Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students are introduced to ten popular storybook characters.  The introduction will encourage them to read more broadly from books several series they may not have known.  It will give them more “storybook friends” to enjoy and will enable them to recognize on sight more of the library’s collection.

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

K–1

Objective:

To introduce children to ten storybook characters who appear in popular children’s book series.  (AASL 4.1.1, “Read, view, and listen for pleasure and personal growth.”)

Suggested Time:

40-45 minutes

Success Criteria:

Each child will be able to recognize, on sight, ten popular storybook characters.

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

Remind the children that they have learned how to map a story, sequence a story, and even perform stories.  Now, as we wrap up the storytelling and imagination unit, it is time to make sure that we “make friends” with some storybook characters just waiting to be discovered in the library.

2. Main:

Explain to the children that in today’s lesson, they will need to figure out who the main character is in each of the stories.  If the children do not know what a character is, teach them that a character is an individual in a story.  Characters are often people and animals, but sometimes they can even be objects!

Start one story from each of the series.  Once the kids guess the character, give them the color picture on backing paper that you have prepared.

I like to make a T-chart with the character name on the left and the picture on the right.  That way, when the lesson is over, they’ll have a Storybook Character Key Chart!

Normally I use the following ten characters/series, but I’ve suggested five others, and you should certainly customize this list so that it best fits your students and your school’s collection.  (See attached photo for the Storybook Character Pictures.)

1. Angelina Ballerina (created by Katharine Holabird)
2. Arthur (created by Marc Tolon Brown)
3. Biscuit (created by Alyssa Satin Capucilli)
4. Elmer (created by David McKee)
5. Frog and Toad (created by Arnold Lobel)
6. Harry and the Dinosaurs (created by Ian Whybrow)
7. Hugless Douglas (created by David Melling)
8. Olivia (created by Ian Falconer)
9. Winnie the Pooh (created by A.A. Milne)
10. Winnie the Witch (created by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul)

Other storybook characters you could add (there are many more!):

1. Berenstain Bears (created by Stan and Jan Berenstain)
2. Little Critter (created by Mercer Mayer)
3. Madeline (created by Ludwig Bemelmans)
4. Franklin (created by Paulette Bourgeois)
5. Lowly Worm and Busytown (created by Richard Scarry)
6. Elephant & Piggie (created by Mo Willems)

3. Conclusion:

Wrap-up by challenging the children to check out books in the series they have learned about today.  Review the names of each of the characters and make sure that the kids know where to find the books in the library.

Resources:

1. A collection of picture books for each of the ten story book characters. If you pull five or six books from each series, that is 50 or 60 books.  This is a book-heavy lesson, so you’ll need to be well organized and well prepared.
2. Color pictures of each of the storybook characters, mounted on colorful backing paper, for each class. I like to leave a character collection in each class to remind the kids of which characters to look for on their next visit to the library.

Notes:

I find that circulation of the featured series’ goes way up after this lesson, so be prepared for a run on the highlighted books.

If you need the children to do some writing in this lesson, you could easily create a T-Chart and have them record the names of the characters and draw a simple picture of each character.

Also, I find it very helpful to use the character pictures you give to each class in the library.  Preliterate students will be able to independently find their favorite books if you have pictures of the characters on the bookshelves, boxes, or signage.

Recommended books for this lesson: 

1. An assortment of Angelina Ballerina books (created by Katharine Holabird)
2. An assortment of Arthur books(created by Marc Tolon Brown)
3. An assortment of Biscuit books (created by Alyssa Satin Capucilli)
4. An assortment of Elmer books (created by David McKee)
5. An assortment of Frog and Toad books (created by Arnold Lobel)
6. An assortment of Harry and the Dinosaurs books (created by Ian Whybrow)
7. An assortment of Hugless Douglas books (created by David Melling)
8. An assortment of Olivia books (created by Ian Falconer)
9. An assortment of Winnie the Pooh books (created by A.A. Milne)
10. An assortment of Winnie the Witch books (created by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul)

Or, add the books/series you included in the lesson.

Key Terms:

Characters, Series

Sample Storybook Character Pictures

 

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students celebrate their learning by watching the completed storytelling videos.  As the videos are normally several weeks in the making, kids are extremely proud of their productions!  Give them the chance to reflect on and celebrate their achievements by hosting a red-carpet video premiere!  Add popcorn treats for an especially festive touch.

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

1-2 

Objective:

To celebrate the children’s success in writing, rehearsing, performing, and recording an original “Bear Hunt” story.  (AASL  4.1.8, “Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning.”)

