Little Story About a Big Turnip Lesson Plan

Children love A Little Story about a Big Turnip, by Tatiana Zunshine. I like to read it along with other variations of this classic Russian folk tale featuring "big" potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. Children love comparing the books, as well as the humor. In this lesson, students will "retell or dramatize traditional literature." --Massachusetts English/Language Arts Curriculum Framework

OBJECTIVE
Students will "retell or dramatize traditional literature." --Massachusetts English/Language Arts Curriculum Framework

MATERIALS

A Little Story About a Big Turnip by Tatiana Zunshine
colored markers
sheets of oaktag (11" X 17") enough for each student
glue stick
scissors
chart paper

SET UP AND PREPARE
Gather students as a whole group and share that they will be hearing a story, then working as a class to create a book based on that story. Explain that they will be creating a kamishibai, which is Japanese for "paper theater." A kamishibai is series of story cards that form an unbound book.

DIRECTIONS
Have students generate a list of ideas for a new version of the folk tale, and note them on the chart paper. After agreeing on a new fruit or vegetable, generate a list of characters that will appear in the story. (It's helpful to have the same number of characters as students in your class. That way, each student will have a page to illustrate.) List the characters in the order in which they will try to pull out the vegetable.

Have each student use markers to illustrate a specific scene from the story.

Type out the accompanying story and print it out. Cut the paper so that the parts of the story can be glued to the back of the corresponding illustrations. Gather the class together and share a reading of your new kamishibai.

SUPPORTING ALL LEARNERS
While you'll want to read the book and create a new story with the whole class, you may want to have younger children work on their illustrations in small groups.

You may also want to choose one student to illustrate the 'turnip' on each page, or illustrate it yourself. That way it will always be the same size and students won't have trouble recognizing it.

When I ask students to create an illustration, I often have them draw in pencil and then trace the pencil using a Sharpie marker. This helps students know where they want to add color and it makes the illustrations pop.

LESSON EXTENSION
Related Resources
www.indiana.edu/~japan/kamishibai/teachkam.html
Kamishibai Man by Allen Say

About the Author

Jeremy Brunaccioni is a kindergarten teacher in Massachusetts.

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