In chapter three of the book, "The Night of the Jack-O-Lantern", Ramona, Beezus, and their father create a jack-o-lantern that actually ends up being eaten by their cat, Picky Picky. Have your class design a jack-o-lantern, using construction paper. The finished pumpkins can be used to decorate the classroom, and if you'd like to make it a contest, students could carve their designs into a real pumpkin, and the winning pumpkin could be displayed for the entire school to see. Happy carving!

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5839746/unit_activities_for_the_book_ramona_pg2.html?cat=4

After reading The legend of the Indian paintbrush, let students discover ways to use natural elements to make their own paints. Students can use their new paints to paint a picture of the sunset and compare it to the one in the book. Some natural elements that can be used are: dirt, berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc.), black walnuts, lemons, onions, etc. For a more detailed description and DIY tips, see:

http://www.ehow.com/how_8196637_make-paints-like-native-americans.html

Action

Jackson

Jackson Pollack was an influential American artist whose trademark drip style painting made him a force to be recconed with in the world of abstract art. To help enhance the story, educators may choose to do a variety of art related activities with their students. For example,after reading the story, Action Jackson, provide students with paper, paints and various visuals of Pollack's work. Ask students to choose one painting they like and then create their own works inspired by it. Also, provide students with background information about Pollack as well as provide many different visuals of his paintings. By doing so, you ultimately enhance their art schema.

The book features stories that may be above the children's grade level when it comes to reading independently but this isn't reading its art. First I would read a few of the selections to the students, using my smartboard and computer to show illustrations that tie into each story. In my case I used my DOC. Camera to show the actual book illustrations in addition to other work found on google. Next, provide the students with various colors of cardstock paper, markers, crayons, pencils, etc. Allow the students to recreate some of the main scences from each story. Once completed the art work can be displayed in the class or on a hallway bulletin board. The lesson could be extended by allowing the students to dictate a caption.

This website had some good ideas for art in class: http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/

Grades

1-4

http://brianpinkney.net/main.html

Ezra Jack Keats often combined patterned papers and cloths with paints to make striking illustrations. Look at the illustrations with your students. Can your student pick out the parts that are paper, cloth, paint? Did the artist use only paint brushes with the paints? Have your students attempt to create a picture using the same techniques. This website gives instructions on how to reproduce an collage similar to his illustrations:

http://www.brightring.com/jackkeats.html

As adults, there are many instances where we do not think of the effects our actions may have on the children around us. When children are placed in such situations, their resilience and strength shine through. In his book, Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad, Rumford tells the story of Ali. Ali, who lives in Baghdad, is a young boy who loves soccer, music and practicing calligraphy. As the story progresses and war is upon Baghdad, Ali uses his love of calligraphy to help divert his attentions away from the bombings. Educators can use this story as a means to introduce students to the penmanship of other cultures. To develop student schema, one might show or display examples of Arabic calligraphy as examples. Discuss the area from which this style of lettering originates and possibly how it is performed. Lastly, encourage students to create their own examples of Arabic writing. Two resourceful websites containing valuable information regarding the Arabic culture and calligraphy are as follows:

http://www.islamicplayground.com/Scripts/default.asp

http://www.islamic-games.co.uk/arabic-letters-and-numbers-calligraphy-handwriting-practice-islamic-online-flash-game-by-happy-books.php

Lesley Whitaker

American Tall Tales is a wonderful book to use for the “story box” activity. Creating a "story box" is a great cumulating activity for intermediate students to create when finished with a book. For this activity students will recreate their favorite scene from the book Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osbourne. To create a "story box" students need s shoe box and art materials for building their scene. Students can use clay, construction paper, sticks, markers, ect. This is a very fun activity for in class and also for students and families to do at home. To incorporate writing into this activity students can write the book, author, and why they chose that specific scene on an index card to be placed in front of their "story box."

Witness is an excellent book of poetry by Hesse in which she describes the true horrors of prejudice and discrimination in American during the 1920s. The book can be an eye opening experience to students who are beginning to study the Civil Rights Movement and who the extremist groups began to reemerge in the United States. Often when we talk to adolescence about such topics like prejudice and discrimination they sometimes struggle to find the words that actually describe the actions. A great way to enhance their understanding of these abstract concepts would be to coordinate with the art teacher during a study of the book and have the students create specific scenes for the book. Another way students could display their understanding of the emotions of the period would be to have them simply create a drawing called "Discrimination" or "Prejudice." I think it could be intriguing to see how their verbal definitions of abstract ideas differed or were similar to their artistic versions of these words.

