Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Giving Elephant and Piggie Some New Space

First graders have been working on books inside and out. We have identified the cover, the spine, the call number, title author, and illustrator. First graders know this so well, they started rolling their eyes when I asked if they could identify a part. Obviously, it was time to move on. So we opened our books and began talking about characters and setting. They already knew that the characters are the actors in the story, and everyone learned that setting is where the story takes place. One of our very bright first graders explained that in science we would call this the habitat.
We have been reading Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. We were easily able to identify Elephant and Piggie as the characters we see most often. (With a much-loved Pigeon cameo in every book.) However, we quickly realized that Mo Willems never drew settings for Elephant and Piggie. This was something we needed to rectify. Each first grader got right to work drawing settings for the characters. They drew from their own life experience, sharing favorite places, places they may have visited over the summer or places they someday wished to visit. These lovely settings are on display in the library. Check them out when you are walking by!

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