Moon Day

Objective:
The students will explore the tall tale genre.  They will be introduced to the idea of man explaining observed natural phenomena through the use of story telling.

Materials

• The Truth About the Moon by Clayton Bess

• Puppet Worksheet or moon, sun, river, and star shapes cut out for each child

• Tape/glue

• Popsicle sticks

• Crayons, colored pencils, or markers

Procedure

1. Pass out the cut-out shapes or the Puppet Worksheet.

2. Have the students color and label the shapes.

3. The students should then create puppets by gluing or taping the shapes on to the Popsicle sticks.

4. Read the book "The Truth About the Moon" by Clayton Bess. (Summary: An African child is told several stories about the moon, and at the end he still feels he has not learned the truth.)

5. While reading the story, have the students use the appropriate puppets to act out the three tall tale stories.  Teacher direction will be needed to guide the students through this activity.

6. As an alternative, have the class break in to 3 groups after reading the story.  Then let each group make their own props and act out the tall tale they have been assigned or have chosen themselves.

Other Lesson Ideas

1. Read an alternate story from the related literature list and have the students brainstorm and write a list of moon vocabulary.

2. Give the story starter "If the moon were made of _______________ I would..."

3. Have the students write a letter to an astronaut.

4. Do a phonics lesson on the "oo" sound.

5. Write moon poems on cut out moon shapes.