First Graders need to do things with a text to create meaning. They need to play with it, pull it apart, and connect it with their reality.

Try these activities with your class.

1. Create a picture of what is happening in the story - physically and mentally!.

Give each student a large piece of paper. Ask them to draw or paint the background first. This provides a great opportunity to explore setting. Give each student another piece of paper. Then ask them to draw the characters, color, cut and glue them onto their setting. This is provides a great opportunity to explore characters.

If you can, add textural features to the picture: cotton wool for clouds, sticks for cabins, scrap material for clothes, scrunched paper for leaves or shiny paper for windows. This provides a great opportunity to explore describing words (adjectives) used in the story.

2. Using the Whiteboard

Draw (or photocopy and enlarge) one set of the characters from the story and challenge your class to use them to retell the story. Stick blue tack on the back of the characters and place them on a whiteboard. One at a time students can come and retell parts of the story. (Who can show us what happens at the start? What happens next? Then what happens? Then what happens? How does it end?) This becomes even more fun if you draw on the setting and other elements using a whiteboard marker.

3. Play Time

Students create their own version of one of the characters in the story. They can simply draw it on to thick card, color and then cut it out. Of course, if you have one, a photocopied version could be provided. The students are then asked to take the character with them during free play time. Guide their thinking by asking them: What are you going to show your character? What do you think they would like to do? Who do you think they would like to play with? What do you think they wouldn't like to do?
After free time let the students share what happened.

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