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Teaching Day-by-Day: The Glory of Stories
March: 31 days and ways to celebrate children's literature.
By the Editors of Weekly Reader
- Poetry/for you and me. Some poems are funny, such as Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky." Some are dramatic, such as Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken." Bring a poem to class and have a poetry reading. How would you describe your poem?
- That cat! The Cat in the Hat (Random House, 1957) turns 50 this month. Host a party to celebrate Dr. Seuss' ground-breaking 236-word book. Read aloud Seuss-style poems. Find out about Seuss' March 2 birthday bash at www.seussville.com/CITH_50th
- Old into new. Choose a favorite book and give it a new ending, new characters, new twist to the plot or a new setting.
- Spell it out! In Kevin Henkes' book Chrysanthemum (Greenwillow, 1991), the title character despises her 13-letter name. She might feel better if she knew that more than 250 words can be spelled from the letters of her name! How many can you write?
- Help the hen! Read Paul Galdone's book The Little Hen (Clarion Books, 1985). Then draw a picture of each character on heavy construction paper. Cut out the drawings, and glue each one onto a craft stick. Perform a puppet show as you retell the story!
- What's a genre? Different stories are written in different genres, such as nonfiction, historical fiction or biography. What is your favorite book or story? What genre is it? Write a review of it.
- Tell a tale together. Pictures add a lot to stories. Some writers illustrate their own stories, but many writers work with artists. Team up with a friend. Have one person write a story that the other illustrates.
- Maya's rhymes. Maya Angelou is a poet and writer. She writes about her life in memoirs. Read one of her poems. Explain what you think she is expressing in her poem.
- Trade that character! After reading a new book, choose one character to write about. Go to www.weeklyreader.com/tresources for a trading-card reproducible. Fill in information about the character.
- You and the Yucky Day. Roald Dahl wrote many fantasy stories, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Viking, 40th Anniversary Edition, 2004) and James and the Giant Peach (Knopf, 2002, reissue). But he said many of his ideas came from his life experiences. Write a fantasy story based on something that happened to you.
- A pigeon's pleas. In Mo Willems' book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (Hyperion, 2003), the pigeon tries to talk the reader into letting it drive a bus. Read the book. Then write your own response to the pigeon's pleas.
- Caterpillar collage. Read Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Philomel, 1981). Then create an homage: A Carle caterpillar food collage. Look through grocery store flyers for pictures of fruits and other food that the caterpillar ate.
- We tell: See Shel! Shel Silverstein's poems are funny and fun to recite. Memorize a poem from Where the Sidewalk Ends (HarperCollins, 30th Anniversary Edition, 2004) or A Light in the Attic (HarperCollins, 1981). Then recite it for your class, friends or family.
- Dear diary. Imagine you're a character from one of your favorite books. Write a journal entry in that character's voice. Include thoughts and feelings about what has happened to you.
- Celebrate writers. On this date in 1950, National Book Awards were given to authors and poets for the first time. Write a paragraph explaining which author or poet you think deserves an award and why.
- Movie or book? Movies are often based on books. One example is Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (HarperCollins, 50th Anniversary Edition, 2002). Read a book that was made into a movie; then watch the movie. Use the Venn diagram at www.weeklyreader.com/tresources to compare the two. Which was better? Why?
- Green day lit. In Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham (Random House, 1960), the main character refuses to eat the title foods until he realizes that they are actually delicious. What green foods do you like to eat?
- Do you haiku? A haiku is a poem with only three lines. The first line has five syllables, the second seven and the third five. This form of poetry originated in Japan. Write a riddle in haiku form. Invite others to guess what it describes.
- Color connection. In Karen Katz's book The Color of Us (Henry Holt, 1999), Lena's
mother teaches her how to paint people. Everyone's skin has a mixture of the same four colors: red, yellow, white and black. Paint pictures of yourself and your friends using the colors. - Turn right at the adverb. A story map shows the different parts of a story. Choose a book that you recently read. Go to www.weeklyreader.com/tresources to print out a story map page. Map your latest read.
- Toy stories. Many people know Don Freeman's books about the lovable teddy bear Corduroy (Corduroy, Viking Juvenile, 1968; A Pocket for Corduroy, Viking Juvenile, 1978). Do you have a favorite stuffed animal or toy? Write a story or draw a picture about it.
- Judge a book by its cover. Choose a book that you've never read before. Look at the front cover. From what you see, write down what you think the book will be about. Now read it. How close were you?
- Top 10. Make a list of your 10 favorite authors, books, pictures, etc. You can list imaginary places in books that you want to visit or your favorite fairy tales. Why are they your favorites? Explain.
- Vote for Stuart Little! Have an election for your class's favorite books. Write persuasive essays about why their nominee should win. Use the persuasive essay page at www.weeklyreader.com/tresources
- Get into character. Read a book and write a report about it. Then dress as one of the characters in the book and share your report with the class.
- Time traveler. A plot device is a person or thing brought into a story to move the events along. Time machines are a common plot device in science-fiction stories. If you had a time machine, to what time would you travel? Write or draw your story.
- Fabulous fables. A fable is a short story that gives a moral lesson at the end. For example, Aesop's The Tortoise and the Hare teaches us, "slow and steady wins the race." What do you think is a good moral? Write a new fable.
- You, the playwright. A play is a way of telling a story using dialogue and movement. Take a story you have read and rewrite it into a play. Then read it aloud.
- Attempt an acrostic. In an acrostic poem, the first letters of each line of the poem spell a word vertically. Have each student write an acrostic using his or her name.
- Author chat. If you could meet any author, who would it be and why? What three questions would you ask that person? Use the reporter's notebook page at www.weeklyreader.com/wys/tresources.asp
- Tell your story. Some authors write autobiographies, or stories about their own lives. What would your story say? Recall your favorite memory and write a one-page story about the day that it took place.
March, 2007, Vol.37, No.6
