(Scroll down to find guides to almost all of my books. The guide for The Carpet Boy’s Gift is in the back of that book.)
TEACHER’S GUIDE TO NOAH WEBSTER: WEAVER OF WORDS
© Pegi Deitz Shea
Noah Webster is such a fun—yes, fun—early American to work with because his accomplishments stretched across language (of course), history, art, music and science. I hope you and your students enjoy him as much as I do!
1. Review the concept of colonialism—one alien power controlling a group of people who have less money, less formal organization, less economic power, etc. What are some of the ways the colonizers controlled the native North Americans? What are some of the ways England controlled the settlers?
2. Noah and his family fought with guns in the American Revolution. But most of his battles came after the military fight. How did Noah use nonviolent ways to help build America as one country? (Unifying language; Building literacy; Standardizing and instituting universal education for girls and boys, slaves, illiterate adults; Re-writing history from the settlers’ POV; Celebrating and publishing American vs. European literature and art.) However, discuss the devaluation of native American language and arts.)
ACTIVITY: Divide class into groups of five or so. Give each group one method of how they can communicate: e.g. instrumental music, object arranging (Popsicle sticks), drawing, rudimentary sign language, dance, etc. Give each group a different concept, e.g. negotiating a sale, they need to demonstrate/act out to the whole class. Assign 10-15 minutes of workshop time. Then, as each group performs, time how long it takes for the communication to succeed.
—difficulties agreeing within the group how to communicate, who would communicate,
—difficulties of communicating with people who don’t share your language, traditions,
—special and economic divides between newcomers/ established landowners.
3. Democracy--Noah was an abolitionist and a proponent of women’s rights. He believed we could not have a democracy (government of the people) if all the people were not educated. What would our life be like today if we still used slaves? What if women weren’t allowed to go to school, and couldn’t choose to work inside or outside the home? What are some of the contributions to our country by women? By African Americans? By immigrants? Do you see inequality in America still? Elsewhere in the world today?
4. Geography & Mapping Skills—Find and trace the Hudson River on a map. What cities are on its shores? Why was control of these waters necessary? (A review of French& Indian War will help.) Why was Philadelphia the virtual capitol of the colonies and early U.S. Republic?
Noah, as a child, didn’t like farming chores, but he found agriculture fascinating.
1. Noah kept records of when his household crops, e.g. asparagus, were ready to harvest. What factors determine when a crop is ready to be harvested?
2. Discuss difference between perennials and annuals. Seeded crops and perennials.
3. What is grafting? What is a hybrid plant? (hybrid car?)
4. “Did you eat your peck of fruit today?” What is a balanced diet?
5. As editor of NYC’s first daily newspaper and first international weekly, Noah pioneered medical studies and determined that yellow fever (which he himself caught) was transmitted via poor sanitation.
ACTIVITY: divide class into groups of five or so. Assign each a major contagious disease to research—Smallpox, swine flu, scarlet fever, yellow fever, measles, ecoli contamination, etc. how are the viruses spread? What role does hygiene have in prevention? How can these illnesses be managed?
1. Division of labor: Give students a copy of p. 40 in Noah Webster: Weaver of Words, and have them use the figures quoted to make up five word problems. They must do the equations and keep an answer sheet. Then they exchange papers with others in the class, and figure out the equations.
2. Copyright & royalties. (copy p. 22) Figure out Noah’s royalties on different prices and sales figures of the Blue-Backed speller.
3. Today, the normal royalty percentage for novelists is 10% of the price listed on the book itself. (With picture books, the author and illustrator each get 5%.) Figure out what Pegi Deitz Shea and Monica Vachula make per book sale. Calculate our earnings at various sales amounts. Research the cost of living. Is writing books the best way to earn money?
4. Noah wanted his children to “eat a peck of fruit” each day. What is peck—how is it measured? What are other units of measure, e.g. a “hand” in measuring height of horses, a “stone” (still used in Ireland today!) to measure weight.
5. Play “Multiple Buzz.” Select a number, e.g. “4.” Have children count upward beginning at 1, and at each multiple—instead of saying the number—they say “buzz.” Example for 4: kids will count, “one, two, three, BUZZ, five, six, seven, BUZZ…. You can do this as a class together, or do it one by one up and down rows.*
6. Follow Noah: figure out travel miles and times: Without planes or trains, research and compare to today’s figures of travel times and mileage between:
a. Hartford and New Haven. CT
b. Hartford and Philadelphia
c. Philadelphia and Boston
d. Philadelphia and Washington, DC
e. New York > Cherbourg > Paris
f. Paris > Le Havre > London
g. London > New York
Arts, Crafts & Music
1. Make ink. As a child, Noah had to use ground nut shells and soot to make ink. Experiment with fruits, vegetables and other materials to make inks and dyes. E.g. Write/draw a plant by using pigment derived from it.
2. Make letter and number printing blocks using wood, foam, potatoes. Print your school’s or homeroom’s motto on a banner; smaller project ideas: desk nameplates, monogrammed gifts, decorative bedroom borders.
