A Grade One Author Study
Designed by
Carolyn Murphy
Sheehan Elementary School
Westwood, Massachusetts
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If you had a magic pebble,
what would you wish for? When you are on
a long car ride, do you like to tell stories and draw? Your answers could help you become a great
author, just like Leo Lionni! One day
he was on a very long train trip with his grandchildren, and he started to tell a story to help them pass the time.
Using his imagination, little scraps of paper became the characters. It turned out to be his very first book, Little
Blue and Little Yellow!
We are going to get to know Leo Lionni by reading his stories and
learning about his life. Can you help
your teacher make an Author Display Board for a Leo Lionni corner in the
classroom library? Then everyone will
see your ideas about the life and work of Leo Lionni.
You have 3 jobs to work on for the Author Display
Board. Follow the steps in Process to
make a beautiful board!
1. You
will use paper, paint, and clay to create characters from Leo Lionni’s
stories. They could be frogs, mice,
fish or friendly color circles.
2. You will write a story that tells something that happened to your
characters. And you will write three
facts about Leo Lionni.
3. You
will teach friends about Leo Lionni by sharing the Author Display Board.
To help you get ready for 1.
Listen to stories by Leo Lionni.
Your teacher will read these books to you, and ask
you to sign up for a character group.
Swimmy
It’s Mine
Little Blue and Little
Yellow (Click here to find out
how Leo Lionni got the idea for this story)
Alexander
and the Wind-Up Mouse
1. Make
your own characters, using paper scraps, ink pads, markers, clay, and
crayons.
(Click here for tips on how to make cut paper
characters.)
Your teacher will write 4 character names on a
chart. Sign up under the character you would
like to make. You will work with that group and share your materials and
ideas. Collect some other people’s
ideas about these stories by clicking on this site, and choosing the letter L for Lionni.
Swimmy Lydia the Frog Alexander Little Blue and Little Yellow
Swimmy Group – Use the red ink pads to
practice making fish prints with you finger.
Add fins and eyes with the fine line markers. On your big paper, work with your group to take turns stamping
and drawing little fish in the shape of a big fish, with 1 black fish as
Swimmy, the eye.
Tell your group how you think Swimmy helped his
friends.
Lydia the
Frog Group
– Draw the outline of a frog. Fill it in
with shades of green paint, using a sponge.
Add black dots for eyes. Cut out your frogs. Glue them on a big paper.
Tell your group what Lydia and her frog friends
realized after the storm was over in the story, It’s Mine.
Alexander Group - Use cut paper to make
the parts of a mouse. Glue the pieces
down in the shape of mice on big paper. Use crayons to draw a scene behind your mice.
Tell your group if you would rather be a real mouse or
a wind-up mouse, and why.
Click here (choose Our
own Stories ) to see some examples of background scenes from other kids who
love Leo Lionni!
Little Blue and Little Yellow Group –
practice tearing paper into shapes. Use
blue and yellow and carefully tear it into round shapes. Pretend they are characters, and glue them
in many places. Add one red circle.
Tell your group what you think would happen if Little
Blue and Little Yellow met a Little Red.
2. Write at least three
sentences to tell what could be happening to the characters in your group
picture.
(click here to see some other first
graders’ stories using characters like Leo Lionni’s)
Now it is your turn to be
the author! First, check out this
website to review what good
writers do. Talk about the story ideas you shared when you were making the
characters. Add your own ideas. Think of a way to begin your story. Then, tell what happened to your
characters. Finally, write what
happened in the end. Ask an adult to
attach the story paper around the edges of your groups’ character picture.
3. Use the Author Study Board to teach a friend about Leo
Lionni.
Print out the notes about Leo Lionni’s
life that you find on this website.
Ask your teacher to read them to you.
Have your teacher read the author interview out loud to find out
where Leo Lionni got his ideas for stories. Click here for interview and pictures.
Write three interesting things that you want to remember about the way
Leo Lionni lived his life.
