The Gruffalo

Title: The Gruffalo

Julia Donaldson (Author)

Axel Scheffler (Illustrator)

Comprehension Strategies: Visualizing, Inferring

                       

Arts Modalities: Visual Art, Drama

Summary:

A mouse is taking a stroll through the deep, dark wood when along comes a hungry fox, then an owl, and then a snake. The mouse is smart enough to know he would be a tasty treat, so he describes the gruffalo. Visualize the gruffalo: a creature with terrible claws, terrible tusks, terrible jaws, knobbly knees, turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of its nose. Wait. Could there really be such a thing as a gruffalo?

Materials:

The Gruffalo

chart with picture of gruffalo (covered for beginning of lesson)

paper

crayons or markers
character masks (optional)

Lesson:

Before you begin reading, show your class the spread of pages in the book that shows the setting.

Activate schema by asking questions such as:

“Have you ever been in the deep, dark wood?”

“What animals live in the forest?”

Discuss the words predator and prey.

Show the cover of the book with the picture of the gruffalo covered.

Explain that as you read the first half of the book, the students should listen for clues that help them visualize what a gruffalo might look like. Read aloud until the gruffalo makes his first appearance.

Have the class help you make a chart similar to the one shown that lists the physical characteristics of the gruffalo.

Tell students to pretend that they have been asked to illustrate the book. How would they draw the gruffalo based on the clues given in the text? Provide time for students to draw and then share their illustrations.

For added fun, play the song from the audio recording of the book. (Available at audible.com. Click the image to go to the recording.)

You can also listen to the song with this youtube link:

Now reveal the gruffalo on your chart and have students compare their drawings with Axel Scheffler's gruffalo.

Read the entire book from start to finish!

During another read aloud time, use the illustrations to have the children practice inferring. Show the students the picture of one of the animals as it approaches the mouse (remember that predator/prey relationship!). Compare to the picture of the animal after Mouse describes the gruffalo. What facial expressions change? How do the animals' movements change from showing confidence to fear? Invite the students to practice making these actions.

These masks are a hit when it comes to retelling and dramatizing the story. Of course, you can use them when leading students through a reenactment. To increase the thinking-skill level, ask a student to choose a character mask. Then interview the character to find out what it was thinking at different points in the story. Click the image to download the masks from Early Learning HQ. 

We went out to the "deep, dark wood!"

This wonderful site also contains finger puppets, word cards, posters and more!

Here's another video worth sharing to your young readers and and writers. Julia Donaldson shares her drafts of the book. Then she delights her audience by singing the gruffalo song with Gruffalo himself!

Giraffes Can't Dance

Title: Giraffes Can’t Dance

Giles Andrae (Author)

Guy Parker-Rees (Illustrator)

Comprehension Strategy: Making Connections                     

Art Modality: Drama, Creative Movement

Summary:

Meet Gerald, the humble and inspiring giraffe in Giraffes Can’t Dance, written by Giles Andrae and illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees. Gerald is tall and slim and a really bad dancer. Other animals show up at the Jungle Dance to skip and prance. In fact, the warthogs waltz, the rhinos rock and roll, the lions dance a tango, the chimps do a cha-cha and the baboons even spin a Scottish reel. Feeling useless and lonely, Gerald leaves the dance. Just in time, a cricket gives him a wonderful piece of advice: “...sometimes when you’re different you just need a different song.”  Gerald finds his boogie, and his dance is like a dream. The moral of the story? “We all can dance...when we find music that we love.”

Materials:

Giraffes Can’t Dance

Lesson:

We know that good readers ask questions before, during and after a story. With this lesson, good readers will be guided to making connections before, during and after a story.

Begin by asking, “Have you ever tried to do something and you didn’t think you were very good at it?” The story I tell my kids is actually about dancing. When I took my movement class during my Integrated Arts program, I was very nervous. I didn’t think I’d be able learn the steps fast enough and I already knew I wasn’t very coordinated.

Read aloud Giraffes Can’t Dance. There is also an animated version you can enjoy: http://vimeo.com/33829782. 