3. Find sheet music for “Yankee Doodle,” make flutes and drums and have a parade.
4. Make tri-cornered hats and simple vests.
5. Have a colonial lunch with gingerbread muffins, dried apple slices.
6. Make candles.
1. Colonial Games included tag games such as “Duck, Duck, Goose and Blind Man’s Bluff (like Marco Polo). Here are some others:
A. “Jingles”: One “jingler” rings a bell while walking around the gym or playground. Blindfolded other players try to tag the jingler. (sort of reverse Marco Polo.)
B. “Lame Fox & Chickens”: the “lame fox” has to hop on one foot and try to tag the others (“chickens”). As soon as they are tagged, they become lame foxes too. The last “chicken” wins.
5. Hoops —many contemporary team games can be played with these—like races; obstacle courses; “hoop war” in which one team (each member equipped with a hoop) tries to get past a team (each with a hoop) to opposite goals; “horseshoes” (with a person as a stake).
6. Cup-and-ball game —work with art teacher to make this fun and easy game, which can be played alone or with a team. Many different materials can be used. The basic idea is to get a tethered object into the cup it’s tethered to. Use plastic or styrofoam cups. Attach to it a foot-long piece of yarn, twine or string. On the other end, attach as ball, button, or other object half the size of the cup. By swinging the cup, the child can try to get the object into the cup.
7. Manual Labor Simulation – Teacher can make up exercises based on work that kids had to do in colonial (and even contemporary) times. Apple-picking arm exercises, squash-picking squats, raspberry patch stretches, potato and carrot pulls on all fours, wood chopping swings, etc.
8. Think writing is an activity of non-athletic types? There was no typewriter or computer in Noah’s lifetime (1758-1843). He wrote every draft of every thing he’d ever written by hand. Try writing 1600 pages of definitions by hand. OK, NOT FAIR! (Not to mention realistic today.) Time how long it takes you to write the first page of A words in your school pocket dictionary. Now multiply those minutes by 2000. Divide by24 hours, then (if you want to sleep, eat and perhaps hang with your friends), divide by 2. Hello writer’s cramp! And that doesn’t even count research time!
WHERE TO BEGIN??????? Okay, let’s go chronologically.
1. Noah first learned formal English. His parents were educated leaders of their communities. How does that separate them from people who grew up speaking only useful language—that of farming, shipping, smithy work? Talk about slang, jargon, and the practicality of work-specific language.
2. Noah wanted to learn Greek and Latin next. Why? Go over the major works of literature, e.g. Odyssey; ask what recent literary works (Harry Potter) have in common with quest literature. Compare mythology with fairy tales. What themes are reinforced?
3. Discuss Euro-centrism. Noah learned/taught himself 20 languages, some of them Latin-derived Romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish). Why didn’t Noah learn Asian ones? How did this affect his notion of literature and history?
4. Review colonial literature—religious and political. Why didn’t Noah become a fiction writer? (Religious upbringing; political upheaval; urge to learn/urge to share that learning.) In his latter lifetime, Noah published his own translation of the bible. Why not sooner? Why translate it at all, when it had already been translated into English and other languages?
5. Discuss the jargon of “Law” which forms the foundation of our Constitution.
It would be interesting to research laws that discriminate against slaves and women. Which law vocabulary words have become part of our daily language. Some examples: “right,” “property,” “privacy,” arms=guns,” “freedom of speech,” etc.
6. Explore Noah’s theories about language instruction. Compare page 21 with any book of Dr. Seuss. What similarities do you see? How does rhyme help develop your vocabulary? Discuss phonics, whole language and the combination. Involve your students in the different ways people learn--how one learning technique may appeal to one, but not to another. Make them feel the discomfort of one technique over another.
7. Share Noah’s multicultural fascination. What foreign words do you know? (The topic of foods yields many words.) What ethnic words and phrases have worked their way into popular usage? Trace the connotations of a word such as “gay” and “hood” to prove that language is a living thing. [Keep Webster’s dictionary of slang at hand. I’m 49!!! And am always challenged by new words and usages.)
ACTIVITY: Regional Slang--have children connect with a classroom in a different part of the U.S. Analyze (supervised) emails, discuss syntax, vocabulary (including abbreviations) and meaning differences. [When I was 8 visiting family in OK, I discovered “hush puppies” weren’t a brand of shoes; they were a cornmeal pancake.]
8. Noah would delight in Internet/cell phone language. He was always trying to make words be spelled as they sounded, e.g. “give” be “giv.”
ACTIVITY: Techno-language-- Have students take one of their reports (revised to their best draft), and have them rewrite page 1 in phonic terms. (specify email/ IM/ TXT versions). Pair up students who exchange and read the phonic manuscripts aloud but quietly. The original author then reads the original manuscript. Ask each pair to highlight and read aloud the hardest phonic sentence to the class. How hard was it to translate? Was the new pronunciation harder than the original? Why—just because of practice? Did it convey the nuances the original did?
Emphasize that this exercise exemplifies—even today—why people have trouble getting along. Ask: do their parents understand your language? How much of the misunderstanding results from technological changes? (Texting) How much from generational? Cultural? Do your parents catch on eventually, but your grandparents want no part in the Internet?
9. Research back to the first days of the printing press—mid 1400’s. (BTW, China had paper and moveable type hundreds of years earlier.) In Europe, religious monks and royalty had the power of the written word—history, science, language instruction. What changed after that? Why did language lead to democracy?
