Don't Let the Pigeon Touch the Books!

Each first grade class made a book!

As a culminating activity for our unit on taking care of books and library procedures, my first grade classes created their own version of Mo Willem's Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  I was inspired by this wonderful video, and it occurred to me that my students could create an adaptation of the book using their own illustrations and text!

My first graders were familiar with all of Mo Willem's Pigeon books from a unit we enjoyed in kindergarten.  We discussed why I might be cautious about letting him touch the books based on the evidence we've seen of his past behavior.  After all, Pigeon thinks he can drive a bus, desperately begs for a pet without having any idea of what he's getting himself into, and demonstrates a serious reluctance to be considerate of others.  We agreed that he doesn't show a whole lot of good judgement!  (We did decide, however, that our version of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus would have a happier ending for Pigeon.  I hope I don't end up regretting it!) 

The students came up with lots of great promises the pigeon could make to convince the librarian that he should be allowed to touch the books.  When they had trouble coming up with more ideas I opened up the "Sad Bag" of hurt books to remind them of behaviors that might result in a book getting damaged.  I formatted their text into a book and printed out the pages for them to illustrate.  Before they began we watched a video of Mo Willems showing how to draw Pigeon, and the students followed along to create a first draft.  (The segment "Mo and Pigeon Visit a School" is on the Scholastic DVD Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and more stories by Mo Willems.)

"Quiet on the set!"

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.  I wanted them all to be able to share their creations with their families, so I imported their illustrations into Windows Movie Maker 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!

Mrs. Breault's Class

Click here for a direct link if you're having trouble viewing Mrs. Breault's video!

Miss Mooney's Class

Click here for a direct link if you're having trouble viewing Miss Mooney's video!