Rat's Rodent Cousins

November 2011

(This program was for elementary school age children only. No preschoolers were allowed! I used the theme “Rat’s Rodent Cousins” from Cool Story Programs for the School-Age Crowd by Rob Reid to help plan this program.)

Opening: Ask children to name some rodents. Add any they don’t name.

Share: Capybara facts from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park’s website

Show: Picture I took of a capybara at a zoo in Alabama

Book: About Rodents: A Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill

Poem: “Boing! Boing! Squeak!” by Jack Prelutsky (The New Kid on the Block)

Poem: “Nine Mice” by Jack Prelutsky (The New Kid on the Block)

Picture Book: Love and Roast Chicken: A Trickster Tale from the Andes Mountains by Barbara Knutson

Poem: “The Porcupine” by Douglas Florian (Mammalabilia)

Poem: “An Unobservant Porcupine” by Jack Prelutsky (A Pizza the Size of the Sun)

Chapter Book Selection: Chapter 4 of Gooseberry Park by Cynthia Rylant

Poem: “Chipmunk, Chipmunk” by Jack Prelutsky (A Pizza the Size of the Sun)

Poem: “Biography of a Beaver” by Deborah Ruddell (A Whiff of Pine, A Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems)

Poem: “Woodchuck’s Wake-Up Morning” by Deborah Ruddell (A Whiff of Pine, A Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems)

Game: Groundhog Says (like Simon Says)

The following is my original plan for the Rat's Rodent Cousins program. Each time I presented it, I changed it a little until it morphed into the agenda above.

Poem: “Boing! Boing! Squeak!” by Jack Prelutsky (The New Kid on the Block)

Poem: “Nine Mice” by Jack Prelutsky (The New Kid on the Block)

Poem: “I’ve Got a Three-Thousand-Pound Cat” by Jack Prelutsky (A Pizza the Size of the Sun)

Poem: “My Gerbil Seems Bedraggled” by Jack Prelutsky (A Pizza the Size of the Sun)

Picture Book: Love and Roast Chicken: A Trickster Tale from the Andes Mountains by Barbara Knutson

Chapter Book Selection: Chapter 2 of Poppy and Rye by Avi

Poem: “The Porcupine” by Douglas Florian (Mammalabilia)

Poem: “The Porcupine” by Karla Kuskin (Eric Carle’s Animals, Animals)

Poem: “An Unobservant Porcupine” by Jack Prelutsky (A Pizza the Size of the Sun)

Chapter Book Selection: Chapter 4 of Gooseberry Park by Cynthia Rylant

Poem: “Chipmucks, Inc.” by Deborah Ruddell (A Whiff of Pine, A Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems)

Poem: “Chipmunk, Chipmunk” by Jack Prelutsky (A Pizza the Size of the Sun)

Picture Book: The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens

Poem: “Beavers in November” by Marilyn Singer (Turtle in July)

Poem: “Biography of a Beaver” by Deborah Ruddell (A Whiff of Pine, A Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems)

Poem: “Woodchuck’s Wake-Up Morning” by Deborah Ruddell (A Whiff of Pine, A Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems)

Game: Groundhog Says (like Simon Says)