How has control of communications enable tyrants? What has the Internet done for the spread of information? Advantages? Disadvantages?
10. What did further language acquisition do for Noah: Syriac? Hebrew? [Languages used in ancient biblical writings] Chaldee? [A language used along the eastern coast of the Tigress (presently Iraq) that recorded early Astronomical research.
11. Study the words of the various indigenous peoples of North America. Why were certain words incorporated? Others left behind? What important traditions of indigenous peoples were adopted (and the rituals associated with them)?
12. Why did Noah have to go to France and England to research his monumental dictionary of 1828?
CROSS- CURRICULAR ACTIVITY GUIDE FOR PATIENCE WRIGHT
© Pegi Deitz Shea
Use Patience Wright: America’s First Sculptor and Revolutionary Spy with grades 2-5 across the curriculum. Here are some activities for each discipline:
History: Fold in some of these people and places into your existing Colonial/ Revolutionary history. Map the eastern seaboard, showing important cities and ports. Why was Philadelphia the first diplomatic capital? What important events went on there? Show a short video ofPhiladelphia’s history, or a clip from 1176.. Discuss lesser known patriots: John Dickinson, Francis Hopkinson, Sam Adams, Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Benjamin Rush.
Geography: Chart a year-long “Tour” of the colonies for Patience and her sister Rachel, using Philadelphia as base. Remember, warm weather was needed to sculpt wax. Find London, England and Paris, France on a map. Draw the trade triangle between England, the northern colonies and the Caribbean islands.
Religion: Share the journey of the Quakers from England to the colonies. Discuss their difficulties and how they spread south from New England. Explore how Quaker beliefs may have encouraged freedom and equality for all Americans. Update students on Quaker life today. Hold a “Quaker Day” with vegetarian meals, all white clothing, no leather, etc.
Careers: Discuss colonial jobs in general, then focus on what women were doing. Look at other female achievers including writer Mercy Otis Warren, printer Anne Franklin, activist Abigail Adams, a typical teacher in a “Dame” school.
Spelling: Until Noah Webster began standardizing spelling of American English in 1783, and promoting universal education, spellings reflected the influences of every cultural group in the colonies—Dutch, English, French, African, Native American, Spanish, etc. Even college-educated people differed in their spellings and pronunciations.
Writing: Patience learned how to read and write at home. Examine the following letter excerpt of hers. What is different from today’s spelling and punctuation? Do you prefer the old spellings or new ones? Do these spellings and abbreviations remind you of any modern language you are likely using today?
“The fleat is any moment to sail and a new Constructed Cannon,
lite, Portable on horse Back, 32 Inches Long, wide muzzle to fire at the
Inhabitants and kill many at a shot. Meny thousand fire arms sent out
of the tower and shipt on bord the transports at dedford. Meny
hundred Cags of flints marked BOSTON on Each Cagg with all
Implements of WARR.” P.W. April 6, 1775
Write a letter to Patience Wright in standard English. Then translate it with spellings that she may have used. Now write an IM to her!
Reading: Read selections of the patriotic literature written by lesser known authors mentioned above to supplement bios on Washington,Adams, Franklin, etc. Study the shape and flow of a biography for children. (Look for my bio on Noah Webster, Spring 2008.) For older children—grades 4-5--Introduce the concepts of “Sidebar,” “Chronology” and “Afterword.” Why do these items belong outside the text? What do they add to the story?
Read--to--Write Workshop: Using the above works as models, have children create their own “patriot” biographies.
SCIENCE > MATH > ART > SCIENCE > MATH > ART > SCIENCE
Many of Patience’s art media and methods—dyeing, wax production, paint production, came from simple scientific experimentation with various materials and quantities.
Pigment: Patience made dyes from plants. Experiment with using various plant material and methods of creating dye. For example, boiling then steeping vegetables, berries and flower components is an ancient and easy process. Try it with colorful ones such as beets, carrots, blueberries, pollen. Measure beginning amounts of water, and try different boiling reductions to achieve different concentrations of color. Record and take pictures of the resulting colors. Make dyes of the primary colors. Mix dyes for many variations. Measure the amounts needed to achieve certain shades.
“Dry dyes”: Pollen (Asiatic lilies are amazing), ground charcoal, dried seeds and spices (e.g. paprika) make wonderful dry dyes. These can be used alone or combined with substances like ash, powder and paint. Patience more likely used these for skin coloration.
Application: Shreds of white cotton sheet or white construction paper work well as absorbers of wet dye. Compare application and absorption of the steeped dyes with direct application of these plants to the material. Paint with plants! For instance, paint a still life of blueberries, using the actual berry to stain the paper. Compare with pictures an initial dyeing of cloth with subsequent washings of the cloth. Which dyes hold fast and better?
Additives: Mix dyes with various substances. For best results, wet goes with wet, as does dry go with dry. White paint. Measure and record the amounts needed to achieve different colors. Do dyes last better when mixed with paint? Apply pollen and ground charcoal to powder to make make-up. Collect sap from spring leaf stems and pine trees to make colored glue.
Wax Medium: Patience always lived near sea ports. So not only was wax or animal fat in plentiful supply, she had access to a variety of rock and plant materials. Now, wax can be made using non-animal sources such as petroleum, soy, and synthetics. Buy blocks of it online or at a crafts store for experiments and art projects. www.cajuncandles.com is a good site.
