1st Grade - Act. 15: Frederick

Summary

After reading Leo Lionni's story titled "Frederick", students will illustrate a scene from the story.

Materials

• Frederick, by Leo Lionni
• separate sheets of paper, each with one sentence that begin or end the wall story
• a sheet of butcher paper large enough to display all students art work.
• markers
• scissors
• glue stick

Background for Teachers

In the story, Frederick, the little field mouse, and his friends live in a stone wall near the barn. When the weather begins to turn chilly, the other field mice begin to gather grains, nuts, and seeds. Frederick does not help. He says that he is gathering rays of the sun, colors, and words. As the long winter progresses and food supplies are depleted, the field mice are comforted when Frederick, the artist, shares his contributions of warm memories, rainbow colors, and colorful poetry with them.

Students can close their eyes and visualize a place with warmth and color as Frederick did in the story. Students should be able to use their own background and experience to make connections with parts of the story.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Intended Learning Outcomes
5. Understand and use basic concepts and skills.

Process Skill
Symbolization

Instructional Procedures

Invitation to Learn
Read the story of Frederick. Have the students identify the setting of the story and the problem that the little field mice have. As part of the solution to the problem, ask each student to close their eyes and visualize a beautiful place, a place they would like to remember during the gray days of winter. Take time to share.

Instructional Procedures

1. Give each student two sheets of white drawing paper, one in the shape of an oval, and the other in the shape of a long skinny triangle. When these two shapes are put together they make a cartoon bubble. Have each student draw or paint the scene they visualized, a place they would like to remember on the gray days of winter.
2. Prepare the large sheet of butcher paper by taping it to the wall and adding a title and a sentence in the top left corner to begin the wall story. As students complete their drawings in the cartoon bubble, they are added to the butcher paper to become the middle part of the story. The teacher adds the last part by writing a sentence or two that pulls the ideas all together.
3. Read over the story and enjoy the fact that each response is different, just as each person is different, but that all of the responses are an important part of the whole story. Make connections with Frederick in the story. Even though he had different ideas than others, he had an important contribution to make.

Assessment Plan

This activity can be used as an assessment of student understanding as observed by the drawings and comments students add to the wall story.