Tell Me a Story Activity
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Tell Me a Story Activity
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Episode 4:
Tell me a Story is a
Literacy-based Program on CAT-TV
Produced by the Bennington Free Library
Sponsored by the Greater Bennington Tell Me a Story Project with Funding from the Vermont Humanities Council
Books featured in Episode 4:
*Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli
*Watch Out for the Chicken Feet in Your Soup by Tomie dePaola
*The Beast of Monsieur Racine by Tomi Ungerer
*Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch
by Eileen Spinelli
Illustrated by Paul Yalowitz
In a little town on a winter day, a postman delivers a mysterious package tied up with a big pink bow to a lonely man named Mr. Hatch. “Somebody loves you,” the note says. Mr. Hatch wondered and wondered. He was all alone. He had no friends. And yet someone had sent him a valentine. Don’t wait until Valentine’s Day to send someone you love a letter with hugs & kisses.
Pop-up Heart Card
You will need: 2 pieces of 8-1/2”x11” paper
scissors
ruler
pencil
markers
materials for decoration
Take the two pieces of paper and fold each piece in half. Put one aside. Place the other paper in front of you with the folded edge on the left. Fold the top corner to make a large triangle. Fold back the triangle. Draw the top part of half a heart from the folded edge to the triangle fold. Cut the top part of the heart, stopping at the triangle fold mark. Open the card and pull the heart towards you. Press the fold lines so that the heart points forward. Decorate the heart. Apply glue to the outside of card. Glue it to the paper you put aside. Do not apply glue in the area of the pop-up heart. Decorate the front of your card.
Write a letter inside the card and send it to an older person– grandparent, aunt, uncle, elderly friend or neighbor.
Watch Out for the Chicken Feet in Your Soup
by Tomie dePaola
Joey says, “Now listen, Eugene, my grandma is nice.
But she pinches my cheeks a lot and her house is full of funny old stuff. She’s always cooking and she talks funny, too. “ Tomie dePaola had an old-fashioned grandmother just like Joey’s. “She was wonderful to me and her bread dolls were a special treat.”
Try Tomie’s recipe for this delicious old-fashioned snack.
Bread Dolls
You will need:
1/4 cup milk 1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening 1 tsp. cinnamon
4 cups sifted flour 1 package dry yeast
3/4 cup sugar 1/8 cup warm water
4 eggs
Scald milk. Add shortening. While this is cooling, mix flour, sugar, salt & cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside. Dissolve yeast in water. Sprinkle sugar on top to activate yeast. Make a well in the flour mixture. Beat eggs & pour into well along with shortening & yeast mixtures. Mix thoroughly. Turn out on floured board & knead until smooth & elastic. Put dough back in bowl & brush top with oil. Then cover w/wax paper & towel & set in a warm place until it doubles in bulk. This should take about 2 hours. Punch it back down & knead slightly. Let it set for 5 minutes & heat the oven at 350 F. On a cookie sheet divide the dough into 3 lemon-sized pieces & 3 orange-sized pieces. Roll pieces into ropes. Place an uncooked egg on end of short rope. Place long rope around egg. Braid. Cover w/dish towels and let rise again. Mix an egg yolk with a bit of water & brush over doll. Bake about 45 minutes. (from Watch Out for the Chicken Feet in Your Soup)
The Beast of Monsieur Racine
By Tomi Ungerer
“No selling, no sharing” is the motto of Monsieur Racine, retired tax collector and prize-winning gardener. But one morning, all the pears on his tree are mysteriously gone! The elderly gentleman discovers a strange creature & it’s eaten his precious fruit. Read this wonderful story and act it out with this enormous gentle beast. You will need help from two friends to work the larger-than-life rod puppet.
Gentle Beast
You will need:
cloth, approx 8’x 9’ newspapers
2 large grocery bags scissors, stapler
32” control rod paint, glue
4’ broomstick or dowel markers
2, 3-1/2’ broomsticks or dowels
duct tape or strong twine
15-1/2” cardboard tube
decorations for head
Fold large cloth lengthwise. Mark tunic outline & cut through both layers. Sew or staple the two edges together, leaving bottom & ends of sleeves open. Place 32” control rod across the body control rod (4’ broomstick) to form the shoulder crosspiece. Position it 5” down from the top to form a cross. Duct tape together. To form the head: stuff 1 grocery bag inside the other and decorate w/paint. Stuff the head with newspaper.
Place cardboard tube inside head and tape to the tube. To assemble the beast: Fit the tunic over the shoulder-body control rod. Cut a small hole in the middle of the top folded edge of the tunic so that the top 5” of body rod pokes through. Staple a 3-1/2” broomstick/dowel to each sleeve
as hand rods. Secure the head & neck tube to body rod w/duct tape. One child can get inside tunic, while 2 other children operate the arms.
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Illustrated by Julie Vivas
“What’s a memory?”, asks Wilfrid Gordon
McDonald Partridge. His house was next door to an old people’s home and he knew all the people who live there. Wilfrid Gordon asks everyone this question & their answers may surprise you. Make a box to keep your special mini-treasures & share the memories with someone you love.
Memory Boxes
You will need: medium weight craft paper
ruler
pencil
scissors
glue
decorations for box top
Measure & cut out one 4-1/2” square for the box top and one 4-1/4” square for the box bottom. Draw an “X” across the back of both squares, corner to corner. Using one paper square, fold one corner to the center of the “X”. Fold the same section again to the center line. Unfold paper & repeat with each of the other three corners.
Repeat for the second paper square. Make four cuts into the square along the fold lines. Fold in the sides that are shaped like big triangles & bend corners to form the sides of the box. Fold the other two sections over the sides and tuck them in on the inside of the box. Use a dab of glue to hold. Decorate the top of the box. Fill with special treasures .
Create “Memory Boxes” as gifts for your friends and family.
More Books to Share:
*Abuela
by Arthur Dorros
*Grandfather’s Journey
by Allen Say
*Grandparents’ Houses: Poems About Grandparents
Selected by Corrine Streich
*I Danced in My Red Pajamas
by Edith Thacher Hurd
*Miss Rumphius
by Barbara Cooney
*Mr.Putter & Tabby Bake a Cake
by Cynthia Rylant
*Nana Upstairs & Nana
Downstairs
by Tomie dePaola
*Sugaring
by Jessie Haas
*Watch the Stars Come Out
by Riki Levinson
Click for Episode 1 Activity Page
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Click for Episode 3 Activity Page
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