FOXES

What does the fox say on a chilly night?

The fox Went Out on a Chilly Night by Peter Spier was published in 1961 and was republished in 2014. When I saw the new republication in 2014 I knew right away I wanted to do a program on the fox. and includ the recent publication of What Does the Fox Say?  My concern with Peter Spiers' book is that it is small and the beautiful drawings are so detailed. When I found that the Weston DVD, Dem Bones, had the video of The fox went out on a chilly night, it it was settled. I read the book first so the children could adsorb the text, then I played the sing a long animated video. I must say that some of the children were horrified as the fowl were eaten, bones and all and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I saved What does the fox say? for the end of the program and I played Ylvis and sang along with the book. Several of the boys knew the dance moves to the song, so I had them come up front and lead everyone. We had a book dance party. 

The Craft

I found a great site that showed a fox drawing for kids and made a copy for each K-5 student . I also had saved 20 sheets of 8.5 x 11 heavy cardboard from our summer reading handouts.So we had a neutral firm background to take a lot of crayon and oil pastel coloring. I limited the color palette and gave each child the crayons they needed. I demonstrated the steps and they did a great job following the steps. After they completed their drawing and colored it in I gave them pastels to finish up their art. I did allow 30 minutes for the art project and they used it all.  

They didn't quite get the heavy use of the black outlining as I showed them, I guess their little hands were worn out. During the craft time I played "The Fox" from Best of the Land of Nod by the Waco Brothers, "The Fox" from Tumble Bee by Laura Veirs and "The Fox" by and from Little Mo' Mccoury. All different versions and two songs made into books. One old and one new. I sent the children home with a trail mix snack wrapped in a fox tail made of fuzzy pipe cleaner and cotton ball tuft hot glued on. All were happy as they left and one boy will be getting an oil pastel set for Christmas. 

Spider and the Fly

Spider and the Fly

The Spider and the Fly went well with 15 students K-5th grades. The interesting aspect of this program was the archaic language of the 1899 poem by Mary Howitt, The Spider and the Fly. A few of the students were frightened by the poem so afterwards I helped them shake off all the creepiness by simply having them shake their hands in the air while saying "Shake it off!" in silly voices. Now it's time for silly story!  Hi Fly Guy by Ted Arnold was the natural choice. I ended our hour up with Thelonius Monster's sky-high fly pie: a revolting rhyme by Judy Sierra while the students ate homemade Shoo- Fly pie. They loved it and I handed out many recipes. 

                                                    

The Crafts

I demonstrated how to draw a spider web at the beginning of the program. Before I read the poem I went over some “old” vocabulary words that are in the poem while they were drawing spider webs on their paper plates. I was surprised with their curiosity and interest to learn “old words” but it really helped their understanding of the cautionary poem as I read it. Then we made a spider and fly using black grapes, raisins and spaghetti. The wings on the fly are flatten golden raisins. 

 Fly Guy

  

Fly Guy's  is made from brown modeling clay. I attached the basic clay shape to small wooden dowels before the program. Each child was given two Mentos for the eyes and wings cut from plastic cups, uncooked spaghetti and a ball of clay for the nose. They drew the pupils with a Sharpie marker. 

A few props and my Shoo Fly pie. The motivation for this program were to use up and give away a surplus of raisins we had in our pantry. Mission accomplished.