the planning department: The Great Fuzz Frenzy

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the planning department

The Great Fuzz Frenzy

Brenda Boreham

This is the last of a three part series of The Planning Department articles that suggest ideas for organizing school-wide literacy events. The first two articles are available in pdf format online at CanadianTeacherMagazine.com (Fall 2006, Winter 2007).

Boink!
Thump!
Plunk!
There it sat—perfectly still.
Slowly they crept out. Inch by inch. Dog by dog.
What is it?
It’s a thing.
It’s a round thing.
It’s a strange thing.
It’s a scary thing.
It’s really fuzzy!

Whatever this mysterious object is, it is destined to cause trouble when it rolls deep into the tunnels of the prairie dog town. Who could have predicted that its arrival would create a great fuzz frenzy?

The prairie dogs pulled it. Ruffed it. Stretched it. Fluffed it. Tugged it. Twirled it. Spiked it. Swirled it. They fuzzed their ears, their heads, their noses. They fuzzed their feet, their tails, their toeses.

But...what will happen when the fuzz runs out?

This fabulously frenzied and funny book by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel is a great read-aloud. As the adventure unfolds, the reader witnesses greed, theft, bullying, teamwork and community building. As these universal themes are a fit for any grade level, our staff chose this book for our second school-wide literacy project. (The object that rolled into the prairie dog tunnel was a green, fuzzy tennis ball.)

School-Wide Literacy Events

In the last issue of Canadian Teacher Magazine, I highlighted a school-wide project that our school implemented in the Spring of 2005. Each class, from K – 7 had read the story Maple Moon and tried some Before, During and After Reading strategies. Our goal was to develop some common language around literacy skills, and teachers were free to key the book into any area of the curriculum that they chose. Our debriefing session after the project revealed a diversity of activities, some great connections, and a willingness to try a similar project the following September. The Great Fuzz Frenzy was chosen as our next book because it seemed to fit with our school start-up and team building goals.

What resources were needed?

Materials
• multiple copies of The Great Fuzz Frenzy (ISBN 0-15-204626-7)
• lesson plans and instructional materials developed by the staff for each grade level

People
• Donna Anderson, literacy lead teacher at another school, as guest facilitator of our May Pro D workshop
• grade group planning teams (school staff)

April
The school planning committee outlined a timetable of events for the first week of school in September. An introductory assembly, a performer, a trip to the swimming pool and sporting events were planned and booked. Spaces were left in the timetable each day for teachers and their clusters of students to engage in the Before Reading activities for The Great Fuzz Frenzy. (At our school, to allow time to intake new students and to assemble the best class compositions possible, we do not attach children to their classroom teachers until Friday afternoon of the first week of school. Each morning, the students assemble in their grade groups and are assigned to a teacher for that day.)

May Pro D Day
The first part of the morning was spent debriefing the Maple Moon project. Donna and I then introduced a number of Before Reading activities that would fit into the blank spaces on the timetable. During the afternoon we met in grade groups to plan the During and After Reading lessons to be taught in the second week of school in September. Materials from the workshop were later reformatted and compiled into a project booklet by Tammi Reynolds, Donna’s teaching partner.

June Planning Day
An hour and a half was set aside on this day to go over the September planning and to prepare all the materials needed for the first week. At the end of the day, all the activities for the first week of school were planned, and all materials were prepared and placed in bins in readiness for school opening in the Fall.

September – First Week
Each student in the school engaged in the Before Reading activities.

September – Second Week
All students were now placed with their classroom teachers. Various During and After Reading activities took place, depending on grade level.

Some Before Reading literacy strategies that work with this book

In the first week of school, our social goals included introducing new students and building relationships and a spirit of cooperation among the children. Our literacy goals included encouraging students to “think like a detective” and use clues from the Before Reading activities to make predictions about the story, which would be introduced the following week. The following Before Reading activities were chosen to meet these goals. The students knew nothing about The Great Fuzz Frenzy at this point, and we wanted to pique their interest, to tap into their prior knowledge and experiences, and to challenge them to think about what the story might be about. After each activity, the teacher would ask the students to make a prediction: “What do you think the story might be about now?”

