I have been student teaching in my last placement, a first grade classroom. I just completed an author study on Robert Munsch which was very exciting. I introduced this author by doing a Reader’s Theater “Invitiation to Munsch.” Then the students each received their own invitiation to the author study as a motivation, and they loved it. The principal was invited as well.
Each day for 2 weeks the students listened to a story by Robert Munsch and were then given an option of what follow-up activity they would like to do. To go along with the theme “Munsch” (Munch), students were given a menu, as if they were at a restaurant and picked what they’d like to do.
At the conclusion of the author study, the majority of the students’ favorite picture books was: A Promise is a Promise and Green, Yellow, and Purple. The only day students were not given an option was when we read the story Green Yellow and Purple. On that day, students were asked to be scientists. We wore latex-free gloves and put “super-indelible-never-come-off-till-your-dead-and-maybe-even-later coloring markers” onto a 4″ by 4″ cut out of a plain white t-shirt. They were told to choose 5 colors and create a design. Then, we used a special liquid solution. Students each put 10 drops in the center of the design. Instantly, their design turned into a tie-dyed shirt! When students saw some marker on their table, they tried to use water and soap to get it off — but it did not work, just like in the book (it wouldn’t come off her skin — good thing we wore gloves!). But, when the students used the special liquid solution, it magically came off. How could this be!?
Students LOVED this experiment and we later made a class quilt, putting together their 4″ by 4″ squares. It will be displayed in 2 weeks at the school’s literacy festival.