This book contains 20 poems that are geared to children written by famous poets such as Keats, Whitman, and Shakespeare. Each poem is about a different insect and is gorgeously illustrated by Demi using a collage of paints and paper embellished with gold. Show the students the illustrations and read the accompanying poem. Students will choose another insect not mentioned to create a collage using different papers and write a short poem.

Students could make an online collage using this very cool website from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

http://www.nga.gov/kids/

This traditional Native American Cinderella tale is another version of this classic fairy tale. Students can use this story along with the traditional story to create their own version of the story using only pictures, essentially creating their own books. Students can use watercolors or pastels for the activity. The paintings in this story are beautiful, and can mainly tell the story on their own. Students will draw their own version of the story to retell to someone using only pictures.

Yardell, S

Wong, J

This book could easily be used in an art class when discussing or introducing pottery to students. After reading this book to students, encourage students to use clay, possibly red art clay possibly to get similar patina, to create their own pots, or other vessel and decorate them in Dave's fashion. Allow them to dry either in an oven or kiln.

Great website-http://www.davetheslave.org

I chose the picture book, "Baby Bear, Baby Bear What do you see?" because of the unique illustrations. This book would be wonderful to use for an Art lesson. Before class you would need to cut animal shapes out that are in Eric Carle's book. Also prepare an example to show the class.

I would begin the lesson by reading the book. Then as a class we would talk about the illustrations in the book. How do we think he made the pictures ?, How did he create the colors or the interesting texture?

Then I would explain that his illustrations were created with tissue paper and glue. I would demonstrate how you dip the tissue paper in water and glue. Then show them how to place it on the animal shape.

Finally, the students will be able to create their own Eric Carle illustrations.

Jennifer Camp

bell

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is an exceptionally beautiful book with page after page of exquisite pencil drawings as well as several pages of text expounding upon the story told in the pictures, instead of the other way around.  The following project could be used as culmination of practice in each drawing technique specified, including portraiture and figure, and/or as the Art component in collaboration with literature.  Its duration would be determined by the frequency and length of meeting times and skill level of students.  After reading and discussing the book and studying the drawings, create an autobiographical narrative picture book of no less than 15 pages in graphite pencil on 5x7” sheets of paper.  Use the cross-hatching technique for creating value depicting chiaroscuro, spatial perspective, drama, and emphasis.  Each drawing should cover an entire page.  Further the project by designing, finishing, and binding the books.

The Song and Dance Man

Objective: Students will utilize details from Jumanji to create their own board games.

Lauralee Samples

Elijah attends the circus with the Preacher and describes it as one of the most exciting nights of his life. The poster advertising the circus says, Sir Charles M. Vaughn and His World Renowned Carnival of Oddities. Complete a series of captioned illustrations of what Elijah sees at the circus.

If read with other children's literature book, students could use what they have learned about the Underground Railroad and the quilt patterns-- that they have learned helped slaves escape, to create a "quilt" with symbols that will lead the escaping slaves to Buxton.

Lauralee Samples

Collected by Zora Neale Hurston; 

Illustrated by Christopher Myers

This traditional literature picture book is a collection of lies that sound like the start of tall tales.  The tall tales are from African American culture.  It would be good to give students one of the stories in this book and have them create a longer tall tale from the one sentence prompt.  This book has great collage illustrations, so the teacher can show the illustrations, talk about the collage art form, and students can create their own collage to illustrate their longer tall tale.  Students can cut or rip paper and fabric to create collages that look like the illustrations in this book.

*Note:  Be careful when sharing this book with children, as certain pages have inappropriate words (such as hell and jackass).

You can also use this book as a study of African American art and culture, or the Harlem Renaissance, as Zora Neale Hurston was an important author from the Harlem Renaissance.

Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story From China by Ed Young

Young, E. (1989). Lon Po Po. New York: Scholastic.

Recommended Grade Levels: Kindergarten – 5^th Grade

Summary: The story Lon Po Po is an excellent twist on the classic Little Red Riding Hoodtale. Three sisters, Shang, Tao, and Paotze are left home alone when their mother goes to visit their grandmother for her birthday. They are left home alone to fend for themselves when a wolf shows up, pretending to be their grandmother. Against their mother’s wishes not to let anyone into the house, they let the fake Po Po in. Once realizing that it was not their grandmother, they had to work together to outwit the wolf.

