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Activities for Big C
and Little Ox by Nancy Kelly Allen Before reading the book, discuss the meaning of friendship. Read
and discuss Big
C and Little Ox. Ask the following open-ended questions: 1.
What are the qualities you want in a friend? 2.
This story is about friendship. Why are friends important? Brainstorm
ideas and chart answers. Discuss the top two reasons. 3.
Fiction means a story is not based on fact. Do you think two animals of
different species, such as a horse and a goat or a buffalo and a bird, can be
friends? Explain. 4.
Why do you think Big C said, “I don’t need friends”? 5.
Why do you think Little Ox tried so hard to be a friend? 6.
Have you made new friends since you started school? Explain. Why is it
hard to make new friends when you go to a new school? What do you think students
should do when a new student enters school? Chart and post in classroom. Graph
data and discuss the top three ideas. 7.
What are some activities that are more fun if done with a friend? 8.
Imagine that this story is real. Do you think Big C and Little Ox will
fuss with each other again? Why or why not? 9.
What are some things we can do that make us a good friend? Chart answers. 10.
Has a friend ever helped you or made you feel better? Explain. 11.
What are some ways to handle disagreements? Chart answers and graph data. 12.
Where do you think the
setting of this story takes place? For younger children, you may mention the
African Cape buffalo. Using a globe or world map, locate the continent of
Africa. Locate the area in which the students live. Discuss the differences in
the areas. v
Divide students into groups of two. Each student will
draw a picture of the other person in each group. Label something positive about
the person under each picture. v
Spinning
a web of friendship.
Students sit in a circle. Using a large ball of yard, one student states another
student’s name and says one positive thing about the student and rolls the
ball of yarn to the student while holding onto the end of the string. The
student that receives the yard selects another student, states something
positive. The student holds onto the string and rolls the ball of yarn to
another. Keep passes the ball until all students have been selected. Watch the
web grow. v
Pretend
you are Little Ox.
Write a letter explaining why you want to be a friend to Big C. Or pretend you
are Big C and write a letter explaining why you want to be a friend to Little
Ox. v
Dramatize
an argument between Little Ox and Big C. Write a new ending to the
story showing a different way in which they became friends. Include a beginning,
middle, and ending to the story. Perform the skit in front of the class. v
Drawing
an emotion:
Think how a friend makes you feel. Draw a picture or a series of pictures to
express that feeling. v
Create
a cartoon
to express how you feel about your best friend or any friend. v
Write an acrostic
poem
about a friend. Write the letters of the friend’s first name and use each
letter to begin the first word of each line. Example: LILY Likes to eat Ice cream on a hot, August
day. Licks quickly. Yum! v
Write a letter
to a person in the class who is not a close friend. Tell why you would like to
be friends and three positive traits of the person. v
Interview
three people in class that you do not talk with often. Take notes and write
three positive things you did not know about each person. v
Write a short
story
with a beginning, middle, and ending about friendship between two people or
animals. v
Pretend you are a TV journalist.
You are interviewing two people who had been friends for a long time but are no
long friends. Write a script and dramatize the skit. Work in groups of three:
journalist and 2 former friends. v
Write an article
for the newspaper explaining why it is important to not judge someone until you
get to know him/her. v
Make a story
map.
