Children's Literature, Infancy to Early Adolescence

Lesson Plans

Lesson one

Objective: To complete a story map of the picture book, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in

People's Ears

Materials: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears picture book, graphic organizer of a story map, colored pencils, erasable transparency pens, transparency, overhead projector.

Procedures:

1. Students will listen to the book being read and look at the illustrations.
2. The students will be told that there will be three parts of the story they have to listen for; the beginning, middle, and ending.
3. They will name the important characters in the story.
4. The students will have to retell what happened in each part of the story.
5. I will translate their dictation on a transparency shown on the board using the overhead projector.
6. They will also have graphic organizers and will write their answers in short sentences depending on their writing skills.

Lesson two

Objective: To learn about animals and plants in the jungle. This lesson will be taught in the science class.

Materials: Picture book, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears and video of book. Picture books of animals found in the jungle, images on web site of jungle photos, coloring sheets and games from web site about insects.

Procedures:

1. The students will listen to the story being read while looking at the picture book of the animals in the story.
2. Students will answer questions about what they think is going to happen on the next page and give the reason for their answer.
3. Students will look at pictures of African animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles and insects.
4. The students will watch the video of Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, and listen to the sounds of the animals.
5. The students will choose from activities on a web site that has coloring pages of animals, clip art of insects, craft games, insect games, and insect songs and poems.
6. The students will visit the school library and self select books of jungle animals.

Lesson three

Objective: To compare and contrast the elements of the picture book, The Wizard of Oz, with a film version of the book.

Materials: Picture book of The Wizard of Oz, a film adapted from the book, a large wipe off compare/contrast graphic organizer, erasable markers.

Procedures:

1. The students will listen to the reading of the classic tale of The Wizard of Oz, and look at the magical pictures before watching the film. This will take several days, so the students can absorb the text before looking at the film.
2. The students will be asked to look for scenes in the film that are different from the pictures in the book and scenes that are the same as the pictures in the book.
3. I will fill in the information on the graphic organizer if necessary.
4. The students will do oral presentations following the completion of these activities.

Lesson four

Objective: To explore the friendship theme in the Stuart Little film and the Charlotte's Web film.

Materials: Films adapted from the Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web picture books, Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web books, construction paper, markers.

Procedures:

1. The students will view the two films on separate days and discuss them as they are being shown.
2. They will answer questions and compare the friendship Stuart has with Margalo and the friendship Charlotte with Wilbur.
3. They will be asked questions about friendship such as: what makes a good friend, can boys have girls as friends and can girls have boys as friends, what do friends do for each other, and do friends always get along?
4. The books will be read after the films are shown and discussed so the students will listen for details during the parts where Stuart meets Margalo and saves her and become aware of Charlotte's efforts to save Wilbur. Each of these characters shows how friends save friends.
5. The students will use construction paper and markers to make a friendship poster.