Activity: I did a little research on this book because the illustrations are absolutely fascinating. I found out that Ed Young, who wrote and illustrated this tale, used a combination of watercolors and pastels to create the illustrations. However, he also used a technique called ancient Chinese Panel Art.   

Here is a link where you can see this:  http://www.vickiblackwell.com/lit/images/panelpics.jpg

The pages in the book are divided into three sections: one large and two smaller. However the illustrations take up all three, so it is like it is divided up in to sections. In some of the illustrations with the wolf, you see what appears to be wolf eyes and teeth, but you can’t know for sure right away because there are gaps that you have to fill with our own imagination.

It would be neat to have students create their own Chinese Panel Art illustrations. They would simply have to cut with paper into three sections, one large and two smaller and then have them watercolor first a background. Then after it dries, use pastels to create illustrations that mirror those that Ed Young did in this story.

The following website has some great tips for doing this:

http://www.vickiblackwell.com/lit/lonpopo.html

They suggested even having the students do something like this in Kid Pix on the computer and then printing and cutting them to follow the style. 

This is a multicultural picture book about a little African American boy who discovers snow when he wakes up one day. He goes out into his city neighborhood to play. 

Ezra Jack Keats is known for use of collage throughout his books. After reading this book to students, they could discover the style of artwork used and then try to create a scene using collage. Younger students may benefit from having a scene pre-drawn for them. 

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses is a great book for children of all ages. Some people really connect with animals and this girl felt that she belonged with the wild horses. She even gets lost and separated from her family and lives with the horses. 

The books illustrator uses ink and water color for the pictures and they are beautiful. There are so many colors and details in the illustrations that must have been tedious. 

I would suggest reading the book to the students and then have them think about a place they would love to live, their ideal dwelling place. They could then use ink and watercolor paints to draw their picture. 

Henry's Freedom Box 

This anthology of poetry is intended to ease children’s fears about the night, making it a topic which almost every child can relate to in his or her life. One lesson activity idea would be to read each poem and ask students to choose their favorite poem. Then, as a whole group the class could brainstorm a list of words that give a feeling from the poems they read.  The teacher could begin by choosing his or her favorite poem from the book and modeling the act of identifying the feeling words and starting the brainstorm list.  Then, give each child a copy of his or her chosen poem, without an illustration. Students will continue to add feeling words from their poems to the list. Next, the class could talk about warm and cool colors that would match the feeling words, for example using red for being angry or blue for being sad. Then, ask students to illustrate his or her poem using colors that match the feeling word(s) identified for his or her individual poem. The teacher and/or students could choose the media (i.e. paint, crayons, chalk). The next step would be to use rubber stamps or ask students to cut large letters from newspapers and magazines to spell the feeling word they identified for their individual poems and glue/stamp the word on their illustrations.  The teacher could also integrate technology by asking the students to practice the poems with repeated readings and then record each student reading his or her poem. Last, the class could create a Microsoft PhotoStory, where the class publishes their works in a still shot (taking pictures or scanning the illustrations), movie format.  Using PhotoStory would allow the illustration to be shown while hearing the child’s recording. Please see the resources below to use with this activity.

http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/watch_color_warm.cfm - Interactive activity about warm and cool colors

http://microsoft-photo-story.en.softonic.com/ - Free download for Microsoft PhotoStory

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKzPA1Hv_k8&feature=youtu.be – Example of PhotoStory used for this purpose; however this example does not include a focus on feeling words or their color equivalents.

Robin Hancock 

After reading Red Sings from Treetops a year in colors, students would be given the task of creating color poems for a color they pick. These poems are going to reflect emotions and the 5 senses. The poems don't have to rhyme, but can include metaphores.  The concept being taught is Sense Imagery. For example, if a student picks red they could write:

Feeling- My cheecks were as red as apples when I read out loud in class

Seeing- I see the red sunset in the summer sky.

Hearing- I hear the siren of the big red fire truck.

Tasting - I taste the hot red pepper in my salsa.

Students will share with a student who has a different color poem after they are finished. You can put the poems together into a class color poetry book.

The website below is from readwritethink.com and gives lesson plans on poetry and also a lesson on writing sense imagery poems.

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/color-poems-using-five-375.html

This is a book full of poems that focus soley on autumn.  These poems cover everything there is during the fall season, from apples to pumpkins and then of course Thanksgiving. 

