|
 Stranger
in the Woods
Class Activities and Poems
Stranger
in the Woods by Carl Sams II and Jean Stoick is a wonderful book!
The animal photographs are beautiful and the story theme about caring for wildlife
is appealing and meaningful to children. Our
project consisted of the following activities: ~
Multiple readings of the book for a variety of purposes, including a comparison
with another book ~
Making
animal masks and retelling the story for our 4th grade buddies ~
Learning how to use online
spelling activities using animal names from the story ~
Writing
poems based on animals in the story and illustrating them
We considered
how Stranger In the Woods and another story, The Night Tree
by Eve Bunting, were similar and different. Here's our Venn Diagram:
| Stranger
In the Woods | Both
Stories | The
Night Tree | | Photographs
are used. | * | Drawings
are used. | | Animals come to a snowman for food. |
They have animals that live in the woods. | Animals
come to a fir tree for food. | | Children put out the
food. | Food is left for the animals during winter. | A
family puts the food on the tree. | | At
first, the animals are afraid of the stranger. | Everyone
is happy at the end. | Animals are used to trees in the woods. |
| Real animals eat together. | * | Shows
animals that would not eat together. |
A quiz
was made at Quia.com to unscramble animal names from The Stanger in the Woods. Animal Words Jumble This
was great fun! The students worked together on spelling the words and took turns
typing in the correct letters. Our big TV screen came in handy for this whole-class
activity. It helps to have read the book, but there are clues to help find the
animal names. The tricky part was spelling them correctly! Another
online spelling activity was created using a drag and drop format. In this
one, students use the mouse to move words on the screen. Animals
In ABC Order
Story
Masks: Retelling the Story
This was
great fun! We all made masks for some of the animals in the story, with some duplicates
too.
We had 3 owls and 3 mother does, but no porcupine, muskrat, or squirrel.
Luckily, we did have the Stranger! Mrs. Cavallaro's 4th grade buddies were patient
listeners to our story retelling.
Stranger,
Dove, Chickadee
Our final activity was to write
a poem in response to the story and illustrate it. Once again, the animals
were the focus of our work (we are learning about animals all year as part of
our science curriculum). Each student selected an animal for their poem.
Mrs. McGowan showed the class how to write a poem that just has 4 lines: Line
1 has a describing word or words
Line 2 has a the animal's name (noun)
Line
3 has an action the animal did (verb)
Line 4 ends the poem
| 
| Wise,
Owl
of many questions,
Flying to warn the other animals,
There's a Stranger
in the Woods! ~ Scott | | Two
gray,
Mourning Doves,
Cooing directions,
Looking for the Stranger. ~
Dominique | 
| | 
| Brown,
Porcupine,
Chewing
on an antler, doesn't care
About the Stranger in the Woods. ~
Thomas | | Scared,
Chickadee,
Gets
to the Stranger first,
Finding seeds and nuts in his hat. ~
Amy | 
| | Two,
Good
children,
Put food out,
Making animals happy. ~ Hannah |
|
|
This
project is in alignment with the following standards:
New
Jersey Core Curriculum Standards Language and Literacy
3.2
listen actively in a variety of situations to information from a variety of sources.
3.3
write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for
different audiences and purposes.
3.4 read various materials and texts with
comprehension and critical analysis.
3.5 view, understand, and use nontextual
visual information. Social
Studies
5.6 gain an understanding of the structure, characteristics
and basic needs of organisms. National Educational Technology
Standards for Students. (NETS) Use technology communications
tools:
Students use telecommunications
to collaborate, publish, interact with peers, experts, and other audiences. | |
