Jeffrey and Sloth

Jeffrey and Sloth

This project features use of a touchstone picture book for students to learn about writer's craft. Jeffrey and Sloth is an engaging picture book by Kari-Lynn Winters and illustrated by Ben Hodson.

All writers can immediately relate to Jeffrey, who has an assignment to write but can't think of something to write about. He doodles on his paper and suddenly, one of his doodles, a sloth, comes to life! The rest of the story entertains with wacky adventures and conversations between these two characters. Eventually, Jeffrey figures out that the writer is in charge and can make his characters, even a bossy sloth, do whatever he likes.

The first graders loved Jeffrey and Sloth ! A furry pal, Sloth, watches over all our reading and writing lessons now.

We were fortunate to be able to share conversations by email with the author, Kari-Lynn Lynn Winters, as we read the book. Kari-Lynn approached our class and asked if we would be interested in reviewing and responding to Jeffrey and Sloth and... if we wanted to read her new manuscript for the story's sequel...

WOW! How could we say no? We invited Mrs. Callahan's 4th grade buddy class to join in the project. It's been an exciting learning experience for all of us. Please visit Kari-Lynn 's website to find out more about this exceptional author and teacher.

Email Conversations
With Author

Our Response Activities
Our Character Poems

Kari-Lynn Winters Website

Jeffrey and Sloth Lesson Plan by Kari-Lynn Winters

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Jeffrey and Sloth?

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December 2007 Author, Kari-Lynn Winters: I am a children's author up in Canada ... I have written the book Jeffrey and Sloth. It is about writing, specifically about getting over writer's block. I am wondering: Would your class be interested in reading aloud Jeffrey and Sloth in book form ... discussing it or reviewing it ...?
Gr. 1 Students: Was it hard to write a book?	Author: Not hard, because I love it so much. But it does take a lot of work.
Gr. 1 Students: Why was Sloth just called Sloth? Jeffrey has a name.	Author: Sloth is really a figment of Jeffrey's imagination-a doodle or a character. When you draw, do you name each of the animals in your picture? Or do you say, for example, "There's a cat riding a bike" or "This is a fish doing a back flip." Also, I think just Sloth is funny. Do you? If Sloth had a name, what would it be? What do you think Sloth's real name is? How about you? So many things can happen. I think that Jeffrey and Sloth should go on lots of adventures together? Where do you think they should go? To Mars? To the bottom of the ocean? To the shopping mall? What do you think?
Mrs. M: Suggestions for Sloth's name were typical for first grade - Willie, Billy, Harry, Henry, etc. We had lots of ideas for another Jeffrey and Sloth adventure: the ocean, a city, Paris, outer space, the sewer, zoo, North Pole, a castle, Hawaii, India, Antarctica, a snowstorm, on a boat, Africa (with lions), China, in a play, a police station, and a "regular" forest - hmm - that's a lot of books!
Gr. 1 Students: When does the illustrator get to see the book?	Author: The illustrator gets to see the book once the book has been accepted for publication. This means that I have to send the story to the publisher and they have to decide that this is a book they want to create. What do you think about Ben's illustrations? I think they are fantastic!
Mrs. M: We loved Mr. Hodson's pictures, especially when Jeffrey made Sloth do things to find his cozy blanket like climb mountains, trek across the tundra, paddle the lakes, and dig a hole through the earth to India. The pictures showed poor Sloth struggling with hard work when all he really wants to do is take a nap with his blanket! We also liked how the parts where Jeffrey was writing were in the white boxes with a different font, making it easier to read.
Gr. 1 Students: Did Jeffrey have to make doodles for homework?	Author: No. Actually I don't think so. I think he uses the doodles to procrastinate-or think about things. But, I think doodles really help when you want to write a story. Sometimes I use doodles or collages myself. How about you? How do doodles help you write?
Gr. 1 Students: Will you write another story about Jeffrey and Sloth?	Author: I will keep writing them so long as the publisher keeps accepting them. I wonder what the next story should be about. I wonder if your teacher could tell me some of the biggest problems kids have with writing. So far I have looked at writer's block and .... Perhaps spelling? Or editing? Hmmm. My book PuntuACTION which comes out in 2010 is about punctuation. Also, where should J &S go next? I really appreciate your great questions. I hope to hear back from you soon. Thanks so much, Kari-Lynn
Grade 4 Hi Kari-Lynn , Thanks for the opportunity to read about Jeffrey and Sloth. My fourth graders loved it. We do a tremendous amount of writing, so they know all about "writer's block"! I actually heard a boy reference the book today during Writer's Workshop. Mrs. Callahan's 4th grade Class
Winters, K. (In Press, 2010). Punctu-ACTION. Vancouver: Gumboot Books.

new

About the New Book ...

Dear Kari-Lynn -Lynn Winters,

We loved your new book! There are many funny parts... Thank you for letting us work with you on this project!

Sorry! That's all we can post until the next adventure of Jeffrey and Sloth is published. Our 1st and 4th grade classes sent comments, suggestions and questions to Kari-Lynn after reading the manuscript. Then we read her revised version - some of OUR ideas were there! When the book is published, our student work will be posted.

However I can tell you that even though the first graders listened to two versions of Kari-Lynn 's manuscript (more than once) they never lost interest. We have been working on visualizing as an active reading strategy all year so listening to a story without pictures was not new to the children. They were very impressed to learn that the author revised her story many, many times before considering it ready to send to the publisher, and that the illustrator doesn't see the book until it's all been written, edited and revised.

That's all for now ...

Response Activities

Our Jeffrey and Sloth project was an exceptional opportunity to collaborate with a "real author" and use a touchstone book in writing lessons. Thank you, Kari-Lynn -Lynn Winters!

Rereading various passages for different instructional purposes is the hallmark of using a touchstone book. One activity focused on word choice and using interesting words in our writing. Here is a chart we made highlighting our favorite Jeffrey and Sloth words:

Jeffrey and Sloth will be used again in class mini lessons on action words. Beamed, sketched, stammered, and muttered are great choices!

Another important learning activity was to identify the story elements of setting, characters, problem, solution. This anchor chart remains posted and we'll use to discuss similar characteristics of other stories. Click the picture to see it larger.

Character Poems

The students selected one of the two story characters. They each wrote a 4 - line list poem and ended it with a sentence. Most chose the bossy Sloth to write about. Holly's illustration shows him looking for his cozy blanket. Click the image to read all the poems. When you read the book, send an email and tell us about your favorite character!