Exploring the Great Outdoors - Meridian International Center

Edward McCandlish, Portfolio
Suggested Activity:
• Explain that authors use descriptive words to help the reader make a picture in his/her mind. For
example, an author might write, “The tall dark stranger walked into the room.” This helps the
reader form a better picture than if that author had written, “The stranger walked into the room.”
Explain that the words “tall” and “dark” help us to picture that person walking into the room.
And what if the author really wanted to emphasize this by making the words appear tall and
dark, like this:
The tall dark stranger walked into the room.
• Now have the students make similar changes in words as they write a sentence.
Get their creative juices flowing with the following:
If the word grow looks like this: g r o w
How would the word shrink look
Carlo Alberto Michelini, The Falling Star
Suggested Activity:
• Share one or more of the following die-cut books with your students:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Secret Birthday Message by Eric Carle
The Magic Fan by Keith Baker
Nanta’s Lion by Suse MacDonald
My School by Peter Spier
Related Activities
Now encourage a discussion of the technique of using die-cut pages in a picture book. Ask them
to think of stories they already know and then suggest what shapes would be appropriate for
these stories. For example: In Jack and the Beanstalk there could be a hole in the page on which
Jack plants his bean seed; and on the page where Jack climbs the beanstalk into the clouds, the
top of the page could be cut into a cloud shape. Using drawing paper, scissors, and art supplies,
each student should now create a booklet retelling a fairy/folk tale using the die-cut technique in
the book. The pages may then be stapled together to form the actual booklets and placed in a
central location for students to borrow and read.
Maud and Miska Petersham, Hans Brinker
Suggested Activity:
• After the students have had an opportunity to study the beautiful Petersham artwork from Hans
Brinker, ask them how the scene makes them feel. Copy their words on the chalkboard as they
express their feelings. Now ask them exactly how they would paint one of these words from the
chalkboard. You may want to begin this lesson by using a verb such as “hop.” Ask the students
how they might paint the word “hop.” Of course, they could simply show a boy or girl hopping,
but encourage more creativity. What about grasshoppers and rabbits And on windy days don’t
clouds seem to hop and leap-frog over one another Tell them to use their imagination and not
to be satisfied with the usual. Now tell them to paint how the word makes them feel. Explain
that it does not have to be a painting of a thing. Try painting the feeling. Different colors can
24