"The Tale of Despereaux" by Kate DiCamillo is now our family's favorite book of all time. We had so much fun reading it the first time, I'm collecting resources to do a "Tale of Despereaux" unit study. Geekling's vocabulary soared as we read the book, and he was so interested in the story that he chose read aloud time over screen time. Here are a few things I wish we had done before and during reading and links and ideas to that I'll be doing when we reread, use it to create your own Tale of Despereaux activities..."The Tale of Despereaux" Unit Study - Despereaux Teaching Tips
This book is wonderful for stretching your child's vocabulary, so keep a dictionary and thesaurus handy if you aren't reading it on an iPad or e-reader. Some important concepts and vocabulary words to explore are perfidy, ominous, desperate, desperation, conformity, chiaroscuro. Don't let the words intimidate you, this book is perfect for a 6 to 10 year old! The author explains most of the less used words in the context of the story, so your child does not need to know or understand them to read the book.
First, download the fantastic Free Teacher's Guide from Candlewick Press It's a PDF that will give you ideas for discussion, concepts in the books, and vocabulary.
Free Despereaux Printables from Scholastic - I recommend taking a look at this before reading but using this after you've read the book. I didn't introduce the movie until long after we'd read the book. Geekling's imagination did amazing things with this book, I wanted him to have to enjoy it before we watched the movie. I actively avoided letting him see anything related to the movie while we were reading and for a month afterward.
Create Book and Movie Reviews:
Ask your kids to share their opinion on the book. They can post to Amazon, GoodReads, or a blog.
Ask your kids to write a review on the movie.
Have a discussion or write a paper on the differences between the movie and the book. Discuss what they liked about the movie and what they would have liked to see.
Fun Despereaux Art Projects:
Learn to make fingerprint mice! Despereaux was a tiny mouse, so use your pinkie print to make a mouse smaller than the rest. Make a thumbprint mouse for the rest of the mice. Simply do a horizontal print and add ears, nose, whiskers, a tail, and feet. For rats, I prefer a vertical thumbprint (make them standing up), with smaller, pointier ears, and a thicker tail.
Chiaroscuro For Kids
Chiaroscuro is simply a drawing or painting that uses contrasts of light and dark. If you're looking for a history tie in, check out Renaissance artists. The drawings in "The Tale of Despereaux" are a great example.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
- This is another great book with beautiful illustrations that are another example of chiaroscuro.Exploring Chiaroscuro - Rembrandt
Free PDF about Rembrandt from the National Gallery of Art. Full color with paintings and drawing that show the contrast of light and dark in chiaroscuro.
Chiaroscuro painting - This is technically for high school kids, but you can easily adapt it for younger children. Here's a reasonably priced kit that would be a good fit for chiaroscuro drawing.
Despereaux History, Science, and Architecture -
Tell your kids the story "Stone Soup" and discuss why soup was an important part of the diet.
Learn about castles and dungeons - we liked the book
Tale of Despereaux Science - learn the difference between rats and mice.
We always read the book before the movie (if we can arrange it!). Soooo much more detail in a book (and our imaginations!). Thank you for the links - we are certainly going to be trying to do more writing this year (typing as well), so they will come in handy!
ReplyDeleteWe've done a lot more discussion than writing!
ReplyDelete