Chart the main events in the story in the order in which they happen. Identify
and discuss the beginning, middle, and end of the story. v
Rewrite
the
ending of the story. v
Introduce the words “conflict” and
“compromise.” Conflict is a disagreement between two people [or book
characters]. Write an article explaining how Little Ox and Big C could work out
their conflict so they can be friends. Encourage students to write about ways
each of the characters could compromise. v
Dramatize the following emotions: Sad, happy, grouchy,
grumpy, excited, worried, mad, lonely, embarrassed, jealous, etc. v
Pretend you are either Big C or Little Ox. Write a
two-week journal about how you feel. v
Create a poem
about the friendship of Big C and Little Ox. v
Ralph
Waldo Emerson said, “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” In a letter
to the newspaper, explain what you think Mr. Emerson meant. v
The
International Acts of Kindness Day (IAKD) is celebrated on September 25. Each student will write a letter
to the principal or parents explaining how they celebrated the day with specific
acts of kindness toward others. The acts may be as simple as a smile, a “Thank
you” or telling someone they look nice. v
Keep
a “Kindness jar” on your desk filled with stickers etc. Randomly
select a child to take from the jar when you see a student model an act of
kindness. v
Discuss
symbiosis, a relationship in which both animals benefit. Write an article
about symbiosis between the Cape buffalo and the Oxbird. How do they both
benefit? v
Personification means the animals take on characteristics of
humans. What are some of the personifications in this story? Core Content RD-04-2.0.7 Children
will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is read. RD-04-3.0.1 Children
will explain a character’s or speaker’s actions based on a passage.
RD-04-4.0.1
Children will connect
information from a passage to children’ lives (text-to-self), real world
issues (text-to-world) or other texts (text-to-text - e.g., novel, short story,
song, film, website, etc.). RD-04-5.0.2 Children will identify
literary devices such as foreshadowing, imagery or figurative language (similes,
metaphors, and personification). WR-04-1.1.2 In
Personal Expressive Writing, ·
Children
will communicate the significance of the writer’s life experience by narrating
about life events or relationships. ·
Children
will apply the characteristics of the selected form (e.g., personal narrative,
personal memoir). ·
Children
will create a point of view. Children will sustain a suitable tone
or appropriate voice. WR-04-1.1.2 In
Literary Writing, ·
Children
will communicate to an audience about the human condition by painting a picture,
recreating a feeling, telling a story, capturing a moment, evoking an image, or
showing an extraordinary perception of the ordinary. ·
Children
will apply characteristics of the selected form (e.g., short story, play/script,
poem). ·
Children
will create a point of view. ·
Children
will use a suitable tone or appropriate voice. Children will apply a fictional
perspective in literary writing when appropriate. MA-04-4.1.1 Children will analyze and make
inferences from data displays (drawings, tables/charts, tally tables,
pictographs, bar graphs, circle graphs, line plots, Venn diagrams). MA-EP-4.1.2 MA-EP-4.1.3 Children
will organize and display data. SS-EP-1.3.2 Students will identify and give examples of good citizenship at home, at school and in the community (e.g., helping with chores, obeying rules, participating in community service projects such as recycling, conserving natural resources, donating food/supplies) and explain why civic engagement in the community is important. SC-EP-3.4.1 Students will explain the
basic needs of organisms. Organisms have basic
needs. For example, animals need air, water and food; plants need air, water,
nutrients and light. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their
needs can be met. SS-05-1.3.2 Students
will describe specific rights and responsibilities individuals have as citizens
of the United States (e.g., voting in national elections) and explain why civic
engagement is necessary to preserve a democratic society. SC-04-3.4.1 Students will: Compare
the different structures and functions of plants and animals that contribute to
the growth, survival and reproduction of the organisms; make
inferences about the relationship between structure and function in organisms. SC-05-3.5.1 Students will describe
cause and effect relationships between enhanced survival/reproductive success
and particular biological adaptations (e.g., changes in structures, behaviors,
and/or physiology) to generalize about the diversity of populations of
organisms. AH-05-4.3.2 Children
will improvise to tell stories that show action and have a clear beginning,
middle, and end. (Literary elements) AH-06-1.3.1 Students will identify or
describe the use of elements of drama in dramatic works.
AH-07-1.3.1 Students will analyze the use
of elements of drama in dramatic works. Elements of drama: Scenery
(set), Sound, Lights, Make-up, Props, Costumes, Design Acting
(e.g. character motivation and analysis), Speaking (e.g., breath control,
projection, vocal expression, diction), Nonverbal expression (e.g., gestures,
body alignment, facial expression, character blocking and movement, stage
directions - stage left, stage right, center stage, upstage, downstage) |
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