Collect pictures of Leo Lionni.
Print them out, trim and glue
them to your writing.
You have worked hard and accomplished
a lot! Now it is time to let your hard
work show.
Arrange
your group’s character poster, and your Leo Lionni facts, then attach them to
the Author Study Board. (visit another
classroom’s Author Corner
by clicking .
Stand with your group near
the Leo Lionni Display Board, and take turns reading your own story and one of
your facts about Leo Leonni to the rest of the class.
How did I do on my Leo
Lionni work?
In each row, circle the box that matches your groups’ work. Write the points in the box below. Add up all your points. The highest score is 20.
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CATEGORY |
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2 |
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Time-management
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My group
used time well throughout the project to get things done on time. |
My group usually uses time well throughout
the project. |
My group
tends to get distracted. |
My group
did not get things done on time. |
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Working
with Others |
We almost
always listen to, and share with each other. |
We usually
listen to, share with, and help each other. |
We often
listen to, share with, and help each other, but sometimes we argue.. |
We rarely
listen to, share with, and help each other. We argue a lot. |
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Focus
on the task |
We always
stay focused on the task and what needs to be done without adult help. |
We focused on the task and what needs to be
done most of the time, without adult help. |
We focus
on the task and what needs to be done some of the time, but often need adult
help.. |
We rarely
focus on the task and what needs to be done, and always need adult help. |
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Pride |
We tried
our best when sharing the Author Display Board. |
We made a
fairly good effort when sharing our Author Display Board. |
We gave
some effort when sharing our Author Display Board. |
We gave
very little effort when sharing our Author Display Board.. |
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Quality
of Work |
We did
excellent work with carefully drawn or cut pictures, and neat handwriting. |
We did
very good work with most pictures and letters carefully done. |
We did
work that needed to be checked/redone
. We spelled some words incorrectly. |
We did
work that usually needs to be checked/redone, with a lot of misspellings. |
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Points |
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The following two sites are
worth visiting before beginning a study of the life and work of Leo
Lionni. They provide an excellent
overview of his life, and insights about his stories and illustrations.
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~tat7979/LEO%20LIONNI.htm
http://smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian/issues97/nov97/books_nov97.html#4
Leo Lionni:A Passion for Creativity – brochure courtesy of The Eric
Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA : 2003
“Meet Leo Lionni”, a video
to be viewed prior to using this Webquest.
Art supplies and writing
paper should be available during the webquest work time.
Please use a digital
camera to photograph the children during their Author Display Board
presentation.
Lionni, Leo, - Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse, Pantheon, 1969
Lionni, Leo, - It’s Mine – Knopf, 1986
Lionni, Leo, - Little Blue and Little
Yellow – Astor-Honor, 1959
Lionni, Leo – Swimmy, Pantheon, 1963
Special thanks to Aly Amaral for her
encouragement and vote of confidence in me during this project.
Connection
to Massachusetts’s Standards
This Leo Lionni Author Study Webquest connects to the state of Massachusetts English Language
Arts Curriculum.
Language Strand
Standard 1 – Follow agreed-upon rules for class discussion
and carry out assigned roles in small group discussion.
Standard 2 – Contribute knowledge in class discussion to
develop the framework for a class project.
Standard 3 – Give oral presentations, using eye contact,
volume, and clear enunciation.
Standard 8 – Students will identify the essential ideas in a
text and use them as the basis for interpretation.
Standard 9 – Students will make connections between a text
and a work of art or another literary or historical work, and support their
conclusions with evidence from the texts or from the artistic works.
Standard 9.2 – Compare several stories written by the same
author.
Standard 11.1 – Identify themes in works of fiction, and
relate them to personal experience.
Media Strand
Standard 26 – Use electronic media for research.
Literature Strand
Standard 17 – Interpret the meaning of different selection
of literary works.
Composition Strand
Standard 19 – Write well-organized compositions with a
beginning, middle and end.