An art activitiy to do in class would be: give each student a piece of white paper and either the student or the teacher trace both hands.  The student is then to decorate the hands as though they are leaves hanging on a tree during the fall.  The leaves can be decorated with watercolors, crayons, markers, glitter, etc.  On the back of each hand, have the students write something that they are thankful for.  The teacher then hangs the hands on a bulletin board where a tree trunk was created.  As the fall season goes on, the students will be allowed to move the hands from the branches to the ground (which will still be posted).  Teaching them about the change in weather and seasons.  By the time Thanksgiving comes around the students will get their hands, which will show a bare tree.  Winter is coming, and then later can be decorated with snowflakes.  Each student is to share with the classroom what they are thankful for, reminding them what is important. 

After reading some of the poems from A Poem in Your Pocket give students construction paper, a hole punch and yarn or string. Have them use two pieces of paper to make a pocket, then punch holes around the edges and bottom to run the string through. After the students have finished their pocket, they can either write a poem of their own or copy a poem to put in the pocket. They can take turns reading their poem to the class. This could be done as an introduction to "Poem in Your Pocket" Day, which is in April. More information is available through the link below.

http://community.thinkfinity.org/groups/literacy/blog/2012/04/12/poem-in-your-pocket-the-rms-ititanici-and-paul-revere

Book Title

If the Shoe Fits

Author

Laura Whipple

Activity / Idea / Weblink

This book is a fun read. It puts a new twist on a timeless fairytale of Cinderella. This book is a narrative poem. It gives life and voice to animals and objects telling their story. The cat is the master of the garden and does not like the stepmother. The glass slipper misses its mate when it is lost at the ball. The illustrations match perfectly with the poems.  Activity: Students will create a comic strip telling their favorite fairytale or folk tale. Students can create their comic strip on the computer using graphic software. Students will then trade comic strips with each other and critique at least three comic strips using poetry vocabulary in their critique.

Grade level

4 to 6 grade

Submitted by

Nena Tucker

The Very Hungry Catarpillar

Eric Carle 

Upon finishing the book, students would re-create the various foods that the caterpillar ate in the story through mixed media. Teachers can read the book and allow students to create the food through collage (the type of media used in the story), painting, coloring, drawing, etc. Students would then describe their type of are media in which they used and sequence themselves in order as introduced in the story allowing for an assessment of literature terms also. 

Website provided for additional materials and background information of how author/illustrator himself creates his art!

http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html

Preschool - 3rd Grade 

Misty Meadors 

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

William Steig 

This book offers many cross curricular connections, including art. Students could explain how the main character changes by creating picture models representing how this occurs in the text. Students could use the same media used in the text, which includes paint, coloring crayons, and pens to create this model. They would show how the main of the character began as a donkey, then a rock, and then a donkey again. Students could also use pebbles in their picture representations to demonstrate the importance of the magic red pebble. After creating their picture represenation of how the main character changed, students could explain this to the class individually and the importance of the magic pebble. This activity could follow with a written assessment of students explaining how the magic pebble played an important role in the story and how it caused the main character to change throughout the text.  Technology intergration could include students using the document camera to show their products or taking pictures of their products and creating presentations on each point to present.

2nd Grade-6th Grade 

Ciara Wheatley 

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush

Tomie dePaola

This is an incredible book that lends itself to integration in a variety of content areas, especially social studies and art. It could certainly be used during a study of Native American culture. However, for the purpose of this activity, I will focus solely on art. After all, art was Little Gopher's true calling.

To begin with, I would lead a discussion of art media--with students listing art materials available to us today and those available to the Native Americans who lived long ago. (The students could refer to the book for assistance.) I would record their responses on a t-chart. A list of art media available in the present-day may include: computers, paper, paint, chalk, watercolors, pencils, markers, crayons, etc. The list of art media available to the Native Americans may include: animal skins, stones, rocks, berries, flowers, etc.

Following this, I would allow students to go use a mix of past and present art materials to decorate a rock. (After all, Little Gopher often decorated smooth stones.) Therefore, I would provide a variety of materials, including: paint, markers, berries, and flowers. Keep in mind, the teacher would need to model how to use the berries and flowers to decorate the stones (by rubbing). Students could even name their stones. Ideally, we would display their art in the classroom, hallway, or some other part of the school building--with the book displayed nearby.