Armatures—Using a hanging skeleton as a model, record measurements of height, width of shoulders, waist and hips, and length of limbs. Divide these figures to create a small scale replica. Pair up children to measure and record each other’s data. Figure out their small-scale replicas. Students can now build these with wire for later use in a wax or papier-mache statue of themselves.
Sculpture Art forms—Patience used wax to create busts, life-sized statuary, portraits in relief (3D), and objects/figurines. Before going into business, Patience’s sister Rachel Wells made replicas of human organs to be studied by medical students! This would be a small and easy beginning project for the students to try. (Steer them away from the small intestine!!!)
Students can try small scale replicas of themselves. To make busts and portraits [a 3D face mounted on a flat background and framed], see if you have a computer program that would show a 3D image of students’ faces from a photo. Students can try to sculpt from that—using a round balloon for a head form. If not, most art teachers have instructions for making masks. The finished mask can be mounted on a head form or framed.
If wax is too difficult to obtain, you can try these projects in plaster of Paris, clay or papier-mache.
CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITY GUIDE FOR LIBERTY RISING
© Pegi Deitz Shea
1. Introduce graphing. Graph the sizes of the Liberty models on up to full size on pedestal. Graph Liberty’s height with other well known landmarks.
2. Find examples around the school of the heights of the Liberty models. Measure them for accuracy.
3. Money values, work on word problems, e.g. 5 francs = 1 dollar, how many francs can make up 3 dollars, etc. Research what common wares cost at the end of the 1800’s, e.g. 5lbs of sugar, flour, etc. with today’s costs. Discuss wage amounts for that period. Compare.
4. Introduce Roman numerals and play games, figure kids’ ages, important dates, etc.
5. Calculate the size of the stairs (392) from the height of 305 feet. Calculate “if, then” word problems, e.g. miles/day over the Atlantic, #rivets, train cars with crates, etc.
6. Use a protractor to measure angles on Liberty, e.g. her arm, the rays in her crown, the tablet she holds, etc. This would make a fun worksheet.
1. Experiment with copper: hand out copper wire (thin enough to be cut by safety scissors). Have kids bend, twist, and cut it into different shapes. Introduce the term “malleable.”
2. Study weathering: have everyone place pennies outside in different areas—shaded, snow-covered, bright sunlight, in windy areas, in areas open to rain, etc. Cover some pennies with clear packing tape or other protective gear. (Make a map so kids can find their own each time.) Keep weekly journals of changes. Compare and contrast. For older kids, discuss erosion, oxidation.
3. If the above experiment is out of the question, bring in pennies from different years. Compare their colors, textures, etc. Have students make a timeline, or play a matching game with pictures of various colored pennies and approximate years the pennies come from.
4. The book shows both the benefits and consequences of the Industrial Revolution. Find examples of pollution in the book. Discuss energy sources. Has industry’s polluting effects changed in the past 120 years? What chemicals are now known to be harmful? Research some of the laws, and stories leading to environmental changes. Older students may want to see clips of films such as Silkwood with Meryl Streep, Erin Brockovich with Julia Roberts, A Civil Action with John Travolta.
1. Map skills: Find France and America on a map. Discuss directions, e.g. in what direction does Liberty travel to America? Philadelphia to NYC?
2. Research the distance of the Atlantic Ocean between Rouen and NYC. The trip took a month. How many miles/day? About how many miles did the torch travel from France to Philadelphia then to New York and back to France?
3. The rays of Liberty’s crown stand for the seven continents and seven seas. Find them on a map. Discuss when continents were “discovered” and mapped.
4. Find the sites and photos of the some of Bartholdi’s inspirations, e.g. the Sphinx, the Suez Canal, and his works in DC and NYC.
1. Try repousse with thin flat sheets of copper.
2. Try wire sculpture.
3. Make papier-mache statues of Liberty. If you have time, use these as casts
for a different medium.
4. Introduce vocabulary: architecture, casts, friezes, different kinds of columns; show other examples of “Classicism.” Have the children find examples of them in their homes and neighborhoods. (Check out churches and civic buildings.)
5. Graphing—show how graph paper makes design easy. Have kids draw a figure freehand, then graph it, then build it.
6. Examine perspective and have students draw a familiar thing from an odd viewpoint.
1. Have kids research the presidents who served between 1870 and 1886.
2. Research the inventors and inventions in the second half of the 1800’s.
Which inventions could be helpful in the construction of the statue?
3. What other events were going on during this time, e.g. Brooklyn Bridge,
America’s industrial revolution.
4. Have kids look up the influential Americans of that time, and talk about how their influence is still present today. Start with those people mentioned in the book: Pulitzer, Vanderbilt, Hunt.
5. Study famous French people like Eiffel, Napoleon, Marie Antoinette, Lumieres (film pioneers)
6. Have a French feast! Crepes, croissants, fondue, quiche, etc.
1. Fun with French! Learn simple French words for hello, good-bye, etc. the numbers 1-10. One of the best ways to take the mystique/fear out of French, and to show common Latin roots is to choose a list of words that are almost exactly the same in both English and French, e.g. all the verbs derived from tenir—to hold: detendre/detain, detention, retendre/retain, retention, maintenir, maintain, maintenance. A simple matching game will show how easy it is to “retain” vocabulary words.
