As a culminating activity for our unit on taking care of books and library
procedures, my first grade classes created their own version of Judi and Ron Barrett’s
Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing.
This classic story shows some of the troubles animals would have if they wore clothes. It’s a really fun read-aloud, and it was the perfect springboard into discussing book care. After all, if we let animals borrow books it wouldn’t be the animals that suffered the worse hardships. It would be the books! The students loved imagining all of the silly situations that would happen if these critters were given borrowing privileges! They acted suitably horrified by all the sorrowful situations that might befall their beloved library books, and they enjoyed taking on the roll of Book Care Experts who know better!
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| Pages from the original book -- Click image to enlarge! |
Before we began writing the text of the story, I opened up
the "Sad Bag" of hurt books to remind them of behaviors that might
result in a book getting damaged. Each student selected an animal to write
about and then created an illustration. The students were thrilled to see their work put together into a book that will be on display in the library for all to read and enjoy.
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| Isabella - 1D |
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| Nora - 1B |
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| Mackenzie - 1D |
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| Austin - 1B |
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| Lainey - 1D |
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| Alyson - 1B |
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| Max - 1D |
I wanted them all to be able to share their
creations with their families, so I imported their illustrations into PhotoStory
and gave them each a chance to read their pages aloud. I recorded their
voices and created a video that you can watch right now! Enjoy!
This classic story shows some of the troubles animals would have if they wore clothes. It’s a really fun read-aloud, and it was the perfect springboard into discussing book care. After all, if we let animals borrow books it wouldn’t be the animals that suffered the worse hardships. It would be the books! The students loved imagining all of the silly situations that would happen if these critters were given borrowing privileges! They acted suitably horrified by all the sorrowful situations that might befall their beloved library books, and they enjoyed taking on the roll of Book Care Experts who know better!
