remove yourself from the

dialog/copy model and the children will say their lines.

- Narrate each character's entrance.

At the beginning of the story, introduce each animal so that that

animal can enter the acting out space. The goose walked out

and said, Good grief. Do this with each animal. It will throw off

the rhythm of the dialog the first time, but will keep the story and

activity clear to all the participants.

- IMPORTANT

Set-up during acting out: When you come to the part where Hattie

says, Its a fox! Its a fox!, the "fox" children are going to be

ready to attack. This is probably NOT what you want to happen.


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Before this part is acted out announce that when the Its a fox!"

comes, the fox(es) will jump out and all the other animals run back

to their spots at the same time. (Tell them this plan just before

doing it, as they will be into the story and have forgotten about it if

you told them at the beginning.) The students will still have funand you will not need to regain control of the activity. After

following your guidance the first time, the students will continue

this way of acting out the story when you repeat the activity. This

is a story they will want to perform many times and try out

different characters.

VARIATION: Invite children to be the different parts of the fox. Then as

each part - nose, two eyes, two ears is introduced, the studentscollectively create the fox.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Owl Babies

by Martin Waddell

With all the story books that accompany this curriculum, you should considerwhat works in your own schedule to decide when to share these stories and activities. We

have found that students often are energized by the Seeing Stories Session and eager for

more. You can take advantage of this circumstance and use these stories to further

your language arts/literacy programs as well as reinforce ideas introduced in the Seeing

Stories Sessions. Often the activity, even though it was created specifically for the

designated book, can be used with slight alterations with many stories/books you share in

the classroom.


Acting the 3's Pattern!


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The use of the 3s pattern in this story strengthens the story and helps you

understand the characters. However the 3s pattern is a bit different than is used in The 3

Little Pigs, The 3 Billy Goats, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears and other traditional

tales. In this case, Characters 1 and 2 say two different but related things and Character 3

says the same thing every time. The discovery of how this pattern works is something a

Kindergartner is likely not to "get" just by listening to the story. However it is a very

simple story that they will love, and by acting out the story they can experience the

pattern and the other children can watch and hear it.

Read the story to the children

Ask for volunteers to act it out.

Select 2 boys or 2 girls to be the Owls 1 and 2.

Have Owl #3 be a girl if the two others are boys, or the other way around.

Select a space in the classroom for the nest where the other children can

watch. (Having a special place for the nest will make the whole event feel

more exciting and cozy).

Read the dialog and let each Owl repeat after you have said the line. (After

you act out the story several times the children will know the dialog.)

The audience will understand how the 3's works by watching and

listening.

Repeat with a new cast or allow the 3 actors to become audience and

divide the rest of the children into 1's, 2's or 3's.

OR

Let the whole class perform the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

. Storybook Adventure: On a Scary, Scary Night

Teacher reads On a Scary, Scary Night by Walter Wick

to students.


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Teacher leads On a Scary, Scary Night by Walter Wick

activity (Take your pick!)

The activity, even though it was created specifically for this book, can be used with slightalterations with many stories/books you share in the classroom.

Supporting expressiveness: TheSeeing StoriesScary Stories curriculum uses one of the

favorite subjects of this age group to energize them to support the building of their own

expressiveness. Often it is difficult to engage these young learners with the importance of

details in their own creative work, yet when it comes to describing a haunted house, a

scary creature or a spooky night they are delighted to add each excruciating detail. This

book, Can You See What I See? In a Scary, Scary Night, provides the students with the

challenge of discovering the details in the illustrations mentioned in the text. This is great

fun for them, an adventure that builds their visual acumen. This book can also be used for

some story-making activities. We have discovered that storytelling and oral story making

often energize these students who are just beginning to express their ideas in writing and

are sometimes overwhelmed with that challenge and leave their own creative

expressiveness behind. The joy of these creations can often motivate the writing process.

Activity 1

New Endings

The long, long fun build-up in this book leads to the discovery of a ghost in a

bottle. It could have been something else! After reading the book aloud:

Teacher: There could have been something else in the bottle instead of the ghost.

Anyone here have a fun idea for what could be in the bottle?

Students (Hands go up)

Teacher (choose someone) OK Let's read the ending and you say your idea.

On a scary, scary shelf

In a scary, scary bottle


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There was a --------

Student: A tiny skeleton!

Teacher: Act it out! Show us how your skeleton moves! Now you can sit back down.

Let's clap for the great job!

continue with other volunteers

Lead the whole class in reciting the last two lines leading to the surprise...

On a scary, scary shelf

In a scary, scary bottle

There was a --------

(Students says and acts out character.)

Activity 2

Building up a Story's Suspense/

A Class Scary Picture Book

Another fun way to use this book is as a launch for the students' creative processes and

support the growth of sequencing skills. After sharing the book a few times, the students

will recite the text with you. Once they have it, you can suggest the class can make its

own "On a scary, scary night" adventure. You start with "On a scary, scary night.." and

let the each student add a phrase. Write each phrase on the board. Every so often, read

back everything written so the students understand how it is working as a piece.

Activity 3

Make a book with a student phrase at the top of each page just like the On a

Scary Scary Night book. Each student can then have the opportunity to illustrate and

sign the page that goes along with the phrase she or he has contributed. A great addition

to the class library. It will be interesting to see which book attracts the students the most.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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Skeleton Hiccups

by

Margery Cuyler

With all the story books that accompany this curriculum, you should consider

what works in your own schedule to decide when to share these stories and activities. We

have found that students often are energized by the Seeing Stories Session and eager for

more. You can take advantage of this circumstance and use these stories to further

your language arts/literacy programs as well as reinforce ideas introduced in the Seeing

Stories Sessions. Often the activity, even though it was created specifically for the

designated book, can be used with slight alterations with many stories/books you share in

the classroom.


Acting out

Skeleton Hiccups

After sharing the book,

Divide the class into pairs.

One partner gets to be the skeleton.

The other gets to be the ghost.

If you have simple percussion instruments, such as rattles, maracas, shaky-eggs,

let each ghost pick an instrument.

Ghost partner accompanies the skeleton partner's movements in the first half of

the book (before the ghost appears). (The students did this musical partner

accompaniment in the Haunted House Activity). If you don't have instruments,

the students can make simple instruments or can accompany with a variety of

gentle claps.

Read each page. Skeletons act out what you read while the ghost partner plays an

instrument.


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After each duet action, say, "And the skeleton went, 'Hic! Hic! Hic!' " (all the

skeletons will hiccup with you).

When you come to the page "Played with Ghost" in the book, the students who are ghosts

put down their instruments.

Ghost acts out rest of story with their Skeleton partner.

Continue to the end.

Then switch jobs! The skeleton actors can now be the ghosts and the ghosts

skeletons.

Read again as they act it out.

Documents

Picture Book Activities GORDH Teachers Summer Institute 2013