2. Come up with French words or phrases that Americans adopted: rendezvous, madame, c’est la vie, comme ci comme ca, oo la la, renaissance, reconnaissance, crepe, crossaint, (& other foods), café, cinema, bureau, liberty, fraternity, equality, etc.
3. Older students can examine Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus” for imagery such as “imprisoned lightning,” “air-bridged harbor” etc. Have them choose a landmark (it can be a personal place) and write a poem about it.
4. Find Imagery in my book. I’m big on using poetic devices in prose—similes, metaphors, assonance, alliteration, etc.
CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITY GUIDE FOR TANGLED THREADS
© Pegi Deitz Shea
Map skills: trace the Hmong journey from Southwest China to the northern mountains of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma. Trace the various destinations the Hmong spread to from port cities of San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles. Discuss the social and economic benefits of these destinations to the Hmong.
"Refugee Day": spend an entire day in school with no books, games, toys or gym equipment; push all desks and furniture to the classroom perimeter, and have students occupy the middle space; allow students only three possessions they can carry at all times; for lunch, give students only rice and water; allow only one lavatory visit, to the farthest lavatory in the school. What kinds of situations arise? How is boredom dealt with? Are there any disputes? What do students discuss?
Immigrant Impact: Examine the impact a brand new refugee group makes on a town. What is the cost of housing them? Schooling them? Feeding them? Have students research school budgets for ESL, social work, and per student costs; research the town budget and/or agencies that administer to the poor and homeless.
Race Studies: How do students feel when a new person enters school or neighborhood. How does this feeling change when the ethnicity is not Caucasion? What are the stereotypes assigned to African-Americans, Asians, Pakistanis and Indians, Arab? Why these traits? Ask minority students in class to share their impressions of white Americans.
Survival skills: What would be the first American words you would teach a brand new immigrant, and why? How would you draw picture symbols for abstract words, such as democracy, gratitude, anxiety, honesty, etc. How would you describe or show differences in homophones such as "we’re and were," "their and there," "hey and hay."
Tonal Language: find five words and assign at least three tones to them. How do the tones change the meaning of the word? What nuances do tones give words? Discuss verbal irony. How would an immigrant understand it?
Naming Games: A baby name book is helpful for this. Think of American first and last names that also have different meanings in our language and other languages. Have students come up with new names that describe themselves using words in our language.
Look at the Thai words that take different form when spoken by a male or female.
Look at gender words and names, e.g. Daniel & Danielle; actor & actress. How many can you come up with? Examine the foreign languages students are learning for more examples. Come up with names that are gender-neutral, e.g. "Morgan," "Skye," etc.
Storyboard to Storycloths: create a whole story in eight frames in a sequence (Like a comic strip). Trace the story onto cloth, then stitch it. What colors do you use to denote the "hero"? How do you show emotion?
Symbols: Without letters, create a symbol for yourself that shows a quality you have or one you strive for. Use it in your art as a "signature." How can you use it artistically, e.g. in pottery? Where would you put it, or how would you incorporate it in an article of clothing?
Performing Arts: Using videotapes or Internet sites, compare the traditional dances of several peoples. What elements do the dances have in common? What is different? Create a new traditional dance for Americans. Examine and try different singing and musical styles of other peoples. How and why are they different? E.g. high-pitched Eastern sounds vs. the rounder sounds of "Western" music.
Numbing Numbers: Research and compare the average incomes and the costs of living in third world countries and those in America. Who’s really better off? Figure the hourly wages. Research the production of an oriental rug made in Pakistan or a pair of Nikes made in Malaysia. How long would it take a Malaysian to buy a pair of Nikes at the American price?
Feeding Frenzy: do word problems calculating the amount (in pounds) of rice needed to feed X number of refugees one cup of rice/day. Calculate the cost in US$ by assigning prices to X pound bags.
Counted Cross Stitch: Have students plot out a geometrical shape with specific perimeter measurements. Then have them plot an interior pattern that repeats four times with four different colors.
Yikes, Parasites! Have student teams research human parasitic diseases, plotting the disease from the infection point, to the blood system and to organs and to death, if necessary. Students can do a presentation with visuals of the parasite, its host, the map of the disease’s spread, a chart of survival stats, etc.
Research the third world death statistics caused by diseases or infections that are easily treatable in America. Examine and discuss how the medical community is addressing these situations.
CROSS-CURRICULAR GUIDE FOR TEN MICE FOR TET
© Pegi Deitz Shea
Speak Vietnamese words in the book. What patterns do you see and hear? Buy a Vietnamese/ English dictionary of phrases and try them out. Lonely Planet has a good phrase book, and Penton Overseas makes an audiotape.
Share other books and media that take place in Vietnam or that feature Vietnamese characters. Your library network and the internet can find you anything you want. Our favorites include Sherry Garland’s The Lotus Seed and Children of the Dragon; Water Buffalo Days by Quang Nhuong Huynh; and To Swim in Our Own Pond-A Book of Vietnamese Proverbs. A bibliography of Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American children’s books can be found at: www. cynthialeitichsmith.com An excellent website of other resources is www.vstudies.org.
