Lost and Found

Jeffers, Oliver. Lost and found. UK: 2005. Print.
isnb (10: 0007150369)
The book "Lost and Found" is a story about friendship. The book starts off with a penguin at the little boy's door step, without a second thought the little boy assumed that the penguin was lost and he took it upon himself to return the penguin to wherever it came from. He took the penguin to the "lost and found office" and asked if anyone was looking for a penguin, no one was. He went along asking birds and his floating duke. When none of those were help, he looked up where penguins came from, he found out they came from the North Pole. He and the penguin made a boat and set off in a mission to go to the North Pole to return the penguin home. As they set off the little boy shared his stories with the penguin and the penguin listened to him the whole way to the North Pole. As time passed they were finally at the North Pole and it was time for the penguin to go home, the penguin got off the boat and the little boy started to paddle his way back home. Before he could go very far, he realized that the penguin seemed a lot sadder to be without the little boy then to be "lost" as the little boy realized that maybe the penguin wasn't actually lost, he just was looking for a friend the little boy paddled back to the North Pole, looking for the penguin. He searched and searched for the penguin but he was nowhere to be seen, right before he was about to give up he spotted the penguin, they hugged and returned to the little boys house but this time as friends.
I really fell in love with this book for children ages 3-5 years old because I thought that the story line had a lot of meaning and children can learn about friendship, and they can also learn to be curious and to wonder about different things around them. The drawings in the book play so well with the emotions the author, Oliver Jeffers tries to portray for example: When he was outside asking the birds, he used a nice neutral color to make us feel what the characters feel in the book. And he also did that with the ocean with the way he drew the waves and the colors he used to go from day to night on the same page. In the day he put clouds and during the night he made the sky grey and added stars. I really enjoyed the illustration in the book because I felt like there were very calm and neutral the simplicity in it was what I thought was beautiful.



Provocations:
1. I would try and get the children to make their own North Pole, I would take white paper and hang it from one side of the room to another and ask the children to paint what they think the North Pole looks like, what animals they assume live in the North Pole.
2. Take a screen shot of the movie, make it colored and big hang it by the entrance so they can see it first thing in the morning, I will not ask them to look at it. I want them to look at it themselves; I will also have a smaller photo in the classroom.
3. I would pick 2 penguin songs and 2 friendship songs and sing them over and over again for over a week. I would sing one in the morning and one in the afternoon, I would do that in a pattern for example: "South Pole visit "and "if you're friendly and you know it" for day 1 and "Penguin family" and "Funga Alafia" for day 2.

Present the book:
1. Shadow puppets-
- props: cardboard, black construction paper, light, sticks, over head projector, a cut out of the boy and penguin, 'lost and found' office, the seagull, his duck and the boat.
-What to do: right as the children come in from being outside I would use one of the relaxing songs from my cd to calm the children down and slowly turn off the lights one by one. Then when all the children are seated at the tables and they are sitting calmly, I would ask children by tables or by what they are wearing that is in common with each other to go sit on the ground in front of the projector facing the area of my presentation. I would keep it a surprise by either handing out blind folds for them to wear for a VERY VERY short amount of time OR I would hang a huge bed sheet to cover the area that the shadow puppets would take place. I would tell the children that they can take the blind folds off when the music playing has come to a stop. And when they do that I will start telling the story using my shadow puppets.
2. Story vine-
props: string, cut out of the characters and it will take place outside
What to do: I will take the children outside and when we are all outside I would first do one of the songs I used to do for the provocation then I would hang one string from one tree to another, and if I can't find any then I would ask one of the other teachers to help me hold the line from one end to another. I will then start the story, this is one exercise where I would chunk the story and let the children tell me what to put next I would ask "I wonder who else beside the lost and found office did the little boy ask if they were missing a penguin" and so on till the story is done. At the end of the story I will want to ask if they could connect the songs to the story, I would help by giving them hints, I would ask questions like "I wonder if the penguin and the little boy can sing "friendly and I know it" together, after they have gone on that journey together"
3. Felt story-
props: again, the different animals and boy cut out shapes on felt material
What to do: I will start off by talking about how the boy went around and asked if anyone had been missing a penguin, then I will proceed to the when he is in the ocean and telling stories to the penguin and the last part would be the part where he drops the penguin off and right before he's about to turn home I would end the story. I would start a discussion with the children about what they "wonder" happened to the little boy and the penguin.
4. Movie:
props: TV - I would show the movie last, out of the four ways to present the story. Because I what to do: want them to actually witness the characters moving and interacting with one another. I would do this last before I present the story, I want them to experience the characters alive and see the emotion themselves then I would re-read the story to the children. Ask them questions about what they liked better the movie or the book, and I would try to make them wonder what the differences were between the book and the movie. The point of this would be so the children can feel free to ask questions, wonder and be curious infront of their peers because I know I didn't have that chance and I think it held me back a little bit because I was never comfortable enough to that, but I want to create some time for the children to talk. I would also use a talking stick that I will make that will be in the form of the the 'south pole' flag, on one side It would say "south pole" on the other side I would say "my turn" and I would tell the children that whoever has the talking stick is the child you would have to focus your attention on and etc. I would pass the stick around in a circle, and if a child hadn't yet come up with an idea, they can pass and they will have a chance with the talking stick once we go around the circle.
Extensions
1. I would like to print pictures of the penguin, multiple ones and hide them around the class room, split the children into pairs and do some sort of scavenger hunt and when they have found the penguins I want them to build an environment based completely on where they want their penguins to live. It doesn't have to be in the North Pole, I want to give them the chance to connect to the book based on their imagination. All this would be contained in a shoe box using paint, sticks, rocks pictures and anything else they want too.

2. I would go through each page of the book with the children and ask them what emotions they thought the little boy and the penguin felt, I would help them by the way I read the book putting emphasis on words the author used to show emotion. After I am done, and the children have come up with words that describe the emotion I would let them take pictures of each other acting out the emotions and make it into a book that way I can bring the children together, and talk about the friendships and relationships that the children might have with people in their lives that is like the little boys friendship with the penguin. I would use a camera, paper, construction paper, laminate (maybe) and use ribbons or staple to pages together into a shape of a book.

3. I would try to teach the children about the different animals that live in the arctic weather and I would want to teach the children about different animals, what they eat, what their strengths and weaknesses are, in what weather conditions they can live. I would want children to connect these animals to certain things in their life, so I would make a booklet with the different animals on them and on the other page trace out what is equilvent to that animal's weight or height. For example: page 1: would have a polar bear with two of its cubes and under them I would write little facts about the polar bear- where it leaves, why the fur is white, why it's so "fat", what it eats and etc. page 2: would be something children are familiar with or I can teach that is same weight or height of the polar bear example: an empty u-haul weights the same as a polar bear 2,210 pounds. I want this exercise to teach children about making connections with things that are not in their ordinary life with things that are. And I would also, let the children decide what animal they like out of the book, after they have chosen I will give them the animal traced out on a huge piece of paper and I will cut up magazines, newspaper, construction paper, paper towels and such for them to put in the traced out animal. I would also let them use crayons, googly eyes, string and other material to complete their animal. After that I would ask them what they liked about their animal the best and write it down underneath for them. And we can share them with everyone while they are done.
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