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It is exciting to find a book that lends itself to creative thinking, simple research, and logical reasoning. This picture book allows students to think and create. Enrichment teachers know the value of a well-timed picture book. Many gifted students read early, so they move on to chapter books quickly and miss a lot of the fun art of picture books. Also, picture books allow the whole class to enjoy a story and art together. The best picture books allow a class to go beyond the covers and create something new, and Roger McGough's Until I Met Dudley does just that. A Summary of Until I Met Dudley McGough's book is written in a pattern students will quickly pick up on. The innocent narrator offers an imaginative explanation for a common household appliance, and then Dudley offers a technical explanation on the following pages. Because the art is done by the legendary Chris Riddell, it is both playful and precise. When the narrator details how cats lick dishes clean inside a dishwasher, the art is fun and detailed. When Dudley explains how a dishwasher actually works, the art is technical with bright, happy lines. Using Until I Met Dudley to Encourage Creative Thinking After students have seen and heard Until I Met Dudley, many of them will want to make their own similar stories. This is the perfect chance for teachers to develop creative thinking skills. Instruct students to fluently list mechanical objects that they want to learn more about, and then have them come up with a creative explanation of how it works. It is important that teachers allow students a wide range of possible springboards. Many students will choose musical instruments and toys, which is fine. Although everything in the book plugs in, the objects students choose do not need to be limited to electrical appliances. Students should sketch out a picture of the creative explanation, and then then write a short narrative (about a paragraph, like the book) to connect the picture to the back story. Using Until I Met Dudley to Encourage Simple Research Once students have created the creative explanation, it is time to research the real explanation. Even if students think they know how, teachers should insist they look up the technical points because Until I Met Dudley is a very precise book and students will need to echo that exactness. The book The Way Things Work by David Macaulay and the website for How Stuff Works is an excellent resource for students. After students have learned the actual workings of the object, they need to create a detailed diagram and explain how it works, again writing a short paragraph that echoes Dudley's style of explaining. How Until I Met Dudley Encourages Logical ReasoningIn both the creative and the logical explanations, students need to present a logical flow of cause and effect to show how something works. The book is so thorough that students will find themselves developing logical skills simply through the art of creating and discussing diagrams. Teachers should allow at least four hours for this activity, depending on what research resources are available. Binding the pages to create a class version of Until I Met Dudley will tie the whole thing together and offer something to share with parents as they are learning more about the enrichment program and demonstrating how students think, create, and learn individually. Until I Met Dudley: How Everyday Things Really Work (ISBN: 0711211299) was published by Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd in 1999 and is still readily available. It was written by Roger McGough and illustrated by Chris Riddell. Originally posted on Suite101 on June 23rd, 2009
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Reading two books, giving kids notebooks, and providing photos and art supplies will help make a follow-up activities that are worthy of putting in a museum!
Going to a museum can be more meaningful and impacting if kids know what they will be doing with all the visual information they soak up. Gifted kids are usually great with museums. They read all the display cards, they study the exhibits, and without guidance, they end up exhausted and overloaded with information. Books to Read Before Going to the Museum Three books really set kids up to do great work upon returning from a museum. They help prepare kids for what to pay attention to at the museum, what details to look for, and what to create upon the return to the gifted classroom. Using The Night at the Museum for Creative Writing Students will already be familiar with the movie adaptations of Night at the Museum, which lends itself nicely to a museum scavenger hunt. The book is different than the museum. The characters not as developed, and the picture book is actually a mystery that the night guard, Larry, must solve: what happens to the dinosaurs. The follow- up activity for this book will be for students to create their own Night at the Museum story based on exhibits at their museum. After reading the short picture book, instruct students:
Using When Pigasso Met Mootise for Replacement Art and Creative Writing Two animals, a pig who creates brilliant, abstract art and a cow who splashes color across inventive lines, become competitive friends in Nina Laden's beautiful story about the real life friendship and tribulations of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. The art is based on actual Picasso and Matisse paintings, but the humans of the originals have been replaced by animals. The follow-up activity for this book will be for students to recreate art with something else in the place of people (or the reverse), so students should be prepare to find pictures that lend themselves to being redrawn. Instruct students to:
Back in the Classroom Although students will be tempted to make their own picture books, that is an activity that really depends on available work time and student ability. Gifted kids like to get immersed in projects, so creating books could become an option for free-choice centers after the original class books are made. The goal of the projects is to start with picture books, go to a museum, and create something new that can be shared in the classroom. If students are able to bring cameras, remind them to take pictures with the flash off. Otherwise, they can usually print out displays from the museum website or they can even draw pictures. If students are not able to go on the field trip, the Museum of Modern Art in New York has a lovely virtual museum with a lot of odd and beautiful works, including the art from When Pigasso Met Mootise, online for exploration. The Night at the Museum (0764136313) by Milan Trenc was published by Barron's Educational Series in November, 2006. When Pigasso Met Mootise (0811811212) by Nina Laden was published by Chronicle Books in July, 1998. Originally posted on Suite101 July 7th, 2009 |
AuthorAlly Sharp is a teacher, writer and editor, and technology trainer. Archives
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