Put on a play or a puppet show based on the folk tales. Make up a guessing game about the proverbs. Make a new counting book with Vietnamese objects.
Try out Mr. Trang and Mr. Dinh’s method!
1, draw a picture on paper, and color it in.
2, attach it to plain white cotton cloth.
3, With a pin, poke holes in the paper close together (1/4 inch) along the lines.
4, sprinkle colored powder (or sugar??) over the paper so the powder filters through down to the cloth. This should leave the outline of your picture.
5, Thread your needle and do simple chain stitches to fill in the outline with colors matching your paper. (Teachers please demonstrate chain stitch.)
*****A young version of this can be done with yarn, hole puncher and cards.
Make other fun items like flags and banners that you see in the book. Make a dragon or lion for a dance? Make the head with papier mache, and use decorated sheets end to end for the tail.
There are lots of items on each page to count. Are you beyond 1-10? Add, multiply, divide series of numbers, e.g. on the “9 Mice” page, add the number of cups, the number of spilled fruit, and the number of chop sticks. Make up complicated word problems, e.g. How many rice cakes would it take to feed eight mice, if each wanted two? “Main Mouse” started out carrying seventeen pears. But when he got to the table, he only had nine left. What happened? Twenty meat sticks for only fourteen people? How do you divide that?
Research the flora and fauna of Vietnam. Create a diorama for each kind of habitat of Vietnam. Research defoliation (used in the war). Show or create before and after pictures of defoliated trees and fields, and discuss or show secondary contamination to land and to humans. Research and show the abundant marine riches and life. Create a rice growing cycle.
HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY
Make a topographical map of Vietnam in the greater context of Southeast Asia. Create and place symbols of Vietnam’s natural resources on the map. Discuss why Vietnam would be desirable to own or control. Use a globe to show how far France and America are from Vietnam. Study areas of Vietnam’s density of population and discuss—just from observation--why the people might disagree about economics, religion and other important issues. Study the country’s war-torn history, and make a timeline. Discuss current issues, such as UXO (unexploded ordinance, i.e. mines)—their removal, their effects.
Compare Tet with some of our holidays. What similarities do you see between it and different days we celebrate? How did we get many of our holidays? Look at the role of religion in our country. Does religion play a big part of life in Vietnam? Make a “shrine” in your home of loved ones. How do you pay respect to loved ones who have died?
Make cau doi, parallels. Using Vietnamese dictionary downloaded from the internet, explore more specific and unique character traits and learn their signs if possible. Follow Main Mouse throughout the book. What traits does he show? Talk about them. Make red envelopes. Instead of putting money in them, put fun fortune-telling slips of paper.
Listen to Vietnamese music. Do you like it? Why or why not? Make a monochord with two popsicle sticks, and a fish line fastened across the length of a shoe box. Children can make a bridge under the line with one stick (to vary the vibration, i.e. note) and pluck the line or slide along it with the other stick.
Eat Tet Treats! Vietnamese recipes and cookbooks can be found in libraries, Asian groceries, and on-line. Kids will like “mut” guaranteed!
Do a Dragon or Lion Dance! Think a conga-line gone wild and roaring through your school to scare away bad spirits for the next year! Play human chess or checkers. Have fun & good luck!
CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITY GUIDE FOR THE WHISPERING CLOTH
© Pegi Deitz Shea
GEOGRAPHY & HISTORY
About 300,000 Hmong are scattered in Canada, France, and Australia, with the majority in the U.S. The Sacramento, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Providence and Hartford/Springfield areas have thriving Hmong communities.
Find Southeast Asia on a map and trace the journey of the Hmong from China all the way to the different U.S. cities.
Oral traditions and pa'ndau have passed on the history and the culture of the Hmong, who have only had a written
alphabet since the late 1950's. Explore oral arts.
Pa'ndau storycloths act as tools to record the history, religion, lifestyle and folktales of the Hmong. Look at Mai's
pa'ndau; it reads almost like a narrative comic without frames.
The following activities stress beauty both in the diversity and the unity of humankind.
CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVY GUIDE FOR NEW MOON
© Pegi Deitz Shea
"La Luna" means moon in Spanish and Italian; "La Lune" means moon in French. Look up "Luna" in the dictionary. Where does the word come from? What words do you know that begin or sound the same way?
Nov look up "Moon" in the dictionary. Where does the word come from? What other words, concepts spring from "moon" (e.g. moon-faced, moonstruck)?
"Moon" is one of the first Words Vinnie learns to say. Say "moon." How does it make your mouth feel? Is it fun to say? What other words sound like it? Can you find rhymes for it? Vinnie easily learns to say "moon" because she already knows "moo." Think of other familiar animal sounds babies learn (bah, bow wow, neigh, sssss, caw-caw, etc.) What words can you think of that begin with these sounds?
Once people learn new words, they like to say them over and over until they "oww" them. Close your eyes, open up a dictionary, and point to a word. (If you point to one you know, try again.) Say your new word five times slowly in front of a mirror. Notice how your mouth moves. Now, look up the origin and root of the word. Does it have any relatives you know—words with the same prefix or suffix, or root? Look up its meaning. Do you know any synonyms? Does the meaning have any connection with the way the word sounds (onomatopoeia)?
