Pigs, pancakes, and everything in between

My school district is still rocking it old school with our outdated Houghton Mifflin adoption (thank you, current state budget clusterf$%&), and sometimes the anthology selections we read seem a bit outdated.  This is not the case with this week's story, Felicia Bond's If You Give a Pig a Pancake.  Her stories are all gold in the eyes of first graders, and this one is no different.

We were working on questioning this week, and more specifically, I wanted my students to decide whether the story was realistic fiction or fantasy by questioning the validity of various plot elements in the text.  On top of that, I wanted them to be able to extract details from the story to prove their thinking.  Anyone who has read the soon-to-be-implemented Common Core Standards knows that explaining/defending answers is a pretty big chunk of the new standards, across multiple content areas.

My students can easily identify if something is fantasy.  For this story, they often say something like, "That's fantasy because pigs can't build a tree house!"  In the years past, I've accepted this answer and moved on. Not this year.  Now they had to tell me specifically why a pig can't build a tree house.

We took some time to put together this poster and talk about our thoughts on what made certain plot elements fantastical.  First, after reading the book, we took a class vote to see what genre the students thought this story belonged in.  Fantasy shut out realistic fiction, 21-0.  Next, it was time to jot down some hard evidence.  Students worked in pairs to come up with the fantastical story element as well as a valid reason for their thinking.  Their favorite part, of course, was at the end of the day when I chose a random student to take the poster home.

Next, we created our own pigs holding two pancakes.  On one pancake, the students listed a "Piggy Fantasy," where they jotted down a plot element that fit the fantasy category.  On the other pancake, the kiddos wrote a "Real Piggy Fact," and they had to write a real reason why that plot element was fantastical.  We then sponged some brown paint on the top of the pig's head, sponged a brown patch over his eye (all to match the illustration in the book), and ta da!  I give you our Fantasy Pancake Pig.  I included a template for making the pig here if you'd like to give it a whirl.

Side note - Isn't it hysterical how kids personalize their art?  This was a guided art activity, but somehow, we ended up with an Edward Cullen vampire pig, a pig with a bushy moustache, and a pig with a full set of pearly whites.  To each their own, right?

Happy Friday!

Cheers,
Meghan