This activity was tweaked from one listed on the Scholastic web-site, which is an incredible resource for teachers. There are many other incredible ways to incorporate this book in the classroom. Click on the link for more great ideas. 

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/legend-indian-paintbrush-lesson-plan

Kindergarten-

2nd grade

Lindsey Roberts

Martin's Big Words

Doreen Rappaport

This book is a great way to teach about equity, justice, and love through collage.  Martin's Big Words can be integrated into numerous content areas.  This particular lesson focuses on collage and "Big Words"

Have the students brainstorm words that Martin would use today i.e. peace, courage, brave, hope etc. After brainstorming, discuss the term collage and have the students look at the collage Bryan Collier made for the book.  Once the children have looked at the pictures and discussed the form of art, have the children out letters from magazines and papers to make ransom type collages of his words. Ask the kids to choose 5 or 6 words and cut out the letters (large and dark). Each child will get a 5X5 (or 6X6) piece of heavy white construction paper and glue their words down. Use yellow and orange tissue paper and white glue to collage over the words. After this is completed, attach the squares down on black bulletin board paper for a dramatic quilt.

  If your school has photoshop or a program similar, you can integrate technology easily for this lesson.  Students will love making collages on the computer!

This lesson will take quite a bit of time to complete.  I had help with this lesson plan from one of my former co-workers who still teaches in Chicago.  It is a great lesson any time of the year, but especially around MLK Day and can be displayed throughout February which is African-American History Month.

3rd grade

Joan-Michael Leadingham

How Turtle's back Was Cracked 

 Gayle Ross

This picture book is a traditional Cherokee tale which explains how the turtle got the lines and cracks on his back.  At the beginning of the story, turtle and Possum are eating persimmons and a Wolf steals Turtle's persimmons.  Possum throws a persimmon down Wolf's throat and kills him.  Turtle takes a tribute from the dead Wolf and makes wolf ear spoons out of his ears.  The other Wolves consider this a disgrace and throw Turtle off a cliff into the water where he bounces off a rock and cracks his shell.  This book is an excellent book to activate prior knowledge about amphibians and reptiles by discussing Turtles.  Students could research the many variety of turtles and explore those species that are endangered. 

Art -- create a sea turtle postage stamp. Have your students exercise their creative talents by pretending to be members of a selection committee for postage stamps. Give your students time to view the sea turtle stamps that are on display at Sea Turtle Postage Stamps of the World. Then have the students make their own sea turtle stamps. They could use Internet resources to find pictures of actual sea turtle species to use as models for their designs. When they have finished, allow them to vote for the best stamps to be "published." 

4th gr and up 

Myra Kean 

Henry's Freedom Box

Ellen Levine

This multicultural book tells the true story of a slave, living in Virginia in 1849, who devises a way to break for freedom by shipping himself to Philadelphia.  There are many curriculum tie-ins for this story, which would be a great read during the time of studying slavery and the underground railroad.  The book lends itself to many important vocabulary terms, such as slave, underground railroad, conductor, and safe house, which are important for understanding the context of the story.  http://www.carnegielibrary.org/research/parentseducator/educators/blast/elementary/3rdgrade/hentrysfreedombox.html offers an excellent idea to pull these key vocabulary terms into an art project appropriate for third grade students!  After spending some time studying slavery and the underground railroad, the instructor should read Henry's Freedom Box with her class.  Afterwards, she will present them with a list of several key vocabulary terms pertaining to the era of slavery (some of which have been mentioned above).  Students will also learn about the way of life for a slave during this time period, noting that slaves often created art by sewing quilts, which would tell a story.  By tying in technology, using http://www.osblackhistory.com/quiltcodes.php, students can be shown how quilt patterns were used to convey messages, and to direct slaves along the underground railroad (Google can also be used to view actual samples of these quilts, which students can then decipher using the code at the website listed!).  Then, students will have the opportunity to create their own underground railroad quilt.  Each child will select one of the key vocabulary terms.  They will use that term's definition to create an illustration on a "quilt block."  Each students block will then be placed together to form a class quilt art display.