The moon has inspired many books and poems. Dedicate a week to reading moon books. What similarities and differences do they have? Which book is your favorite and why? Write and illustrate your own story or poem about the moon.
WRITING: Point of View
NEW MOON began as a poem I wrote in a journal I keep for my daughter. When I submitted the poem as a picture book manuscript, it got rejected several times. Finally, one editor asked me to change the narrator's "point of view" from a mother's to an older sibling's. Sure enough, soon after I changed it, the story was accepted by a publisher!
Keep a journal for one week. Then go back through it and select one event. Change the "I" (the narrator) into a brand new character with a different name. Copy the journal entry (with the new name) onto a piece of paper. Make any pronoun and verb changes you need to. Now that you have a new story, add new emotions and actions by asking "What happened next? How does the character feel?"
Chart the moon's rising and setting for an entire month. Why doesn't Vinnie see the moon every night at the same time, same place? Why does the moon appear to change shape? What's your favorite shape and why? What do you like best about the moon? Discuss and make your own eclipses. What is the difference between a lunar and a solar eclipse?
What other planets have moons?
Discuss how the moon affects the earth and its people: tides, psychology, medicine, agriculture, etc. Read about the exploration of the moon.
The narrator, Vinnie's big brother, takes it upon himself to introduce Vinnie to the moon. What special things have you learned from older siblings or relatives? Have you ever
taught a little brother, sister, or cousin anything? What are some of the things that Vinnie's big brother does for her? Does an older brother or sister help you out? How? Do you have any responsibilities for a younger sibling? What does Vinnie's big brother learn by helping Vinnie? (patience, resourcefulness, appreciation of simple beauty)
The moon has inspired many folktales and myths in all cultures. Explore and compare them. Act them out.
Many religions—Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity—use a calendar based in part on lunar cycles, and set holidays according to them. For example, Ramadan, Islam's holy month of fasting, begins with the ninth moon. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring. Explore other holidays.
Cathryn Falvell of Hartford illustrated NEW MOON using cut and torn paper. Explore some of Falwell's other works—FEAST FOR TEN, SHAPE SPACE, DRAGON TOOTH—and other books in which artists have used cut paper: THE LONG SILK STRAND (written by Vernon's Laura Williams) and PAPER BOATS, both illustrated
by Grayce Bochak; BITTER BANANAS, (written by Isaac Olaleye), illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner Ed Young.
Experiment with this medium—using different weights, colors, and textures of paper. Add dimension by gluing small tabs of paper under larger ones to "lift" pieces into the foreground. Try treating the paper with paint or crayon before applying
it to your work.
CROSS-CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR THE BOY AND THE SPELL
© Pegi Deitz Shea
Discuss and show how the concept of “time” is linked with both math (as an operation) and music (as a rhythm/beat indicator).
--Create a musical staff on the board. Have the children beat out different rhythms on their desks. Count all the pictures of “staffs” in the book.
--Young children can count all the clock faces in the book and try to tell their time.
--Find the compass in the first two scenes. Demonstrate a real one. Find all the circular images in the book. Point out the circular nature of our numbers and letters.
--Search for geometric shapes. Find shapes that are broken, incomplete.
--Older students can do the real math in the numbers spread.
--Play Math Scrambles: Give each student 8 slips of paper with any 1 digit number on them, as well as one slip each of the operations. Have them make open ended equations on their desks. Now have them exchange seats and figure their classmate’s equations. Afterward, they can rescramble the numbers into new equations and return to their original seats to figure them out.
Mechanics: explore the inner workings of a clock. What are the pros and cons of a face clock or watch v. a digital one.
--Examine the engineering of a pop-up book—Robert Sabuda has amazing books, hence “Zabudaland.” Have kids make one pop-up spread based on a favorite scene from any book.
--Examine the workings of some musical instruments. Kids can make certain ones. Explore how different actions produce different sounds
Biology: Discuss wild versus domesticated animals. Ask kids to list what animals they see on a regular basis. What insects do they see inside and outside?
--Talk about animal ethics, kindness to animals—appropriate human behaviors around both wild and domesticated ones. Does a squirrel belong inside a cage in a human home?
--Open a conversation about how scientists study insects and animals to learn more about them, and about our own bodies and behavior. Talk about the different ways people use animals commercially, e.g. zoo, food, entertainment.
Anatomy: Examine the workings of the human ear. Compare human ears to those in some of the animals in the book
Introduce Opera, discuss its components and vocabulary. How does it differ from a musical?
Study Ravel and his work.
Study Colette and her librettos and other literary work.
Listen to the opera. (Andre Previn/London Symphony Orchestra)
Watch the opera—Netflix has it on DVD.
Play some selections from the opera.
This book is full of raw and uncontrolled emotions and consequences: Punishment, anger, vandalism, destructive behavior, isolation, stubbornness, fear, abandonment.
Introduce coping mechanisms—writing, drawing, music!!! Have kids choose one spread from the book and write a poem, draw a picture or make some music representing it. Ask kids to share their work and talk about what other choices they had, and what better actions they can take next time they feel that way.
Play a recording of the music. Ask the students to name the emotions the music evokes and portrays.
