I chose to focus on the story There’s a Dinosaur in the Park! this week. It is a wonderful tale of a dinosaur that only a little boy can see that the park. The boy and the dinosaur play together, explore together and have just plain fun.
Can you guess the reason that no one can see the dinosaur? It really is green and is probably fierce in the smell, but it isn’t a dinosaur it is a trash can.
I chose this book because I wanted JDaniel to open his mind to the possible of things being more than the seem. I also thought this book would help with the book extension I wanted to do.
What did we do with the book?
JDaniel and I created a story elements box. We started by going over the elements or parts of a story. The who, what, where, and when that need to be part of a story. We skipped the why. Why? I decided we had enough elements to contend with given his age. He was pretty familiar with the terms, but we did take a few minutes to break down some familiar stories into their elements to make sure he really understood them.
Then we took an old plastic briefcase that I think came filled with baby care items, and filled it with objects from JDaniel’s room that he thought would be good in a story. He really loved the idea of a character in a story being a letter A and a rocket would be a good setting for a story.
How did your story go?
A lion and a snake live in a birdhouse high up in a tree. One day they notice that a large object has landed in front of a red bear and his car. The car needs to be put into the shop for the weekend. The lion and the snake invite the bear to stay with them while his car is in the shop. He has a great time. They are good friends by the time the bear’s car is ready.
The wonderful thing about a story elements box is that it can be filled with all kinds of treasures. The objects in the box can be changed as often as the storyteller feels necessary. The box is portable so it can be taken with you on car trips or to doctor’s visits. It could also be taken into a child’s bed just before bedtime to create original bedtime stories.
Disclaimer: I am being given copies of the books being featured in the Readathon 2012 in return for writing post based on the books.