Suggested Time:

45-50 minutes

Success Criteria:

Students will watch and respond to one another’s storytelling “Bear Hunt” videos.

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

Remind the students that they have written and recorded their videos and that today is the day to watch and celebrate their success.

Explain that today the children are each expected to do two things:

• Be a respectful audience member.
• Listen and watch critically. Look for specific things that their classmates did well, or specific things that their classmates can improve on.  You may wish to use the “Two Stars and a Wish” framework if you and the children are familiar with it.

2. Main:

Show each of the class’ storytelling “Bear Hunt” videos.  Each video will be a minute or two long.  After each video, give a round of applause.  Then, have the children point out two specific things that were well done in each recording and one suggestion for improvement.  Try to steer comments away generalized remarks such as “It was good” or “I liked it,” to more specific content.  Suggestions could include their peers’:

• Use of expression
• Hand, foot movements
• Ability to remember lines
• Speaking, acting in unison
• Ability to keep going if a mistake was made
• Ability to memorize lines
• Use of rhythm or beat

3. Conclusion:

Thank the students for their work and participation.  Encourage them to share their videos with their families.  Ask them to think about other stories they might like to tell in a video format.  Finally, request that they help tidy up the room before they go.

Resources:

1. Children’s recorded videos in files and ready for playback.
2. Video playback equipment with projection and audio capability.
3. Seating area for the class and any invited guests.
4. Room that you can darken during the video performances.
5. Popcorn or treats (optional)
6. Movie poster decorations (if the kids have had time to make them, optional).

Notes:

If you have the opportunity, post the videos to the class Weebly, web site, or the students’ digital portfolios.  Send the file to your audiovisual team and ask them to put it on any large screens around the school.  Show off these videos, because they are an extraordinary culmination of the children’s study of story structure, story writing, and story performance.

I’ve done this project with great success and it really does cap off the unit on storytelling.  Teachers tend to approach storytelling through writing or using apps to write.  But, performance storytelling is an easy-to-do approach to the same material that pulls in EAL children, adds an element of fun, and results in an unforgettable learning experience.

I usually do not do a “Celebration of Learning” at the end of the unit since those most often happen in the classroom.  However, I make an exception when the kids have completed a significant piece of work like the storytelling videos.  Don’t be tempted to pass-up this video premiere lesson!  If you and the children have gone to the effort to make these videos, it’s worth the time to celebrate them together.

Recommended books for this lesson:

None

Key Terms:

Poetry, Bear Hunt, Writing, Stories, Performance, Story Structure, Storytelling

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students draw on what they have learned about story structure and story performance to write and perform their own stories.  I have written this into one lesson plan, but it will most likely take two to four lessons for the students to plan their projects, rehearse their stories, and perform for their peers.  This could easily be used as a summative task for the storytelling and imagination unit.

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

K-2 

Objective:

To create a group story, plan the beginning, middle, and ending elements, work out accompanying hand motions with a dramatic interpretation, and make a short, unedited movie of the final product.

Suggested Time:

Two to four lessons, depending on attendance and how well the children follow instructions and work together.

Success Criteria:

Each small group of three to five students will plan, write, rehearse, and perform a story of their own.  The teacher will record their performances to capture and share their understanding and work.

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

We have sequenced stories, we have mapped stories, and we have acted out stories.  In the next few working sessions, we will put all those elements together to create our own stories.  Then, we will make a movie of our stories!

Remind the students of Michael Rosen’s interpretation of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.  Perform this again as a class.

What did Mr. Rosen’s story have?  (Scribe on a flip chart or white board)

• Something to hunt (Examples: Bear, Tiger, Butterfly, T-Rex, Buffalo, Fairy Queen, etc.)
• Obstacles (Examples: Grass, River, Mud)
• Motions and Gestures (Example: Long, wavy grass)
• Sound effects (Examples Stumble, trip, squish, squelch)
• A proper ending where the family runs away.  (Back through all the obstacles)

2. Main:

You will be working in assigned groups, and these are the things that your group will have to work out!  Just like Michael Rosen, you will decide on something to hunt, overcome obstacles, work out sound effects and hand motions, and give the story a great ending.

1. Place students into small, working groups of three to five.
2. Students choose a theme for their stories, i.e., something to hunt.  Allow five to seven minutes of discussion for this.  In the past I have had students “hunt” for a shark, T-Rex, treasure, etc.
3. Students choose two to four obstacles that they will pass through to get to their hunted object.
4. Students work out simple gestures and sound effects to go with the obstacles.
5. Students put their projects together. They will need support for this!

