 This project is our
second literacy collaboration with student teachers from Virginia Commonwealth University
(VCU) and fourth graders in Wisconsin. In the fall (2002) we read, discussed, and
shared activities about Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing. For
our new project, we selected to read Astrid Lindgren's, Pippi Longstocking.
Pippi is quite a character and just as outrageous as Fudge Hatcher!
Summary: Pippi Longstocking lives in a house in Villa Villekulla. She only lives
with a monkey named Mr. Nilsson and a horse. Her mother in an angel in heaven. Her father
was a sailor but now is a king on a cannibal island. Her neighbors and best friends
are Tommy and Annika. Pippi is very, very strong and doesn't go to school. She has
many adventures.
The story was read aloud over a period
of three weeks. Each chapter was filled with lots of action and challenging
vocabulary! We posted a few special
vocabulary words that the students found particularly interesting. We continue
to be on the lookout for these words in other reading material.
During the whole-class read aloud
time, we discussed word meanings, made predictions, summarized after a few pages, and made
connections to other parts of the text, different texts, and to our own lives.
Smaller groups of students also talked about the story together in our Story Circles.
While the 4th graders and college
students discussed the book in Literature Circles, we used a format that was more suitable
for first grade. Fresh from last semester's experience with small group book
talks, some changes were made to our initial format.
Our Story Circles consisted of three
to six students with one assigned role, the Manager. Each time we met (after 2 - 3
chapters), the Managers changed. Everyone was expected to contribute their
ideas and Mrs. M. was the facilitator for the groups. The best arrangement was with
two groups, sitting in a small circle of chairs. Mrs. M. was able to move easily
between the two groups.
Some of the topics our firstgraders
discussed were:
* character sketches of Pippi,
Tommy, Annika
* favorite parts of various chapters
* funny and serious parts of the story
* Pippi's made-up stories
* what it's like to live without any grownups
* why Pippi should go to school
(click blue lines to see what we
wrote)
Upon completion of the reading, our
VCU partners suggested several activities for us to do. We
wrote and illustrated acrostic poems, 5 senses poems, and postcards from Pippi's
Dad.
Click on the links below to visit our partners'
project pages.
Enjoy their creative ideas!
|
