Book Lesson
Objective: To recite a story with an important moral and have children either recreate this story or make a similar on that follow the same themes.
Background: The story chosen for this lesson plan is Lowanu the wise woman. This story is about a village wise woman who was very young for that title. One day children of the village saw that the sky was falling. This was happening close to their spring festival and if the sky continued to fall the town would be disgraced. The children sought help from Lowanu and she sent them back to collect the missing pieces of the sky. The children were unsuccessful and went back home discouraged. The next day at the spring festival they saw Lowanu had replaced the missing pieces of the sky with bright lights (symbolizing stars). The sight was beautiful, and everybody cheered.
Materials: White computer paper (enough for each student to have 3 pieces), pencils, colored pencils, crayons, markers, stapler
Prep: Choose a story with an important lesson at the end. For this example, Lowanu the Wise Woman was chosen. This was chosen because the story involved children helping the main character, making it relatable to the young class, and it was a lesser known story from Chinese mythology, so there is a greater chance of the children not hearing about it. Once you have chosen your story, take 3 pages of white computer paper and fold them in half to create a book. Write the story and illustrate it within these pages.
Steps:
- Introduce the themes of the story you have picked and talk about what goes into making a good story, discussing plot, characters, and other elements.
- Bring out your copy of the story and read to the class, showing the illustrations in between each page turn.
- Ask the class what was important in this story, what they can learn from it, and what their favorite part was.
- Hand out three sheets of white computer paper to students, pencils, colored pencils, crayons, and markers.
- Have the students either recreate this story or create a similar one based off the values and structure of this story.
- Check in with the students as they work to see how they are progressing. Some students will take the initiative and won’t need much help. Other students may need you to help them move their story along. This doesn’t mean you should give them a story to draw but instead go up to them and ask questions like “Who is our main character?” “What is happening to them in this story?” “Okay, what happens after that? And after that?” and “How does this story end?” Some students may need you to write their ideas down on the paper, but they can focus on illustrating their story and telling you exactly what to write.
- If there is extra time have any willing students volunteer and share their story.