Educators' Guides for Zig and Wikki
in Something Ate My Homework
HARDCOVER ISBN-13 978-1-935179-02-3
LEXILE LEVEL: GN 230
GUIDED READING LEVEL: K
LEXILE LEVEL: GN 230
GUIDED READING LEVEL: K
Lesson Plan
Elementary (Technology, Art)
Overview | Students who love comics, drawing, technology, or all three, can use presentation software to adapt the format of this title to use in their own books that combine fiction and nonfiction. |
Subject | Writing, Information Fluency, Technology and Art Extension |
Standards | Visit www.toon-books.com/edustandards for more details |
Grade Level | Various Upper Elementary Grade Levels |
Objectives | Students will use a combination of research results, fiction narrative, art and presentation software to create an electronic picture book that combines fic- tion and nonfiction. |
Before Reading | As this project is more involved than a typical report or presentation, it may be best to present it as an enrichment activity to students who show a par- ticular inclination to comics and/or technology. Introduce the design features—pinpointing in particular the different func- tions of the speech bubbles and information boxes—before assigning the book for independent reading. |
During Reading | Follow with a discussion about graphic and text features. Brainstorm pos- sibilities that the student(s) can use to adapt these features into a book of their own. A report on animals or volcanoes, for instance, could feature the student as the adventurer host of a mock documentary. Following the prem- ise of Zig and Wikki more closely, aliens could have a misadventure with a skunk. I chose PowerPoint as the medium to construct the project because the students in my school become familiar with it by third grade. The major difference here is that they will not be using bullet points. The books are assembled from background images resized to fit an entire slide, scanned drawings, speech bubbles and text boxes. I tested it on one hard-to-motivate student. The project suddenly had him formulating search terms, thinking about information and meaning, format- ting text and images and searching for ways for his text to make sense and be funny! |
Third Grade (Science)
Overview | This book provides a wonderful segue into investigations about animal diet, food chains and anatomical adaptations at various grade levels. |
Subject | Science and Information Fluency |
Standards | Visit www.toon-books.com/edustandards for more details |
Grade Level | Third Grade |
Objectives | Using Zig and Wikki as a starting point, students will investigate and com- pare and contrast body structures that enable animals, including humans, to eat and to sense their surroundings. |
Reading | The manner of reading the title is entirely a matter of preference to the instructor. Students may pursue it individually or in small groups, sharing several hard copies or referring to the e-book. This title can also be used as a shared, whole-group reading when projected. Teachers may even opt to assign roles to the students to practice their oral fluency (as is recommended for Luke on the Loose by Harry Bliss: http://toon-books.com/lp_luke.php). The bottom line is that they should read it in another forum so that they can transition more readily into the research activities. |
Before Launching the Connection | In order to succeed in the inquiry extension, students must have prior exposure to the concept of physical adaptations in animals. One easy way to accomplish this is to compare the form and function of the mouths of various well-known animals, including humans. |
After Reading | Connect to science through reexamining the points at which the animals that Zig and Wikki are trying to catch end up as the lunch of a successively larger animal. If the term food chain has not yet been introduced in science class, do so now. Wonder aloud if each animal in the text really eats what the author claims. Use these animals as models to practice the formulation of search terms, identifying relevant sources, and using sources to verify and expand information. The narrow scope will keep students focused on relevant information. An advantage of teaching these skills through an animal-related project is that much of the information they locate will be intellectually accessible to them. Once they have practiced with the animals in the book, you may direct them to an independent project involving local flora and fauna. This text also presents fifth graders and those ready for more challenging work the opportunity to expand the practice food chain into a food web. More challenging (and perfect for group work) is the concept of a Muir web that combines food chains with habitat needs. (Visit www.themannahat- taproject.org/download/curriculum/) |
Fourth & Fifth Grade (Science)
Overview | This book provides a wonderful segue into investigations about animal diet, food chains and anatomical adaptations at various grade levels. |
Subject | Science and Information Fluency |
Standards | Visit www.toon-books.com/edustandards for more details |
Grade Level | Fourth and fifth grade |
Objectives | Students will verify facts regarding animal diet presented in Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework and identify additional relevant information in order to construct a diagram of a food chain or a food web. |
Reading | The manner of reading the title is entirely a matter of preference to the instructor. Students may pursue it individually or in small groups, sharing several hard copies or referring to the e-book. This title can also be used as a shared, whole-group reading when projected. Teachers may even opt to assign roles to the students to practice their oral fluency (as is recommended for Luke on the Loose by Harry Bliss: http://toon-books.com/lp_luke.php). The bottom line is that they should read it in another forum so that they can transition more readily into the research activities. |
After Reading | Connect to science through reexamining the points at which the animals that Zig and Wikki are trying to catch end up as the lunch of a successively larger animal. If the term food chain has not yet been introduced in science class, do so now. Wonder aloud if each animal in the text really eats what the author claims. Use these animals as models to practice the formulation of search terms, identifying relevant sources, and using sources to verify and expand information. The narrow scope will keep students focused on relevant information. An advantage of teaching these skills through an animal-related project is that much of the information they locate will be intellectually accessible to them. Once they have practiced with the animals in the book, you may direct them to an independent project involving local flora and fauna. This text also presents fifth graders and those ready for more challenging work the opportunity to expand the practice food chain into a food web. More challenging (and perfect for group work) is the concept of a Muir web that combines food chains with habitat needs. (Visit www.themannahat- taproject.org/download/curriculum/) |
Kindergarten (Science)
Overview | This book provides a wonderful segue into investigations about animal diet, food chains and anatomical adaptations at various grade levels. |
Subject | Science and Information Fluency |
Standards | Visit www.toon-books.com/edustandards for more details |
Grade Level | Kindergarten |
Objectives | Students will use simple text, images, video resources or live observation to identify, in broad terms, the diets of various animals. |
Before Reading | Because the format of this book—with varying numbers of panels per page—is complex, it is advisable to familiarize students with the conven- tions of the graphic genre through Level 1 TOON Books. |
Reading | It is recommended that you project the e-version of Zig and Wikki (www. toon-books.com/rdr_three.php#zig) when reading aloud to young stu- dents. This will make it easier for them to see the details and interpret the image-dependent elements of the plot. Due to the length of the story, many may want to break up the initial reading into chapters, of which there are three. |
After Reading | Connect to science through reexamining the points at which the animals that Zig and Wikki are trying to catch end up as the lunch of a successively larger animal. Wonder aloud if each animal really eats what the author claims. Does it eat anything else? The rest of the project has been left open ended. Students may investigate the animals mentioned in the book or other common animals to find out what they eat. Provide books with simple text, images or videos. (One excellent site for images and video is www.arkive.org.) Another possibility for exploration is direct observation of a classroom pet. In this case, permit students to smell and touch the pet food to try to determine whether it is plant-based or animal-based. Read the ingredients to your students. The final product can take a variety of forms, such as paper-and-pencil drawing and writing, class charts, VoiceThread (www.voicethread.com), etc. |
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