3rd Grade

Julie Lynn

Tar Beach

Faith Ringold 

Tar Beach is a multicultural book that is full of fun!  The illustrated pages are bordered with a quilt pattern.  I find this very complimenting to the illustration in itself.  I would integrate this book into an art lesson in focusing on a work of art created out of fabric and paint,  as well as overlapping paint and design.  Have the students brainstorm their ideas of family traditions and values.  Then have them choose one of their ideas to become the expert artist on that particular idea.  They are to do their best because they are an expert artist.  Tell the students that you will be scanning their pictures to make a classroom quilt.  The images will be scanned onto a piece of cotton material.  Once the images have been scanned, the students will paint them using an overlapping paint scheme.  Fabric will be precut into squares and then the students will choose four squares to stitch to each side of their drawing.  We, as a class, will then stitch all of our squares together.  This lesson will take some prompting and modeling.  This book could also be used across several content areas.  It would be a remarkable book in teaching fiction and non-fiction. 

The following link is a read aloud and instructional read for this book.  It can be used for a sub in your classroom or just an idea for any othe time you may need to be out of the classroom. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTdXYGdtvW8

The following link is Faith Ringold actualy describing her Tar Beach quilt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=794M-mcOJY4

3rd Grade 

Shawna Irvin 

Beautiful Blackbird 

Ashley Bryan 

This beautiful book is about birds who are different colors, but they find the blackbird the most beautiful bird in all. So, the birds ask the blackbird to paint black on their feathers, wings, or  chest. This book received the Coretta Scott King Award. The author makes a note about how the illustrations were made on the copyright page. The author made collages on the pages with the different color birds. The used paper and scissors to cut different shapes. This book would be great for students to use as an example of collages. The students could make their own collages as well as research African art since this book is based on Africa. Depending on how the lesson is presented and which artistic words are used, this lesson can be taught to students ranging from Kindergarten to 5th grade.

Depending on how the lesson is presented Kindergarten to 5th could do this lesson. 

Tara Keen 

The Faithful Friend

Robert D. San Souci

Summary: This narrative takes place on the beautiful and magical island of Martinique. A young man Clement falls in love with a young girl and asks his friend Hippolyte to join him on a journey to ask her to marry him. The young girl is delighted to marry Clement and follows him and his friends back to their home. The young girl’s uncle is enraged and makes his niece pay for her defiance by making their journey home filled with tricks and traps that force Hippolythe to choose between his friend’s safety and his own. Will they make it through the journey alive? This tale is a true test of friendship and love. 

Activity: The illustrations are beautifully colored and bright! The illustrator does an excellent job of showing emotion in his artwork. The technique he uses is scratchboard. In order for the students to experience (on a small scale) what scratch board is you could have the students create their own piece of artwork using the following technique:

1. Have the students color an entire sheet of thick paper using colorful paint.

2. Let it dry fully.

3. Then have students cover the entire page with black crayon.

4. Students will then use an object to scrap a drawing into the black crayon revealing the colors underneath.

This lesson could be used with 1st grade through high school depending on modification. 

Michelle Czepyha 

Fables

Arnold Lobel 

This book is a compilation of various fables written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel.  In this book, there are twenty fables that teach a moral or lesson to its young readers.  Each one includes some type of animal and features only one illustration per fable.

Activity:  Each student would choose a fable or the teacher could just assign them if needed.  Students would then read, and re-read, their fable to get a visual image in their mind as to what is happening.  Then, the students would actually create a comic strip drawing of the actual fable.  With them only being given one illustration to look at, the students are more responsible for visualizing the images on their own.  So, they must take their own images and put them down on paper to show the events of the fable.  They must create their own comic strip, along with word bubbles, so that the reader would actually be able to understand what the fable represented.  Students would be able to choose whether they wanted the comic strip to be in black and white, or if they would add color. 

This lesson would be appropriate for K-12 students. 

Cynthia (Cindy) Wilson 

The Snowy Day

Ezra Jack Keats 

This book is about a little boy, Peter, that awakens to a world of snow. He spends all day making snow angels, sliding, and packing snowballs. He enjoys the snow so much, he makes a snowball to keep for the next day. This story shares the natural wonder of a child for the world around him. An art activity that would go along with The Snowy Day is a snow themed collage. Collage is an art form that appeals to younger children, as it is hard to get it wrong. Students will be asked to "play" in the snow to make a snow picture collage using white materials, such as cotton balls, yarn, tissue papers, ribbons, sequins, glitter, and glue.  Pictures could also be cut out of magazines to create the collage. This would be an excellent project to complete in the winter months, or even as a whimsical look at snow during the warmer part of fall or spring.

