Oh, Ducky!  By: David Slonim Activity

After children have been read David Slonim’s book, Oh, Ducky! as a read-aloud, children can participate in this writing activity.  This activity/writing prompt can be used for a variety of G.L.I.s depending on what you are working on. 

Grade 1 Grade Level Indicator (Writing Conventions, Spelling) #4 : Create phonetically-spelled written work that can usually be read by the writer and others. 

Materials Needed:  foam core, toothpicks, colorful pipe cleaners, various stickers/labels/reinforcement labels, straws, brass fasteners, washers, cotton balls, (any other materials that would be inspiring for children to use in building their machine!)

Activity:  Children will be told that they are going to be able to make a model of their very own machine that will make whatever they want it to.  They will be given the various materials for building their “machine.” (It may be helpful to provide an example- my machine created chapstick!)  Children will be given 5-10 minutes to create their machine with the provided materials. 

Once they have completed their model, they will be told that just like in Oh, Ducky! A Chocolate Calamity, something went wrong with their machines and now they’re all malfunctioning, oh no!  On their papers, children will be asked to write about their machine and what it makes, as well as what it started doing/making once it malfunctioned.  Ex. My chapstick machine started making glowsticks!  Encourage children to explain why their machine malfunctioned, or what they did about it to fix it, or if they liked what their machine started to create/do.  Be creative!  Encourage phonetic spelling, as children will definitely want to use words they are unsure how to spell.  Children’s models can be displayed in the classroom, and pictures of the children’s models can be taken and printed out to paste at the top of their papers. 

 

Reactions:  The children were very excited about this activity.  I was impressed with their creativity, and although they wanted to keep building their machines, I saw greatly improved writing and effort in writing with all the students.  The variety of machine types was amazing.  Obviously some wanted to copy from the book or my example, but many were very creative in their responses.   Several students were inspired to create machines that created something important to them.  Whether it was skateboards, ice cream, or even clothing, they were able to draw from personal experience to complete the assignment.  On this particular day, 5 more children from another class joined our class because they didn’t have a teacher.  The children that were just coming in hadn’t heard the story, but proceeded to do the activity anyway.  When I showed them the book and explained what they were supposed to do, one child said, “So, am I going to get read the book?”

Lesson created by: Tessa Hooley, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio