Cannon, Janell. (1993). Stellaluna. NY: Harcourt, Brace, and Co.

Reading / Writing Connection: making alphabet books

Musical Connection: rhythmic sound experimentation

Science Connection: balloon squeaks

Positive Character Traits & Values: being yourself; family / belonging; dexterity / coordination; fantasy

Stellaluna provides the reader information about bats in a fictional character. Stellaluna is a bat who believes she is a bird. Through her adventures with an adoptive bird family, Stellaluna learns it’s OK to be yourself---even if you are a bat! Ask children to compare themselves to an animal by using this open-ended sentence: (short answer writing response statement)

“Today I am like a (fill in the name of the animal) because I am (fill in an animal attribute using a connecting verb).”

For example, “Today I feel like a kangaroo because I am jumping around with excitement over going to the park with my grandpa.” Next, ask children to consider the animal attribute they chose. Is this attribute a positive character trait or value representing themselves? Is it OK and acceptable to have this character trait or value? If you were to be in a book about your animal, what other attributes would you and your animal have in common? (Relate this to Stellaluna and her bird attributes) As an extended writing response, children record their ideas and comparisons in their writing journals. Using a pre-writing graphic organizer is recommended.

Kangaroo and Me

(pre-writing graphic organizer)

Attributes of a kangaroo	How do these attributes compare to me?	Thoughts and reflections
Jump to move around	I jump because I am excited	I jump around a lot
Have a pocket to keep their babies in	I have pockets on my jeans to carry all my stuff	I collect a lot of stuff during the day
Strong legs	I am in gymnastics and my legs are strong from doing my program on the balance beam	How to kangaroos use their arms?
Eat vegetation	My mom says I am an eating machine	I like green beans, peas, and carrots
Sensitive hearing	Loud noises like fireworks hurt my ears	I wear glasses. Do kangaroos have good eye sight?
Adapt to environment	Dad says he is proud that they can take me anywhere	I am pretty good kid even at my mom’s teapot shows

All elementary students are curious about bats and are interested in learning more information about the creatures. Students enjoy developing a classroom “alphabet book” containing bat facts. Alphabet books are 26 pages in length, with one page featuring each letter. All students have the opportunity to created one or more pages of the book both in written text and supportive pictures and diagrams.

“Bats” is an exciting and active musical selection that all children will ask to perform again and again. This interactive exploration of sound experiment encourages students to ask “what if” and “how can I” questions.

Each student needs a large round black balloon. After students become familiar with the song, point out the balloon “squeak” symbols. (***) When the symbols occur, students will use their forefingers and thumbs of both hands to stretch the neck of the air-filled balloon out into both directions, allowing a little air to escape making a “bat squeak.” The neck of the balloon remains pinched tightly until the balloon symbols re-occur. On the last phase, the balloon is released as the “bat” flies upward. Take note: this is an excellent “Friday afternoon” experiment to complete before students go home for the weekend.

Bats

Bats when they fly go “squeak” ***

That’s just the way they speak. ***

Still they give me a chill- ***

I think they always will- ***

That’s why I always say: ***

“Bats, won’t you fly away!” ***********

Source:

Mariconda, Barbara and Puccio, Denise. (MCMLXXXIV). Sounds We Found. Delaware Water Gap, PA: Wide World Music, Inc.