Tell Me a Story Activity Page
Episode 6:
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 6:
*The Biggest, Best Snowman by Margery Cuyler
*North Country Spring by Reeve Lindbergh
*Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens
*Possum’s Harvest Moon by Anne Hunter
The Biggest Best Snowman
by Margery Cuyler
Illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
Little Nell lives with BIG Mama, BIG Sarah, & BIG Lizzie. They think she’s too small to do anything. So Little Nell goes into the BIG snowy woods to play with her friend Reindeer, Hare, & Bear Cub. They don’t think she’s too small at all. They think she can even build a BIG Snowman. And with their help, she does—the biggest, best snowman ever! Little Nell makes her big snowman with billions of little snowflakes. The next time you venture out into the snow, ponder the wonder of the snowflake!
Snowflake Study
The Science of Snowflakes:
Snowflakes are first formed with the creation of snow crystals. Snow crystals are created when water vapor becomes deposited on a tiny particle called an ice nucleus or when the ice nucleus causes tiny droplets of supercooled water to freeze. Snowflakes are created when these ice crystals join together while falling through the sky. Sometimes as many as 100 ice crystals cling together to form a snowflake. Flakes are sometimes a simple shape, but often a snowflake is a complex star with beautiful details. Step outside during a snowfall & you will have a museumful of crystals to study—and no two are alike!
You will need: falling snow
dark cloth or paper
handheld magnifying lens
ruler, paper, pencil
Step outside with your dark paper or cloth & begin collecting snowflakes. What shapes do the snowflakes have in common? See you if can find & measure the largest snowflake. Take a look at the snowflakes under the lens. Try drawing one of the snowflakes that you have studied.
North Country Spring
by Reeve Lindbergh
Illustrated by Liz Sivertson
More than any other season, spring has a way of calling out to us, of telling us that the dark & cold of
winter is over. Reeve Lindbergh’s verse and Liz Siverston’s paintings invite us to hear the voice inside every new thing, the song of beginnings, the song of spring! Together, poet and painter celebrate the beauty of a season that can never come too soon.
Join in the celebration with a poem & painting of your own creation.
Celebrate the Spring Scene
You will need: thick tempera paint—green, blue, white, purple, yellow, orange, red, brown, & black
wide brushes
construction paper
water for rinsing
pencils for sketching
Step outside in the springtime air & breathe in the colors, sounds & smells. Sketch out what you see and paint the scene with thick brushy strokes just like Liz Siverston’s illustrations.
Spring Synonym Poetry
A synonym is a word that means the same thing or almost the same thing as another word.
A synonym poem is as short as a rhyming poem can be: two lines. Before you start drafting your poem, do some brainstorming on paper. Start with a SPRING word. Make a list of words that are synonyms for that word. When your list has a dozen or so words, look for the ones that will make up your first line of poetry. When you have a first line that sings a spring song for you,
Write out a good second line that will complete your poem with a rhyme.
Tops & Bottoms
by Janet Stevens
Bear has lots of money and lots of land—and he’s lazy. Hare has nothing but a hungry family—and he’s smart. Hare is sure there’s a way to share the wealth, so he proposes that if Bear donates land, Hare will handle labor & they will split the crop in half. All Bear has to do is choose the half he wants-tops or bottoms. Lazy Bear takes tops but finds once the harvest is in that he’s been tricked by clever Hare! You can prove that all is not lost for Bear—if only he know how to plant a topsy-turvy windowsill dish garden.
Topsy-Turvy Dish Garden
You will need: shallow container or a large
plastic jug (cut down to 1” high on the sides)
sand
water
charcoal bits
Sprinkle charcoal bits in the bottom of the dish– this will prevent the soil from turning moldy. Cover with a layer of sand. Plant these fruit and veggie tops for an interesting topsy-turvy garden.
Carrots: Carrots must be started in water, so begin them a few days before you put your garden together. Cut the carrot tops off, leaving about 1” of carrot below the top. Set the tops in a bowl of water until they begin to sprout new leaves on top.
Pineapple: Cut off the top 2” of the fruit. Let it dry for 2-3 days, and then plant it in the moist sand.
Beets: Cut the tops off, as you did for carrots. Trim the leaves off and plant the top in the sand.
Keep the sand moist, but not too wet, & place in a sunny spot.
Possum’s Harvest Moon
by Anne Hunter
When Possum wakes up one autumn evening and sees the ripe harvest moon rising over the meadow, he wants to do something to celebrate. He decides to throw a party but everyone is too busy getting ready for winter to go to Possum’s party. Will anyone help Possum celebrate the beautiful moon?
Crocodile Finger Puppets
You will need: a set of green gloves
felt scraps
white glue, tape
wiggly eyes
permanent markers
pipe cleaners
poster board
scissors
Cut off glove fingers for base of finger puppet or roll a rectangle of poster board or felt into a tube that fits over your finger. Secure it with tape. Create a croc mouth and glue or tape onto body. Add wiggly eyes and decorate with markers & stuff… Make a set of 10 crocs and retell the story. Have fun counting crocodiles from one to ten & back again.! A friend can pretend to be the clever little monkey or you can make a finger puppet to play the part!
More Books to Share:
*Crinkleroot’s Nature Almanac
By Jim Arnosky
*How a Shirt Grew in the Field
by Marguerita Rudolph
*Mouse Days: A Book of Seasons
By Leo Lionni
*Ox-cart Man
by Donald Hall
*The Reasons for Seasons
by Linda Allson
*Seasons
By John Burningham
*The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree
by Gail Gibbons
*Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back:A Native American Year of Moons
by Joseph Bruchac
*Winter Poems
selected by Barbara Rogasky
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