Each project will have a structure roughly like this:

Beginning:

We’re going on a (fill in the blank) hunt,

We’re going to catch a big one,

What a beautiful day!

We’re not scared,

 

Middle:

Oh No!!  A (fill in the blank)

We can’t go over it,

We can’t go under it,

We’ll have to go through it.

Sound effects and motions

(Repeat until all obstacles are faced and overcome)

What’s that?  A (fill in the blank)

 

End: 

Quick, back through the (fill in the blank)

Sound effects and motions

Back through the (fill in the blank)

Sound effects and motions

(Repeat until finished) 

We’re never going on a (fill in the blank) hunt again!!

 

3. Conclusion:

After all the videos are complete, have an “Opening Night” or “Debut” event.  If you can pull it off, make posters and popcorn and let the kids really enjoy watching their finished products.  I’ve done this once with great success, and it really does cap off the unit on storytelling.  It integrates technology and allows children to create their own stories without having to do more writing during library sessions.

Resources:

1. Video recording device.
2. Video playback capability
3. Copies of the student handout (attached)
4. Additional teacher or teaching assistant for supporting the small groups.
5. Room for practice and rehearsals. (It gets very loud if everyone is rehearsing in the same area.)

Notes: 

If the children are very young, only ask them to write two or three obstacles.  Otherwise it will be too much for them to remember.  I have had first graders successfully write and perform four obstacles, so they can do it!

Do not edit the videos!  That is too much work and it’s not necessary.  This is not meant to be a polished performance, just a way to capture student effort.  Someone will get the giggles, someone will forget the lines, someone will get the order mixed up, someone will stand with hands in pockets – just keep going!!  Whatever they can do will be good enough.  These are very young children and the idea is that they create and make their own stories, which they will do even if the performance is not polished.

Don’t use any props!  Keep it simple and let them use their imaginations as Michael Rosen modeled so well.  Conceptually, this is a simple exercise.  But, it will take them a bit of time to write, develop, practice, and present.  Be patient – the final results will be delightful!

Recommended books for this lesson:

None – This lesson refers to last week’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt text.

Key Terms:

Poetry, Bear Hunt, Writing, Stories, Performance, Story Structure

Student Handout, Bear Hunt Video

Completed Student Work Sample, Bear Hunt Video

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson students also learn to tell a story with words and hand movements.  However, the Bear Hunt will serve as a model for the students’ own stories and dramatic performances.  Get ready for some creative thinking and writing once the kids have mastered this one!

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

1-3 

Objective:

Students will understand that poetry is a form of expression and that poetry can tell a story.   Students will learn to perform We’re Going on a Bear Hunt in anticipation of writing and dramatizing their own stories.

Suggested Time:

40-45 minutes

Success Criteria:

Students will be able to perform We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rose and Helen Oxenbury.

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

Remind students that in the last lesson they learned to perform a story, a poem story about rain.  Today they will also learn to perform a piece of poetry, but this story is longer and a bit more challenging!  As provocation questions, you might ask:

• Who has gone hunting?
• What did you hunt?
• How did you get there?
• What kind of country were you in?
• What do you think it feels like to be a hunter?
• Is hunting easy?
• What do hunters have to take with them?

Tell the children that in this poem, they will be hunting for a BEAR!

2. Main:

Teach We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.  If the children have not heard it before, you’ll need to work slowly.  However, if the children know the piece, you can move quickly through the book.

Be sure the children understand:

• Parts of the poem repeat.
• There is a pattern in this poem.
• At some point the poem stops repeating – when is that?
• What happens after the characters find the object they are hunting?

Tell the students that just as they performed a rain storm last week, other people also like to perform poetry.  In this case, Michael Rosen, one of the creators of this book, has performed the poem.  Let’s watch how Mr. Rosen likes to tell the story of the bear hunt.  (Show short video, link below.)

Ask the children to watch one more time and perform the story with Mr. Rosen.  They will get a big charge out of this and there will be a lot of giggles.  Practice a time or two, then see if you can find an audience, perhaps the teacher or a teaching assistant, to watch the performance.

3. Conclusion:

Congratulate the children on their second performance of a piece of poetry.  Tell them that in the next lesson, they will be writing a poem like this one.  So, they should start thinking of something to hunt!  It will be a lot of fun to write the poem and then act it out for their classmates.