After the read aloud, use these ideas to practice making connections through movement.

Travel through the story from Gerald’s perspective:

How does it feel to be tall and slim? Stretch your neck to eat the leaves.

Try to run around, but buckle at the knees. What are your feelings when you fall?

Slowly walk onto the dance floor. Freeze. How does your body look when you feel useless?

Creep away. How do you move when you are sad and lonely?

Find your own space where you can look up at the moon. 

Shuffle your hooves in circles on the ground. Gently sway from the neck. Swish your tail.

Throw your arms out sideways! Leap into the air!

Twirl and finish with a bow.

Just for fun, try out some dance movements inspired by the other animals. Your students’ will probably not be familiar with this dance lingo, so be sure to use the illustrations to increase their understanding of the new vocabulary.

Waltz like the warthogs.

Rock and roll like the rhinos.

Get a partner and do a bold and elegant tango like the lions.

Do a cha-cha like the chimps.

Now for making connections after the story. Again, I tell my kids that in my class, I learned to enjoy moving in my own way—even if it was a little bit fun and funky. When we acted out this story, guess who played the part of Gerald? (I’m not sharing pictures of this part!) Ask, “What special skills or talents do you have? What is something you didn’t think you were good at but you now you have fun doing it anyway?”

Need more Gerald?

Visit Deep Space Sparkle for a step-by-step art lesson.
http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2008/02/04/giraffes-cant-dance/

I jumped for joy when I recently found this new Gerald book…

The Little Little Girl with the Big Big Voice

The Little Little Girl with the Big Big Voice

Kristen Balouch (Author & Illustrator)

Comprehension Strategy: Inferring                  

Art Modality: Drama

Summary:

There once was a little, little girl... with a BIG, BIG voice.

One day she went to find someone to play with.

In this vibrantly illustrated picture book, one loud little girl looks for a friend to play with. She searches the jungle high and low for a pal, but her BIG voice scares all the animals away! One by one, an elephant, a snake and a croc quickly retreat away from her booming vocals, until at last she finds the perfect playmate-whose "roar" is even louder than hers! (Summary from Simon & Schuster.)

Materials:

The Little Little Girl with the Big Big Voice

Lesson:

Let me say this loud and clear. “THIS IS A FUN BOOK!” In fact, when I saw this book it screamed, “BUY ME!” This simple story is useful at the beginning of the year when you are teaching appropriate voice volume and you are focusing on classroom management. It also works beautifully if you want to zoom in on inferring. So if your classroom sounds like a jungle, open the book and try this lesson.

Before reading, place a sticky note over the little girl on the cover. Without showing the illustrations, read the beginning of the book in which the little girl attempts to make friends with the elephant, snake, and crocodile. Ask students to make inferences about what might be scaring the animals away. Read the beginning again, this time showing the pictures. Allow students time to continue making inferences. Continue reading, making sure to pause after you read, “But the lion looked at the little girl...” After sharing predictions. continue reading, but pause again after, “And the little girl looked at the lion...” Your students will love the surprise that follows and will join in laughing with the girl and the lion.

Now I just bet that you already have in mind a little, little child from your own class that as a big, big voice. Give that child a chance to use that voice in a dramatic retelling of the story. Invite students to play the roles of the girl, the elephant, the snake, the crocodile and the lion. Prepare the actors by talking about how each of the animals would move and what they were doing in the story. For example, the elephant is blowing bubbles and the snake is swinging. How would the elephant run away? How would the snake escape? As you reread, invite the students to act out the story. Repeat with additional groups of five children.

Want to make sure your voice can be heard? Need to make your little “loud mouth” even louder? Here’s a link for a printable megaphone:

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Little-Little-Girl-with-the-Big-Big-Voice/Kristen-Balouch/9781442408081#graphic_excerpt_carousel

Finally, here’s an analogy map to use with the story. Use it to make a class chart or provide copies so the students can make their own.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxZ0GKEr7Xl_d2JnODVNQWVmN0k/edit?usp=sharing