Focus on a children's book: From Head to Toe

Margie gave an excellent suggestion for a tie-in activity on my earlier post about Valentine's Day activities, and I used it in my other class since it was very appropriate there, too. In general I find Eric Carle's books to be flexible and easy to use for a broad range of topics, and From Head to Toe is no exception.

The basic premise of the book is that various animals can do various things with body parts (a donkey can kick its legs and a gorilla can thump its chest, for example) and on the adjoining page there's a picture of a kid doing the same exact gesture. It's a very active book in this respect and kids are generally happy to go along with acting out the pictures. The structure is also very, very simple and repetitive so students really get the feeling they understand the entire book and can read it. The drawback to this of course is that there really isn't an exciting storyline or "punch" at the end, so the older elementary kids aren't as excited by it as some of the younger ones. They seem to like it okay, but I try to make it more challenging for them when I can.

I'm going to give an example of how I used the book this time, but am always looking for other ideas, so please leave a comment if you've used this book before!

The focus of the unit we're currently working on is jungle animal vocabulary and being able to describe what they can and can't do, so the book was also a really good fit here. I work with a small group of students ranging in abilities from just learning how to read and write to going into middle school next year, so I end up supporting the younger ones a lot when we do literacy-focused activities. Earlier in the class I divided them into groups and asked them to make a t-diagram that listed what a certain animal can and can't do -- one group did bears and one group did birds. We then got together as a whole group and created a Venn diagram to compare bears and birds. These activities went over well enough and with the exception of the kid that always tries to rush through activities so he can be the first to finish, they all seemed able to complete them accurately. You can find more graphic organizers at Everything ESL. Judie Hayne's website is a good resource.

I had intended to introduce the book by asking them to quickly brainstorm about other animals, but time was running short and this was the last class before the break so I moved right into the book. The vast majority of the class seemed to really get into it with the exception of the oldest girl who was a lot more low-key about the actions. She doesn't seem to share my willingness to look goofy, and I can't blame her for that. She's really a nice girl so I'll just chalk it up to being reserved and move on.

Anyway, we read the book together...once they understood the pattern I teased them a bit by giving the name of the animal and seeing if they could predict what they could do. I "quizzed" them afterwards about the gestures that went with specific animals. The vocab for some of the verbs was new to them so I was happy enough for them to know the name of the animal and body part and be able to do the appropriate action after just one reading.

As a culminating activity I asked them to create our own class book that's similar in pattern. The thematic stationery came in handy once again, so I used the border with jungle animals and asked them to pick an animal they liked and write what things the animal can do. I would have preferred for them to get really creative but they tended to use the words they already knew, so I'll work on that in later classes. It seemed to go over well with the exception of the youngest student, who needed a lot of support with this activity. Oh, and that same kid who wants to be the one to finish first. I'm nice about it, but I don't let him get away with it. Most of them do fairly well with bringing back work so I'll see if they remembered to finish their page over break. I like the idea of a class book but want to find a way to make it a little more interesting and challenging for the older kids next time.

ETA: Here are some ideas I found on the Eric Carle website. I liked the idea of asking students to come up with things that they didn't think anyone else could do. This might not be as appropriate in a large group of 30 students, but in small groups like mine I think this would have encouraged them to really be creative and ask for new language that they really wanted to know. I'll try it out next time.

Okay, it's your turn!