Focus 4: Pourquoi Legends (Lessons 10-11)

Objectives	Activities Sample Lesson 10 Assessment and Evaluation Observation Resource Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears
Predict what text might be about. Use language to think and learn (C). Expand vocabulary and concept knowledge through listening. Gradually incorporate the vocabulary of English language arts into their talk and writing (C).       Listen attentively and courteously. Compare texts. Make and explain decisions (CCT).   Recall details, summarize major events or ideas, share conclusions. Share personal knowledge of a topic. Expand vocabulary and concept knowledge through reading.     Participate in shared language experiences. Identify examples of repeated sound and poetic effects that contribute to enjoyment.	Engaging Activities Display the book's cover and the title. Ask students if they have ever wondered why mosquitoes always seem to buzz around our ears. Can they predict the explanation that this tale might give us? Record their predictions. Ask students to listen for interesting and different words used by the author: Plural endings for words that end in o and ey such as mosquito and monkey follow a consistent pattern in English spelling. Onomatopoeic words and phrases to make descriptions vivid and picturesque. Dialogue to make story characters come alive. Focus students' listening by asking them to listen for the explanation of why mosquitoes buzz in our ears. Exploring Activities Read the tale to students or play a taped reading as you share the illustrations with students. Following the reading, invite students to comment and ask questions. Encourage discussion about this folktale. Does this story remind them of others they have heard? Ask students if they can determine the continent or country of origin. The illustrations and the jungle setting may provide clues. Ask students to recall the animals in the story. Print the names of these animals on the board. (Have students suggest the spelling as you record.) Have students describe the animals and share what they know about them. Where do they live? How many of these animals could we find in Canada? Chart the onomatopoeic words and invite students to pronounce them with you, then chant them: mek, mek, mek badamin, badamin wasawusu, wasawusu krik, krik, krik kaa, kaa, kaa. Reread the story, stopping before these phrases and inviting students to chant them in the story context. Brainstorm and chart onomatopoeic words that are familiar to students.
Participate in shared language experiences.   Use a variety of oral, print, and other media to enhance communication. Use their imaginations to explore various possibilities in dramatic contexts (arts ed). Choose from a variety of forms to communicate. Understand that contour lines form the outline of an object (arts ed). Listen attentively for pleasure and information.	Lesson Extensions (choose one or two) Chart the repeated, cumulative lines in this tale, beginning with "King lion said to council." Students can then share the choral reading of these lines in future readings. Students could pantomime the actions of the creatures in their tale. Pantomime and choral reading could be combined in a story theatre experience. Students could construct plasticine or paper dioramas of favourite jungle scenes from this folktale. Students could look closely at the illustrations in books of African folktales. They could determine the common features. Then they could research and write tales about an African animal, and illustrate them with bold lines and shapes and vivid colours. This book received the Caldecott award in 1976. Explain this award to students and display other Caldecott winners including A Story, A Story. In pairs or small groups, students could create their own pourquoi tales about another insect or jungle animal.
Create original texts to communicate and demonstrate understanding of forms and techniques.	Sample Lesson 11 Assessment and Evaluation Observation Resources Storytellers' Rendezvous Why the Possum's Tail is Bare Film or video of pourquoi tale, such as How the Bear Lost His Tail
Retell stories in own words using appropriate sequence and sufficient detail. Participate in a range of viewing experiences. Recall details, summarize major events, and draw conclusions.   Listen attentively to a range of texts. Compare texts. Use graphic organizers to develop and arrange ideas.	Engaging Activities Ask students to recall some of the familiar folktales they have heard during the past few weeks. Have students recall and tell a folktale that has many versions or different endings. View a video such as How the Bear Lost His Tail. Ask students to recall and retell the tale, sequencing the bear's adventure. Exploring Activities Read "Fox and Bear" in Story Tellers' Rendezvous to students. Encourage students to compare this version to the video. Which story do they prefer? Why? Compose a collaborative story map of this tale. Emphasize the story's ending and the final line of the story text. Observe students' ability to identify story events and recognize what causes particular events and characters' actions.
Read grade-appropriate texts silently and orally with increasing confidence, fluency, and accuracy. Consider various points of view or alternative perspectives (CCT).     Identify words that form mental images and create mood.   Strengthen their perceptual abilities (CCT).     Select and read a variety of texts for information and enjoyment. Demonstrate their achievements in a range of ways (IL).     Create original texts to communicate and demonstrate understanding of forms and techniques.	Lesson Extensions (choose one or two) Make students aware of another print version of "How the Bear Lost its Tail," such as the one in J. Connelly's anthology Why the Possum's Tail is Bare. Connelly's language is very descriptive. Have students read independently or listen to someone else read the selection. Afterwards, create descriptive webs for the bear and the fox. Descriptions in the form of words and statements could result from students' responses to such questions as the following: How would you describe the bear? What would he be thinking out there on the ice? How would you describe the fox? How does he act? What kind of a character is he? Several words and phrases used by Connelly in this pourquoi tale are very picturesque. Reread the story, stopping after sentences and paragraphs to ask students what visual images they see when they hear such language as: "burrow beneath the water" "fox urged the bear" "smacking his lips and hanging his tongue in anticipation of a feast" "sat down to watch for its reappearance" "his tailless descendants." Have students paraphrase such phrases. Have students read different versions of pourquoi tales. This could be done individually or in small groups. Readers might tape the reading for others to listen to during independent reading. Students can retell the stories, one group to another, and compare stories. Groups could contribute information to the unit story maps and a summary chart. Tales such as "Why Dogs Hate Cats" in The Knee-High Man and Other Tales could be compared to "Why Dogs Chase Cats" found in How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have? Students could write their own pourquoi stories.