Resources:

1. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury.
2. Computer and projection equipment.
3. Internet connection.
4. Michael Rosen’s performance of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gyI6ykDwds  (5:02 minutes

Notes:

There are several versions of this poem/story.  You don’t have to use the Rosen and Oxenbury one, it’s just the version I had on hand so it was the one I worked with.  But, any version of the story should do.

Recommended books for this lesson:

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury

Key Terms:

Bears, Poetry, Hunting, Patterns

 

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson students learn to tell a story with words and hand movements.  Best on a rainy day, Martin and Archambault’s rain storm masterpiece lets children perform a piece of poetry together.  Children will learn to perform the poem which is perfect to share in an assembly!

Lesson Plan:

Suggested Grades:

1-2 

Objective:

Students will understand that poetry is a form of expression and that poetry can tell a story.   Students will act out Listen to the Rain with simple hand movements and by controlling the volume of their voices.

Suggested Time:

30-40 minutes

Success Criteria:

As a class, students will be able to perform Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault.

Lesson Outline:

1. Introduction:

Remind students that in the last two lessons we worked on story sequencing and story mapping.  Today we’ll also work with a story, but it is a story told through poetry.  Also, we won’t make any written notes.  Instead, we will act it out!  Explain to the students that the language in this poem is very beautiful and that it uses some words they might not have heard before.  Explain that poetry is “painting with words.”  Because of this, the story will sound different that most stories.  Challenge the students to listen carefully so that they will be able to bring this poem story to life.

2. Main:

Ask the children what they know about rainstorms.  Key questions might be: What do rain storms look like?  What do rain storms sound like?  What should you do if there is a rain storm coming?  How long can rain storms last?  Can rain storms ever be loud or scary?  They will have a lot of ideas!

Then tell them that two very special people worked on trying to make a rain storm with words. They wanted to choose just-right words that painted a mental picture of the storm.  Ask the children to listen to the poem, especially its unusual language, and see whether they can find out how the authors approached their project.

Don’t’ tell the children this, but Listen to the Rain is a poem with four parts.  It breaks down as:

Whisper – the beginning of the storm

Singing – the onset of steady and consistent rain

Roaring – the height of the storm with thunder and lightning

After-Rain – the ebbing and passing of the storm

As you read the poem through the first time, vary the volume of your voice, intonation, and delivery, to accompany the words.  For example, when you read, “ . . . the dripping, dripping, dropping, the slowly, slowly stopping . . . . . “ be sure you slow your words to mimic the slowing of the raindrops.  You will need to make other adjustments to your delivery.  Be creative and do your best.

Probably only a few children will understand the poem’s “crescendo” structure and that the “crescendo” structure fits a rainstorm.  Work with them until they understand these concepts.  You will need to go back and reread sections to help them understand how the poem mimics a complete rainstorm.

To help the children internalize the language, have them perform this poem.  I usually have the children sitting in a circle on the floor.  Show them how to use their fingertips to make sprinkles, splashes, and lashing rain.  Show them how to make thunder (a big clap) and lightning (ten fingers blinking).

Once you have agreed on the movements, have the children perform the poem with you.  Read a line of the poem and have the children repeat the words while making the actions and sounds.  The start of the storm should be quiet and gentle.  The pitter-patter part should be normal finger strikes against their laps.  The height of the storm is much louder and much more animated!  Then, they’ll need to pull the volume and movements back in for a hushed, after-the-storm wind down.

Perform the poem with them at least twice until they understand that the poem builds a storm as a crescendo, but that the storm, once over, leaves the world clean, fresh, and quiet.

3. Conclusion:

Congratulate the children on their first-ever effort at performance poetry.   Ask them if they think they would like to try writing a poem like this one.  Ask them how the descriptive and unusual language makes them feel.  If possible, help them perform this piece at an assembly or for their families.

Resources:

1. Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault.
2. Recording of a rain storm (optional).

Notes:

I have used this lesson many times over the years, always with excellent results.  The kids usually don’t understand the story at first.  You must really work with them to help them understand that the storm begins slowly, builds, rages, then breaks and fades away.  Once they understand it, though, they are eager to “perform” the storm and act out the different stages of the weather.

This lesson is best taught on a rainy day.  It could also be used in a poetry unit, a weather unit, or this unit on imagination and storytelling.  If you want to teach the poem and it’s not actually raining, it helps to have a recording of a rainstorm playing as the kids come into the library.  They will hear something unusual and will quiet down immediately!

Recommended books for this lesson:

Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by James Endicott

Key Terms:

Rain, Storms, Poetry, Descriptive Language, Word Choice, Weather, Rainbows