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)