Activity 1: Ball Sort
Equipment
• a collection of about 8 balls that must include a fuzzy green tennis ball and a large ball of yarn
• 3 hoops

Process
1. Place the collection of balls in an open space and have the students sit in a circle with the collection of balls in the centre. As a class, in groups, in pairs, or individually, have the students sort the balls into 3 groups using the hoops to define the groupings (placing the balls inside the hoops will prevent them from rolling around). The rest of the class looks on while the sorting is done and tries to identify the sorting criteria.

2. Reporting out: Ask students to explain the sort to the class, justifying the groupings, e.g., if working in pairs, one partner could stand and say, “All of the red balls are in this group because we sorted by colour.”

Activity 2: Ball Game
Equipment
• tennis ball

Process
There are any number of ball games that would help to “break the ice” and get the students to learn each other’s names. The critical point is that each one gets to touch the tennis ball at some time during the game so that they feel its fuzziness. A variation of “Silent Bean Bag” using the ball works well. Also, standing in a circle, saying one’s own name, then tossing the ball to a new person is an effective variation on a name game.

Activity 3: Prediction
Equipment
• worksheet (one copy for each student)

Process
1. This activity could be done as a class. The teacher prints the ideas on the chalkboard while the students print on their worksheets.
2. Have students print their names in the middle of their worksheets.
3. List a number of facts about the soccer ball in the corresponding box.
4. Do the same for the other three balls.
5. Have the students draw a line between the soccer ball and their names, then print a connection between themselves and the soccer ball along the line.
6. Repeat for the other balls.
7. Finally, have the students make a prediction at the bottom of the page.
8. Reporting out: have students share their predictions with a partner or with the whole group.

Activity 4: Web Activity (Thanks to my teaching buddy, Jennifer Jellema, for this one.)
Equipment
• large ball of yarn

Process
1. Have the students sit in a circle on the carpet.
2. Hold the end of the yarn firmly in place on the carpet and roll the ball to a student.
3. The student states his/her name and holds the yarn firmly on the carpet (the yarn forms a segment between you and the student).
4. The first student rolls the ball to another student.
5. This continues until every student has been included and a wooly web has formed (as this is happening, emphasize how important it is to hold onto your place in the web tightly).
6. Ask one student to let go. Discuss how the web (community/team) is affected if even one person does not hold on (work collaboratively). Ask several other students to let go, and observe the results before ending the activity.
7. Have the students think about their previous predictions. Has their prediction changed or stayed the same?

Activity 5: Team Art
Equipment
• construction paper
• enlarged photocopies of various ball shapes (soccer, baseball, tennis, etc.)

Process
1. Have each student trace one of their hands on construction paper and cut out the hand outline.
2. Have the students print their names on the cutouts.
3. Depending on the time you have and the age of the students, the hands could be decorated. Older students could make more than one hand.
4. Cut out the enlarged ball shapes.
5. Display the hands tossing and catching the balls on the hallway bulletin boards around the school—Teamwork!

Activity 6: Sorting
Equipment
• picture or word sorts (depending on the age of the students)

Process
1. Distribute a picture or word sort consisting of 6 items.
2. Ask the students to sort the items into groups.
3. Have the students report out to the larger group, explaining their sorting method.
4. Have each student make a prediction as to what the story is about.
5. Distribute 6 new words or pictures. Have the students add the new items to the sort. Will the sorts stay the same? Will they change? Why?
6. Report out to the class. Have the students think about their predictions. Will they stay the same? Will they change? Why?
7. Record on chart paper any questions the students have about the story they will hear next week.

Brenda is the Literacy Resource Teacher at her school. This .2 position allows her to plan fun literacy events when she isn’t busy in her own classroom.