Kids naturally play with words, but they don’t have many chances in their writing assignments to use “Word Play.” Word play actually multiplies vocabulary and usage in a fun and creative way. It helps develop children’s senses of humor.
Ways to play:
Idioms (sayings) like “forty winks,” “counting sheep,” “hours flown by,” “greener pastures,” etc. I use sayings like these both figuratively and literally. Use sayings in the book or come up with more and have the children draw literal portrayals of them. Discuss denotation and connotation. These concepts allow us to use double entendre—double meanings. I have lots of them, e.g. riddle, dig into, repercussions, sharp notes.
Poetic Devices: In my first drafts, I wrote the fantasy section in verse. Though it didn’t work well for the whole book, it did show me all the potential I had for rhyme, assonance and alliteration: Discuss these tools, then focus on one page at a time to find them. Particularly good are spreads #2 (Crash), #3 (Armchair’s dialogue) and #8 (Numbers). Let kids brainstorm to come up with other words that would “fit.” Discuss Onomatopoeia and find examples. Rhyme these words—even nonsensical words expand kids’ imagination. (Think Seuss!)
Literary Allusions: what nursery rhymes or fairy tales do some of these objects remind your students of? Lambs/sheep, clock, teapot. Others?
Writing: Play a variety of instrumental music. Have kids write a poem or story ideas based on their experience of this music.
ESPECIALLY FOR OLDER CHILDREN
Introduce Translation, with a few Spanish picture books. Discuss film or TV portrayals of literature— Bridge to Terabithia is coming out, Harry Potter, etc.--
Here are the various translations and their dates, regarding my book:
French author Colette writes “L’Enfant et les Sortileges” as a libretto (1915)
Ravel works on music (1921-24)
Felix Aprahamaian Translates Colette’s text (1981)
American Maurice Sendak designs costumes and sets (1987)
Italian artist Serene Riglietti illustrates picture book (1999)
Text is adapted in several languages including Chinese
American author Pegi Deitz Shea adapts for American release (2007)
Compare these translations—the first two are for a stage production
Scene: Armchair rejoices with sofa and couch
Plus de cousins pour son sommeil,
Plus de sieges pour sa reverie,
Plus de repos pour lui que sur la terre nue
No more cushions for his slumber
No more seats for his musings
No more rest for him save on bare earth
“Humph! Think I’ll comfort you anytime you want, Boy?”
“Who said that?” asked Thomas.
“Think you can kick my legs, punch my pillows
and flatten my cushion with no repercussions?”
“Yes, it’s me, young ruffian. And my stuffing has had enough!”
Scene: Animals discuss how to punish boy.
Ah! C’est l’Enfant au couteau!
C’est l’Enfant au baton!
Le mechant a la cage!
Le mechant au filet!
Celui qui n’aime personne
Et que personne n’aime!
Non! Il faut chattier!
J’ai mes griffes!
J’ai mes dents!
J’ai mes ailes onglees!
Unissons-nous, unisons-nous! Ah!
Ah! It’s the child with the knife!
It’s the child with the stick!
The bad child with the cage!
The bad child with the net!
The child who loves no one,
And whom nobody loves.
Shall he escape?
No! He must be punished!
I’ve my talons!
I’ve my teeth!
I’ve my clawed wings!
Let’s unite! Let’s unite! Ah!
“Say no more, my woodland friends,” Owl consoled them. “I have all the evidence I need to judge the boy. He has also yanked Melody’s tail and pinned Dragonfly. And now Largo has gotten stuck trying to free herself. Friends, what are we going to do with this boy?
Melody hissed, “I’ll shear his shorts!”
Toady croaked, “I’ll give him some warts.”
Bat avowed, “I’ll sneak a wee nip.”
Fly suggested, “A big fat lip.”
DRAFTS FOR COMPARISON, SCENES/SPREAD 3, 4, 5
My first drafts of the fantasy section were written in verse. But I soon discovered that I was forcing the story to become poetry, like fitting a square peg in a round hole. Compare these two versions. See what I kept, see what I changed. Talk about why I may have made those changes.
“Young ruffian, my stuffing has had enough.
Now out of my lap you fly with a huff.”
Thomas shrieks, “Whoa! A belligerent chair?”
and confounded, astounded he’s thrown through the air.
“What,” chimes Clock, “have you done with my face?
My hours, my seconds are way out of place.
“What can I do to stop ringing ding dong?
And my hands keep on pointing to everything wrong.”
Who pipes up but Teapot and Kettle.
“It’s time, naughty boy, to measure your mettle.”
“Yes, it’s me, young ruffian. And my stuffing has had enough!” Then Armchair took a huge breath and blew Thomas clear out of this world.
“Aaaah!” Thomas screamed, stumbling into a strange place in time.
He landed, plop, face to face with Clock.
“What—ding—have you done?” Clock cried. “I’m all—ding-ding—out of time!”
“Stop chiming!” Thomas ordered. “Tell me, how many hours until supper?”
“I can’t—ding. The hours have flown by. But look—ding-ding-ding—it must be tea time.”
“Tea?” steamed Kettle. “Why should we bother? We bring him treats, then he flings us to the floor.”
Thomas rubbed his scalded hand. “But I was mad!”
“You were bad!” Cake countered. “I say, let’s dig into him for a change!”