Primary Grades 

Kim Jones 

Esperanza Rising 

Pam Munoz Ryan 

This book mostly takes place in Mexico and the United States circa 1930.  Provide books for students that show clothing from that period, and landscapes/architecture from Mexico and California, also from that era.  Esperanza lived in a luxurious ranch house in Mexico and then a migrant worker's shack in California.  She had fine clothing in Mexico and cheap ill-fitting clothing in California.  Have the students do before and after paintings using these or other comparisons that depict the two separate lives of Esperanza.  If possible, have them use the bright colors and styles of the Hispanic culture.  Or, as an alternate assignment, have them make a larger painting depicting one particular event from any part of the book they choose, as long as it is true to the spirit of the story (much as an illustrator would do).

Grades 4-9 

Donna Campbell 

Lon Po Po

Ed Young 

Students can explore Chinese panel art through this retelling of a Chinese Little Red Riding Hood tale.  While reading aloud, have students pay close attention to how the colors portray moods of the characters and suspense in the plot.  After reading, students use watercolors to paint a scene from the story.  When the paintings are dry, have students cut them in to panels of varying sizes, then mount them on a large piece of construction paper for display. 

3rd - 4th grades 

Carrie Emmons 

The Faithful Friend 

R.D San Souci 

In this story two friends, Clement and Hippolyte, are faced with choosing their own safety over betraying their friendship.  The two are on an adventure with Clement's love, Pauline, trying to escape her evil uncle.  The illustrations in this story create an excellent mood of mystery and evilness.

After reading this story with students I would have the class discuss how the illustrations help us understand the mood of the story.  How do the colors and the pictures create an atmosphere that we can imagine?  What do we know about the characters through the illustrations?  After discussing these ideas I would have students create an illustration that describes a friendship that they have with someone in our class.  What colors, lines, and textures will they use to describe their thoughts?

Kindergarten-3rd grade 

Brittany Lin 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Frost

Distribute copies of Robert Frost's Poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.  Have students read the poem in small groups and have discussion of the symbolism and the literary techniques Frost used in the poem. 

Give students white drawing paper with directions to make a mini-book from the following website: http://library.thinkquest.org/J001156/makingbooks/minibook/index.htm 

Have students create illustrations to accompany the imagery in the poem.  Students will need to incorporate line and color to set the mood and create a visual representation of the scenes Frost has painted with only words.

Visit the following website to get copies of the poem: http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/stopping-woods-snowy-evening

6th-8th grade

Joanne Hicks

"Messy Room" from A Light in the Attic 

Shel Silverstein 

This art activity combines use of a book and a poem. 

This is the House that Jack Builtby Simms Taback is a book that follows in the tradition of There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. This hilarious story includes an artist, a farmer, a rooster, a judge, a man, a maiden, a cow, a dog, a cat, a rat, and some cheese in the house that Jack built. Simms Taback is an excellent artist who gives the reader unique illustrations on a unique story. Taback uses collages and beautiful colors to illustrate his pictures. Children will love the story because it is quirky. This book can be used as an inspiration for children to create their own house with its own story.

To accompany this book, I chose Shel Silverstein’s “Messy Room.” This room could be a room in Jack’s house. Silverstein’s sense of humor complements the tone of Taback’s story.

Messy Room

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater’s been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever this room is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or –
Huh? You say it’s mine? Oh dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

Students could illustrate each line of Silverstein's poem using collages (using construction paper and magazines) like Taback uses in his book This is the House that Jack Built. Each student could illustrate ONE line of the poem or you could give each student EACH line to illlustrate. For older students, they could write their own poem about their room and illustrate using collages. After the illustrations are complete, students (with teacher help) could then make a Photo Story and present to the class.

Photo Story Directions
1. Make Collages

2. Scan or Take a Picture of the Collage and Save to My Pictures.

3. Open Windows Movie Maker.
4. Import Pictures. (Drag to Storyboard)
5. Record and Input Audio (Reading of Poem) (Narrate Timeline)
6. May Also Add Music (ilovewavs.com)
7. Play Clip (Edit if Necessary)

Weblinks

How to Make A Photo Story On Windows Movie Maker Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHLHndUX5fc

Shel Silverstein: Official Website for Kids

http://www.shelsilverstein.com/indexsite.html

Simms Taback's Official Website

http://www.simmstaback.com/This_Is_The_Official_Simms_Taback_Site.html

K-8 (Older students could do more writing and illustrating of their own pieces of poetry) 

Tia Smith 

Where the Sidewalk Ends 

Shel Silverstein 

Where the Sidewalk Ends is a collection of poems and drawings from Shel Silverstein. Originally published in 1974, this book is probably one of the most recognized forms of poetry for children from the last 30 plus years.  One of the great things about this book is that it is timeless.  The poems of yesterday apply to the children of today and are great memories for those of us who are no longer in our child years.  A second great feature of this collection is that it can still be read by students of all ages.  Obviously, the activities would differ, but the poems can be used by students of any age. 

