The rainbow fish

Pfister, M. (1996). The Rainbow Fish. New York: North-South Books Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-55858-536-2

Description:  This books main idea is about sharing and the joys of sharing. It is about a young fish with many beautiful scales named Rainbow fish. One day when he was swimming in the sea a blue fish asked him for a shiny scale and he said no. He would wonder why he was alone. He asked starfish and she told him to go to see octopus as she was wise. When he went to see octopus she advised him to share his scales. The little blue fish came and asked Rainbow fish for a beautiful shiny scale. In the end Rainbow fish shared his shiny scales and they all became friends.

Why use it for 3-5 year olds?

I would use this book for three to five year olds because of the lovely illustrations on each page. This book would be a really good idea to use to bring a simple idea of sharing between the children. I also chose this book because it was one of my favorite books as a child. It is also be good because of how it is calming. Also the shiny scales and the bright colors can be an eye attractor which would keep the children interested in the book.

Illustrations: The drawings in the book are hand drawn and colored with pencil crayon and then done with water colors. It gives of a calming feeling which is really nice to calm the children down. The way the pictures are colored they are made to catch the attention of the children and with the shiny scales and the colors it attracts them even more. When I was younger I was mainly attracted to the scales because they were shiny and how it worked well with the colors in the book. Even now much older I am still attracted to the book for the same reasons.

Provocations: 

·      If the children have ever been to the aquarium with their family. They can connect the story to fish they might have seen.

·      Have a board on the wall with rainbow fish and all of his shiny scales. Then day by day bring out one fish and put one scale on him on a daily basis.

·      Story rocks of the characters in the play area and see what the children make out of them.

·      Tell the story if a new child to the center is unable to make friends and wants to try.

 Presentation: 

-Role play

·      Elastic head bands

·      Printed rainbow fish with removable shiny scales

·      1 starfish

·      1 octopus

·      Many colored fish

Have a child be rainbow fish, one star fish, one octopus, and the others as the blue fish. They can act out each role at the end of the story rainbow fish can share his shiny scales with his friends.

­- Felt board

·      Felt board

·      Felt pieces (images can be printed and ironed onto felt)

·      One rainbow fish with all of his shiny scales and one with only one shiny scale.

·      One octopus

·      One star fish

·      A bunch of different colored fish

Have the felt board at an angle and have all the pieces prepped in the order at which the story is going to be told.

-Magnet Story

·      Baking sheet painted as if it were under the sea. And the second side painted where the octopus is.

·      One rainbow fish with removable scales

·      One octopus

·      One star fish

·      Many different colored fish

Have the sheet at an angle and have all the pieces ready and in the order of how which the story will be told.

-Story blanket

·      One large blue blanket for the underwater theme

·      Fake seaweed, rocks caves Etc.

·      Toy starfish, octopus, rainbow fish and the different colored fish.

Have the blanket placed on the floor with the accessories to make it look like it’s underwater. And act out the story.

Wonder:

-I would stop and wonder at the page 3 how the blue fish felt when rainbow fish did not give him a shiny scale.

-I would stop and wonder how rainbow fish felt when he did not have any friends.

Extensions:

-I would bring in a real fish to class where the children can feed and take care of the fish and explore it up close and I can have a magnifying glass so when the fish is near they can see the scales even bigger.

- At an art table I will place a bunch of the fish templates where the children can cut and color them. For the shiny scales they can put glue where they want and sprinkle some sparkles for the shiny scales.

-At circle time we can sing the song tuna fish…and that can bring us into exploring different types of fish and that not all the fish are the same. Maybe this can lead to a trip to the aquarium for the children?

The rainbow fish on PhotoPeach