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Class Activities A Little Ditty: The Story of
the World’s Most Famous Song, Happy Birthday by Nancy Kelly Allen Read
and discuss A
Little Ditty: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Song, Happy Birthday.
Ask the following open-ended questions: 1.
What
is a biography? Discuss the definition that means writing about life. A
biography is writing about the life of a person. 2. This book is a dual
biography? What do you think that means? Have you read a biography? If
yes, invite students to discuss the books. 3.
What
makes someone or something famous? 4.
How do
you think it would feel to be famous? 5.
How does
fame affect people? 6.
If you
could be famous for any reason, what would you choose? 7.
Who is a
famous person you admire? Why do you admire that person? 8.
Who is
someone you admire that is not famous? Why do you admire that person? 9.
Why is it
important to do your best work? 10.
What is
an autobiography? 11.
Do you
think the Hill sisters planned to write Happy Birthday in order to be famous?
Explain. 12.
What
impact have the Hill sisters made on music around the world? Ø
Write an alphabetical
biography of a person. Write 26 sentences and/or paragraphs, each beginning
with a different letter of the alphabet. Illustrate each paragraph. Add title
page and staple into a book. Example: L is for Louisville, Kentucky, where the
Hill sisters grew up. Tips: A biography is not a list of facts. A biography is a
story of a person’s life with a beginning, middle, and ending. The biography
should make us care about what the person did and why? Most of all, it should
NOT be boring. Ø
Students
interview each other and write biographies about those they interviewed. Ø
Find
Louisville, Kentucky, on a map. How far is Louisville from your
classroom? Ø
Discuss how
cities have changed since the time the Hill sisters wrote the world’s most
famous song. Consider the following: transportation, lighting, streets,
clothing, schools, communication, housing, etc. Write a story about living in
the late 1800s or early 1900s. Ø
Students brainstorm
words that describe themselves. They use those words to write an autobiography. Ø
Create a pie biography. Cut a circle into eight slices. Students list one
fact about the Hill sisters per slice. Illustrate each slice. Invite students to
dramatize the person by acting a scene from the person’s life. Ø
Write and
perform an original song. Ø
Bio
Poems: Students will write poems about themselves beginning each poem
with the words I am. Ø
Who in the world is _______________? This is a good activity to start the day. Write the
question on the board and add a name. Add a different name each day. Invite
students to use the library, newspaper, Internet, textbooks or other sources to
learn more about the person. You may choose to have students work in teams.
Older students should document the sources from which they retrieved the
information. This activity encourages proper research documentation. Younger
students can locate the information from paragraphs or articles. Ø
Biography Traits: Students read a biography and list quality traits they can apply to
their own lives. Chart the traits and write a paragraph or report on how those
traits can be applied to their own lives along with the expected changes and
outcomes. Younger students can write on the printout of shoes. Post the work on
a wall with the title: Following in the footprints. The student’s name
and the name of the famous person are both listed on each shoe printout. Add
lines for the quality traits and how the traits will affect the life of the
student. Invite students to walk around the room and read the footprints. Ø
Similes: The author used the phrase, “her talent was honed sharp as a
razor.” Explain that author’s use of similes to describe a character and to
paint a picture with words. Invite students to write the following similes using
as and like: Her
smile was as ------- as------------. The
bell rang as --------- as ----------. The
piano sounded as --------- as ----------. The
cat ---- like a -------. The
star ------ like a ---------. Ø
Biography Book Report: Students read a biography and write a book report.
Include a cover page and illustrations with the report. Ø
Students interview
someone they know. Take notes on the subject and write a biography. Ø
Make biography boxes. Who would you like to see on next box of Wheaties?
You can make biography boxes. Paste an illustration that reflects the
person’s live on one side of the box. Paste the biography on the opposite
side. The inside of the box can be used to store items that represent the
person’s life. Ø
Celebrity Guest. Imagine a famous person is going to visit the classroom. Have students
write an introduction that focuses on the part of the life that made the person
famous. Ø
Who’s Who. Students research and write about the person they chose as the
world’s greatest person. This person may or may not be famous. Write about the
characteristics that make the person great. Ø
Rewrite or retell a biography from the point of view of the person’s pet or piece of
clothing, such as a shoe. Ø
Musical books. Place chairs in a circle and place one book under each chair. Play
music. When music stops, students sits, reaches under chair for a book and
reads. When music starts, students place books
under chairs and begin walking. Repeat the activity a few times. After
the musical book walk, place all books on a shelf so students can continue
reading the books of their choice. Ø
Freeze Dance: Students dance to the beat of the music. If the music has a fast
tempo, they move quickly. A slow tempo requires slow movements. When the music
stops, students freeze. Change the music and students dance again. Ø
Left-Right:
Ask student to raise their left hands. Practice lifting left and right hands
until they understand. Then have them march in a circle or around the room to
the beat of the music. Next, have them march in the military fashion of
left-right, left-right to the beat of the music. March in one direction, turn,
and march in the other. Ø
Dramatize
Mildred and Patty Hill as though they are alive today.
Write and perform a discussion between the two women as they talk about their
song being the most famous song in the world. 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,
and 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-EP-4.1.1 Children
will analyze and make inferences from data displays (drawings, tables/charts,
tally tables, pictographs, bar graphs, circle graphs with two or three sectors,
line plots, two-circle Venn diagrams). SS-EP-4.1.1 Children
will use geographic tools (e.g., maps, globes, mental maps, charts, graphs) to
locate and describe familiar places at home, school and the community. SS-04-4.1.1 Children will use geographic
tools (e.g., maps, charts, graphs) to identify and describe natural resources
and other physical characteristics (e.g., major landforms, major bodies of
water, weather, climate, roads, bridges) in regions of Kentucky and the United
States. SS-05-4.1.1 Children will use geographic tools (e.g., maps,
charts, graphs) to identify natural resources and other physical characteristics
(e.g., major landforms, major bodies of water, weather, climate, roads, bridges)
and analyze patterns of movement and settlement in the United States.
SS-EP-4.4.1
Children
will describe ways people modify the physical environment to meet their basic
needs (food, shelter, and clothing). SS-04-4.4.1
Children
will explain and give examples of how people modified the physical environment
(e.g., dams, roads, bridges) to meet their needs during the early settlement of
Kentucky. SS-05-4.4.1
Children
will explain and give examples of how people modified the physical environment
(e.g., building roads, dams, clearing land) to meet their needs during the early
settlement of the U.S. 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-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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