For students being introduced to Silverstein, take one single poem from the book and do a read aloud.  After reading the poem, students should be asked what part/parts they liked best about the poem.  As you explore more poems, the students will then be allowed to pick their favorite.  On the chosen day, students would be able to either do a sidewalk project or a using a long roll of paper, they would draw their vision of Silverstein's poem.  It would be preferable to use the paper so that students could keep the project in the room and maybe even do a Shelebration...as described in the link listed below. 

For older students, a discussion would be used to address their favorite poems and any recollections they have about these poems.  After allowing students to pick, they can either do an illustration of one of the poems or create a comic strip.  The students cannot use the drawings as they have seen in the book!  They must illustrate an action phrase or put the actions together by making a moving comic strip or a newspaper style strip.  For those students who are interested in other art forms, they can use clay, wood, video or any medium they choose to depict the mood they see in the poem.

http://shelsilverstein.com/indexSite.html

K-12

The complexity of the art project is dependent on the age group.

Christa Osborne 

If the Shoe Fits

Laura Whipple 

This collection of poems tells the story of "Cinderella".  Each poem is told with the voice of a different character from the story; these characters include Cinderella, her father's ghost, her Fairy Godmother, and even the garden rat who becomes her coachman!  It is a lovely gem of a book that tells the Cinderella story in a new, unique and exciting way.

I would use this book to spark my students' imagination, and to teach a comparison and contrast of art.  I would first read the story to them aloud.  Then, students would each be given a copy of the poems in the collection.  I would assign each student a different poem.  They would be required to read the poem to themselves and draw the setting, character, and action occuring, according to how the poem makes them feel.  They would also be required to use line, color and texture, according to their interpretation of the poem's narrator's tempo.  Finally, after everyone was finished, we would compare and contrast their interpretation with that of Laura Beingessner, the illustrator.  When finished comparing and contrasting, we would discuss what made our art similar to her's, and what made our's different.  At the end of the lesson, I would copy each students art into a book, side-by-side with the poem they were in charge of, and we would have our own interpretation of If the Shoe Fits!

K-12 

Maegan Renick 

If the Shoe Fits

Laura Whipple 

This collection of poems tells the story of "Cinderella".  Each poem is told with the voice of a different character from the story; these characters include Cinderella, her father's ghost, her Fairy Godmother, and even the garden rat who becomes her coachman!  It is a lovely gem of a book that tells the Cinderella story in a new, unique and exciting way.

I would use this book to spark my students' imagination, and to teach a comparison and contrast of art.  I would first read the story to them aloud.  Then, students would each be given a copy of the poems in the collection.  I would assign each student a different poem.  They would be required to read the poem to themselves and draw the setting, character, and action occuring, according to how the poem makes them feel.  They would also be required to use line, color and texture, according to their interpretation of the poem's narrator's tempo.  Finally, after everyone was finished, we would compare and contrast their interpretation with that of Laura Beingessner, the illustrator.  When finished comparing and contrasting, we would discuss what made our art similar to her's, and what made our's different.  At the end of the lesson, I would copy each students art into a book, side-by-side with the poem they were in charge of, and we would have our own interpretation of If the Shoe Fits!

K-12 

Maegan Renick 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? 

Bill Martin

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a great story that could teach many things to Pre-K or Kindergarten students, including sequencing. I would use a Big Book version of this book to teach this concept. After reading this to a kindergarten class, I would go back through the book asking the children what animal the bear saw first, second, third, etc. After talking about the word sequencing and how it is important to know what order a story is told to help us remember it, I would have the students draw pictures of the animals that the bear saw first, then second then third, and so on. Their paper could be divided into sections by folding the paper and each animal could go in each space. Because this would be a first lesson on sequencing, I would use the smart board to show the students how to fold their paper and also how to refer back to the book to see what order the animals are portrayed. We would complete our drawings of the animals in each space together, with my example being displayed on the smartboard using the document camera.  After students are finished with their art work we will review what order the animals came in and review what sequencing is.

Kindergarten

Lindsay Williams