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They continued out of the forest, the only sounds the creak of the howdah on Hathi’s back, the soft thuds of the elephant’s feet on the ground, and Joe’s calls of “a little to the right, Hathi” and “straight ahead” as he consulted the red arrow on his toe. Roberta was motionless, as if in rest mode. There were blankets in the howdah, and Nancy snuggled in, warm between Sybil and Joe. She let her mind go soft and slept some.
Click on a title below for book recommendations; reading, writing, and art information and activities; and discussion questions. • An Annotated List of Suggested Read Alouds and Independent Reads Legs! An Annotated List of Suggested Read Alouds and Independent Reads by Thom Barthelmess, Curator at the Butler Children’s Literature Center at Dominican University Read Alouds: Keller, John, illustrated by Henry Cole. The Rubber-Legged Ducky. 32p. Gr. PreK-3. London, Jonathan, illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz. Froggy Gets Dressed. 32p. Gr. PreK-3. Newsome, Jill, illustrated by Claudio Muñoz. Dream Dancer. 32p. Gr. K-3.
Elkeles, Simone. Leaving Paradise. 312p. Gr. 8-12. Henkes, Kevin. Words of Stone. 160p. Gr. 3-6. Paulsen, Gary. The Monument. 151p. Gr. 5-9. © 2010 Thom Barthelmess Activities for the Classroom: How Well Do I Know These Words? by Rebecca Berezin When students read or listen to a story, it is important that they learn how to identify the elements of fiction, such as the title and author, setting, characters (main and supporting), problem, events, and solution. Comprehension is an essential component of the reading process. According to Fountas and Pinnell (2001), “Comprehension is not something that happens after reading. Comprehension is the thinking we do before, during, and after reading” (p.323). Students need to learn that comprehension occurs before reading by looking at the title as well as any available pictures and forming predictions about the story. During reading, students need to realize that they incorporate their background knowledge and make connections. Also, they learn to begin to identify the significant elements of the story. After reading, students need to summarize and synthesize the story. They further think about the important elements of the story and analyze what happened. The story map is an excellent strategy that can be used to help students with comprehension. It includes all of the elements of narrative text. As Fountas and Pinnell (2001) point out, “The reader must select important information, weave it together, and integrate it with background knowledge” (p.324). The story map is an effective organizational tool for helping students focus on the important information, summarize, and synthesize. It also gives students the freedom to incorporate their background knowledge. Story Map for Narrative Text
The story map can be done as a whole class, with partners, or individually. It is important to model how to use the story map before applying it to the narrative text being used. Another suggestion is to divide the class into groups and have each of the groups figure out the solution. Then, come back together as a whole class and have each group share what they think is the solution. An overhead projector or document reader is recommended when using the story map. A third suggestion is to divide the class into groups and have them create an alternate solution to episode 19. After each group creates their alternate solution, return together as a whole class and have each group share. Reference Fountas, I.C., & Pinnell, G.S. (2001). Guiding Readers and Writers: Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. ©2010 Rebecca Berezin Discussion Questions and Activities by Mary Brigid Barrett Writers must not only create convincing characters and dialogue, they also need to create a believable world for their characters. Realistic fiction and fantasy writers use sensory description—words and phrases that depict smells, textures, temperatures, sounds, tastes, and visuals—to a make place and time convincing. Shannon Hale is highly skilled at using potent sensory description to enliven and energize her work, creating a believable sense of place and time and a vivid sense of atmosphere—giving sense and place added shadings of emotion. Have your students reread Episode 19 “Legs on the Run” by Shannon Hale and ask them to identify words and phrases that relate to the “five senses.” (You may want them to identify the five senses first!) Then ask them why writers use sensory language when building a sense of time and place, instead of more innocuous words like beautiful or ugly, to create a sense of time and place in their stories. In Episode 19, Joe and Nancy once again find themselves in a dire situation. Ask your students and/or kids if they have ever been a dangerous situation. What happened? How did they react? Did they find themselves freezing up? Did they get nervous, and if yes, how did they act? Were their grown-ups to help them, or were they on their own? Do Joe and Nancy have identical reactions to the situations and adventures they have encountered in their quest? Does that make them more or less believable as characters? Sybil Hunch is an intriguing name for a fortune/misfortune teller. Writers often take great care in choosing characters’ names. What are your favorite character names in The Exquisite Corpse Adventure? Why? At the end of Episode 19, Shannon Hale writes, “Roberta stood up – yes, stood. A no-nonsense android who has been missing her legs for ten years won’t waste time snapping them back on. She put her hands on her hip-region and squared her shoulder-type area toward Joe and Nancy, as if meeting them with the steely gaze she surely would have if she’d had a head.” Are these “take charge” actions of Roberta’s in keeping with what you know of her character throughout the story, or were you surprised by Roberta’s attitude and actions? Why or why not? In creating believable characters, writers have to make sure that what a character does is consistent with the personality and mindset of the character. There are many characters in The Exquisite Corpse Adventure. Have they all been developed with believable consistency? Share examples to illustrate your opinion. If the characters have not acted in a manner consistent with their personalities and mindsets, why might a writer have a character act in a way that is inconsistent with their previous actions and mindset? In Episode 19, Joe and Nancy yearn for things they have never experienced: sitting on a couch in a living room; being tucked into bed at night. Questions to pose to your young people: Some people may think that Joe’s and Nancy’s yearnings are insignificant, but what do those yearnings really represent? What have they been missing in their lives? What are their deepest and truest hopes and desires? Are they the same or different from what you want? Do you ever look at other people’s lives and yearn for something that they have? Is what you desire symbolic of a deeper yearning?
