Family Programming at the Public Library -- Story Kits
|
Clown, by Quentin Blake |
Bottom of page
Library outcomes:
Educational outcomes:
Directions for Implementation Summarized:
Materials Provided:
Materials You Need to Collect:
Things to Do Ahead of Time:
Staff Responsibilities:
Staff member:
Staff member:
Note to the Facilitator: Page numbers have been written into this book to make it easier to refer to events in the story without the facilitator describing the pictures.
Pre-reading activity:
Model reading "Clown:"
After everyone is through reading the book, ask the parents to identify the major characters and think of names for them. (Possible responses: The Clown is Floppy and the girl in the fairy costume is Tinkerbell.)
Note to the Facilitator: The following characters all interact, either positively or negatively, with the clown. An older woman in a blue spotted dress, a toddler on a safety leash, a man with a moustache wearing a striped shirt, a girl dressed in a fairy costume, the little girl's mother, and dog, a man with tattoos, another girl and a baby.
For each character, have parents share their ideas about WHERE they encounter the clown, HOW they respond to the clown, and WHAT happens to the clown because of their actions. (Possible responses: The older woman, on page 2, is taking the clown and the other dolls to the garbage can. She has an angry look on her face. The clown and the other toys are in danger of being destroyed when the garbage truck comes and picks them up.)
Discussion: How the Parents Can Work with the Children. Stress that personal insight is important. Parents can encourage their children to put themselves into any of the character's places and discuss how they would react if it were happening to them.
This discussion time should be a time of clarification and review for the parents of the techniques that were demonstrated during the modeling of the reading activity. This time is intended to build the parents ability and confidence for working with their children.
How to Complete the "Story mapping" worksheet
Note to the Facilitator: The examples are provided only to generate ideas for the worksheet. Remind parents that they will need to revisit the pictures to find the detail needed to complete the story mapping.
Description of Family Activity:
Note to Facilitator: Limited English adults may want to do the family activity in their native language. Since it is hoped that these activities will enhance parent-child communication, they should use any language in which they are comfortable.
Recommended Age of Children:
Ways to Alter Activity for Younger Siblings:
Extension Activity:
Related Books:
Evaluation:
To Make Suggestions and Comments:
ccolletti@ilsos.net
Notes to Myself - Lessons Learned for Next Time:
If the audience is new to the library, introduce them to the library. Sign them up for cards, introduce the borrowing procedure, and the books in the collection. Inform them that books are free to take home, but must be returned within a certain time period.
Participants will be introduced to wordless books and shown how an illustrator may also be an author, as Quentin Blake is.
Participants will be introduced to the elements of story progression.
Participants will learn that reading the same story over and over, as young children love to do, is a good learning experience.
Participants will recognize cause and effect. In this book, the character's actions and attitudes set up the next event in the story.
Participants will learn that repeatedly reading a book helps the reader gain new insights, notice new details and see things in a new light.
Make one copy for each participant of the "Story mapping" worksheet.
Divide participants into two groups, one is an all child group and one an all parent group.
Provide storytime or other activity for the children while the parents are preparing for the family activity.
20 copies of the book, "Clown," one for each family
Original copy of the "Story mapping" worksheet in the Facilitator's Guide
Completed example of the "Story mapping" worksheet, as a teaching aid in the Facilitator's Guide.
Original of participant evaluation form in the Facilitator's Guide.
None.
Make a display of wordless books. See
Prepare a list of wordless books in your collection as a handout.
Make a display of other books Quentin Blake has written or illustrated. Prepare a list of these books as a handout.
Make copies of the "Story mapping" worksheet for each participant.
Make copies of the "Participant Evaluation" form for each participant.
Staff member:
Parent Preparation:
Work with the parents to do a "pre-reading" activity. The "pre-reading" activity is the presentation of questions that relate to the subject of the book or activity. These questions are asked and discussed before reading the book.
Ask the parents if they have ever had a problem that required someone else's help.
Ask if the people they turned to helped or ignored their request.
Ask how they felt when they were helped.
Ask how they felt when the people did not want to help.
Parents can share books.
Have the parents look at the book's cover and share what they think the story is going to be about. Introduce the clown as the story's central character.
Have the parents read through the entire book.
Have the parents look for WHO the story's character's are, WHERE the story takes place, and WHAT is happening when the clown meets each of the major characters.
Parents can encourage their children to explain what clues in the picture suggest how the character is feeling and how that character in interacting with the clown.
Parents need to encourage their children to read the book more than once in order to discover these pictorial clues.
Have the parents share what questions they can ask their children to elicit ideas for:
Parents need to explain the concept of cause and effect. What actions of the story's characters lead to other events and situations the clown had to face?
Explain that each box represents an encounter between the clown and one of the story's other characters. They are listed in the story's sequential order so that it is clear how the action of each character is responsible for the next situation the clown encounters. (For example, if the clown had never been thrown out the window, then the dog would never have chased him.)
Review the directions for the story mapping and ask the parents to share what they might include for a response in boxes #1 and #2. The worksheet can be completed in writing or orally.
Parents will read "Clown" with the children.
Parents and children will complete their story mapping worksheet.
Six to ten years old. Children need to understand the concept of cause and effect.
Do not use the "Story mapping" worksheet in the written format. Instead, have parents and children DISCUSS the order of the story.
Have the children act out for their parents the action and result that would have been written into the box, turning it into a dramatic activity. Encourage them to reread the story as often as they want and need to get details for the children to act out.
Talk about the displayed books and hand out the prepared lists of related books.
Tell them they can put together their own wordless book at home using their own drawings, photographs of their family or an event, or pictures from a magazine. For younger children, suggest continuing their dramatic activity at home.
Wordless Books: "I See A Song" by Eric Carle, "You Can't Take a Balloon Into the Metropolitan Museum" by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Preiss Glasser, "People," by Peter Spier, "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats, "Anno's World" by Anno, "Children's Zoo by Tana Hoban, "The Angel and the Soldier Boy" by Peter Collington.
Books written by Quentin Blake: "Zagazoo," and those he has illustrated such as "Dirty Beasts," Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "BFG."
There is a brief Participant Evaluation Survey included in the Facilitator's Guide.
These can be completed in writing or orally (by interview of staff one to one or in a group) depending on the English reading and writing abilities of the participants.
Explain that by telling us what they liked and what they didn't like, they help us put together better activities and they teach their children to think about what they liked.
The Participant Evaluation form asks about their satisfaction level, what they learned about wordless books, specifically, how cause and effect creates the sequential order of the story.
It asks what they plan to do with what they learned. It asks for their suggestions to improve this activity and suggestions for future activities.