Students will identify different points of view in a mentor text. Students will create a StopMotion video based on the different points of view in the mentor text, integrating the visual arts.
Materials
iPads with StopMotion technology
iPads Stands
Clay (different colors)
Cardboard for setting
Paint/Construction Paper for setting
Read Alouds: The Day the Crayons Quit , The Day the Crayons Came Home, True Story of the Three Little Pigs
Activities
Day 1: Introducing Point of View
Instruction: Call students to the carpet and read aloud the story The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. Write the definition of point of view: How a character thinks or feels about something as compared to other characters. Use this chart (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ea/fd/48/eafd48b60a0c8690f083801d2bc09395.jpg) and change the characters and events in order to show the different points of view of the wolf and the three pigs. Have students turn and talk about the different points of view that the characters have on the different events.
Example: Wolf-Blowing Down the Third Pigs House—
Wolf—He felt frustrated that the pig was mean and that he couldn’t blow the house down.
3rd Pig—He was rude as well as confident that his house could not be blown down because it was made of bricks.
Wrap Up: Do a “half empty” & “half full” question. Draw a glass and have students answer whether they think it is half empty or half full. Have a few explain their answers and point out the different points of view.
Day 2: Introducing the Mentor Texts The Day the Crayons Quit AND The Day the Crayons Came Home*
*You may want to split these read alouds into two days or do one in the morning and one in the afternoon so that you do not lose student engagement.
Instruction: Create an anchor chart similar to this chart or put this chart under a document camera: (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1BJELee2MdyU0IwVjIxd1d2dVE/view)
As you read through The Day the Crayons Quit, fill out the chart with at least 2 example crayons, comparing the points of view. Do the same with “The Day the Crayons Came Home.
Wrap Up: If you have time, have the students take an index card/piece of paper and split in half and compare two different points of view of crayons. This could also be something to do in a Read to Self rotation.
Day 3: Practice Comparing and Contrasting Two Points of View
Instruction: Each student will need a “letter” from the crayons to look at and read by themselves. You can cut out and print the Day the Crayons Quit letters from this link: https://texasbluebonnetaward2015.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/rtdaythecrayonsquit.pdf. The letters from the Day the Crayons Came Home will need to be typed out by you. (Another option is to put each letter on an anchor chart and hang them around the room).
1. Assign each student a crayon color from either of the two books. (There are 22 total)
Options from the Day The Crayons Quit: Beige, Black, Pink, Red, Green, White, Orange, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Gray, Peach
Options from The Day The Crayons Came Home: Maroon, Pea Green, Neon Red, Yellow&Orange, Tan, Glow in the Dark Crayon, Gold, Turquoise, Big Chunky Toddler Crayon, Brown
2. Have that student read the letters of their own crayon and write down its point of view (feelings about what is happening to it and what it is doing) in a copy of the chart in Day 2.
3. Have each student find a partner and compare the two crayons’ point of view inside of the chart.
4. (Wrap Up) Share a few of the charts under the document camera.
Day(s) 4-5: Introducing Claymation Process
To begin this lesson, have students watch different Claymation videos online. Talk about what each Claymation video needs to be successful: a setting, characters and a voice over. Explain to students that they will each be creating their own setting, characters and doing their own voice over. Make your own Claymation video as an example today. (You will need to have your set made prior to this lesson.) For example, a claymation about Duncan opening the crayon box and finding all of the letters would be a great way to contribute to the students projects.
1. Show students your “set”. This is a piece of cardboard, folded to have a lip on the bottom for the set to stand on. This cardboard piece will need to be about 2 feet long to work properly. Use paint or construction paper to create the setting of a classroom. This is where your “story” will take place.
2. Show students how to create the characters out of clay. You will need to create Duncan, the crayon box, and letters.
—–This is where you may want to stop the explanation and continue another day—-
3. This is where you will need the Ipads with the “StopMotion” app. Using an Ipad Stand, position the Ipad pointing towards your Claymation setting. Place your characters where they need to be at the beginning of the movie.(This story could be Duncan going to reach in his crayon box to grab a crayon to color with and finding instead a crayon box of letters. This could be just a giant hand reaching for the crayon box or you can create the entire person, the desk, etc. ) Take a picture. Then move your characters SLIGHLTY and take another picture. This will cause a movie like effect when you put all of the pictures together. Keep moving the characters and taking pictures until your story is done. By the time your story is done, about 125 pictures is roughly 2 minutes worth of video.
4. Show students how to delete frames that they have taken. Just in case someone doesn’t move their hand fast enough before they take the picture or something falls over.
5. After this story is completely done, press the microphone button and read the first page of The Day the Crayons Quit, slowly, and it will overlay itself onto the StopMotion Video.
6. Show the students your completed video! ☺
The next step would be uploading. I would not show the students how to upload the videos to YouTube or anywhere. I would just do it myself to avoid confusion, frustration
Day 5-7
This is where students will begin to make their movie for their own crayon that they were assigned. Later, all of the crayon movies will be put together and it will sound like the book. These movies will have different voices and different points of view, reinforcing the standards.
1. Give students the materials they will need in order to create their setting. Have them create their setting. Encourage them to think how their movie will go when they are reading their letter from their crayon. For example, if the Gray crayon were listing things that he had to draw, I might create an elephant and a pebble and put them in the settings that they belong. I would draw a place that an elephant might be and then on a separate sheet of paper draw where a pebble might be and lay it on top of the elephant setting when the story changes to take the pictures.
2. After the students are done creating their setting, have them create their crayon and whatever other things they want to create out of clay*. Make sure students have looked closely at the book for the details such as eyes, arms and legs. Some crayons have wrapper paper around them and some do not.
*Enforce that if something is made out of clay, then it should be moving in the movie. If it is not moving then it should be something made in the setting. This makes sure that students aren’t using more clay than they should be.
3. Have students use the iPad/StopMotion to take the pictures of their setting and characters in order to create the movie.
4. After students are satisfied with their movie, they can record their letter. Have them practice reading their letter out loud to a wall multiple times before they go to record. Have them go into a quiet place in order to record.
Day 8: Last Day!
Watch all of the videos put together* as a group and talk about what you see and how different points of view are used.
*You will have had to do this yourself. Also because there are two different books, there are two different movies.
Differentiation Approaches
1. By picking the students’ crayons and letters, it is easy to see which letters are more complex and which ones are easier.
2. For students that may not be reading on grade level, give them the letters that are less complex.
3. You may also want to read the letter to them a few times if they are severely below grade level.
Assessment
There have been several assessment opportunities in this unit. By having the students write down the different points of view on the chart there is an informal assessment. The separate movies can be an assessment of how students understand that the crayons have their own “voice”.
Follow Up and Extension Ideas
1. Have students create a separate story about their crayon and an adventure that they will have done. Make a StopMotion movie about it.
2. Create a StopMotion story about yellow and orange crayon arguing about who should be the color of the sun. Compare their points of view.
Additional Details
- Grade Level: Second
- Arts Content Area: Visual Arts
- Non-Arts Content Area: English Language Arts