For Parents, Teachers, Librarians—Talk Art! Calef Brown’s Illustration for Episode Nineteen by Mary Brigid Barrett
Hathi had reached the chestnut tree, and an elephant knows when she’s been outrun. She turned to face the predator, standing between wolf and pig, her trunk raised.
From “Legs on the Run” by Shannon Hale Episode 19, The Exquisite Corpse Adventure
There is sketchy, chalky quality to Calef Brown’s illustration for Exquisite Corpse Episode Nineteen even though Calef created it with computer software. It is not only the textural effects of the color coverage in the illustration that make it similar to a chalk drawing, it is also the use of lilac and sage, muted purple and green colors to which white has been added, that give the illustration that “chalky” feeling. Chalk drawings are an affordable and approachable color art medium for kids and grownups. Colored chalks are relatively inexpensive, and can be used on all kinds of paper. No worries about spilling messy paint, and if you make a mistake you can just wipe the chalk away. Chalk drawings done by fine artists are called pastel paintings. Quality fine art pastel sets can cost hundreds of dollars. Many artists in the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist eras used pastels to create riveting paintings
You may want to introduce the idea of a sidewalk chalk art to your kids by first reading “The Day Out,” Chapter Two of Mary Poppins, written by P.L.Travers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Travers )and illustrated by Mary Shepard, the daughter of Ernest Shepard, who illustrated all the original Winnie-the-Pooh stories. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._H._Shepard ). In this chapter, a great read-aloud, nanny Mary Poppins takes her charges Jane and Michael on an outing to the park where they meet Mary’s friend Bert, the “Match Man” and part-time pavement artist. Many kids will be familiar with this scene from the Mary Poppins Disney movie, but will not have read this wonderful book. Reading this chapter aloud to them will get them excited about becoming pavement artists, and it may also inspire them to read all the wonderful Mary Poppins fantasies. After sharing this chapter, you may want to show them the incredible sidewalk art of Julian Beever, an English artist who is famous all over the world for his amazing 3-D sidewalk art. You can show kids the examples of his work below:
You can find colored chalks just about anywhere, but to get a wide variety of colors check out your local art supply store or educational supply store. I would not recommend kids using expensive pastel chalks for sidewalk art! Choose a site for the chalk drawing activity. It may be your own driveway or street sidewalk. It may be the pavement in front of your town’s storefronts, or your neighborhood mall parking lot or playground. You can plan it as a spontaneous activity or as fundraising event for your school, library, or your kids’ favorite charity. Kids can sketch whatever they want impulsively at the site, or you might like them to do a preliminary color drawing or sketch beforehand so that they have some kind of plan. It is all up to you! Have each kid take a light color of chalk to line the area they would like to cover on the pavement of tar. A playground is a great safe place to do chalk art drawings because there is usually oodles of space, and playgrounds are usually fenced off from traffic. Make sure you have lots of water for kids to drink, and also water and rags for them to able to “erase” their chalk if they make a mistake. You may also want to have paper towels or soft cotton rags around for use if kids want to rub or blend their colors together. Lemonade and cookies make a great treat at the end of the activity! Kids, parents, and guests can then stroll around, lemonade in hand, gazing in appreciation at the wonderful sidewalk gallery! And who knows?—perhaps your kids, like Jane and Michael Banks in Mary Poppins, will make an imaginative leap into one of the drawings, and come back to write a story about their adventure! For information on making “wet” chalk drawings, go to: www.wikihow.com/Create-Wet-Chalk-Drawings For a video that shows a “time lapse” film of a sidewalk chalk artist, go to: http://lanclip.com/watch-IG70Tvmzep0/time-lapse-sidewalk-chalk-drawing-of-superman.html © Mary Brigid Barrett
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