Note: Angela Davis will have the complete "Swamp Party" booklet on her website in the near future at  www.yarnspin.com The following has two parts: the Swamp Party Booklet for Students and a Study Guide for teachers.

ANGELA DAVIS,

THE YARNSPINNER

                                                                                                     PRESENTS

                                                                      Part One   

                                                                                                     STUDENT  BOOKLET

                                       NAME________________________________________

                                       GRADE_____  DATE___________________________

                                                                       CAN YOU MAKE UP A NAME FOR THIS STEALTH FELLOW?

                                                                 _________________________________________

                                                                        A)       How many words can use to describe this alligator?

                 ___________     ___________     ____________

                 ___________     ___________     ____________

                 ___________     ___________     ____________

B) SILLY STARTERS OR CRAZY ENDINGS?

REMEMBER a good story always has a beginning , a middle and an ending!  Can you tell which are story starters and which are story endings?  CIRCLE the letters SS for STORY STARTER if you think the words would make a good beginning for a story.  CIRCLE SE for STORY ENDING if you think the words would make a good ending for a story.

when I was a baby                                             SS                    SE

and that’s what I was told                                   SS                    SE

I once had a pet                                                  SS                    SE

and that’s how it happened                                 SS                    SE

One time                                                              SS                    SE

maybe one day it will happen again                    SS                    SE

I remember a time                                                SS                    SE

and I hope it never happens again                      SS                    SE

yesterday, my little                                               SS                    SE

finally, I could get some sleep                             SS                    SE

the last time                                                         SS                    SE

then, everyone went to sleep                              SS                    SE

away towards home he flew                                SS                    SE

How many more story starters or story endings can you create?

C)    “LOUP-GAROU” DRAWING

LOUP GAROU is a French word.  You say it like this: “LOO- GAH-ROO”.  If you were a child in the 1700’s and lived in a place called Acadia, now called Nova Scotia, you would know all about the Loup-Garou.  Many Acadians escaped English rule and came to live in the United States, especially in the South.  The Acadians believed the Loup-Garou is a man who changes himself to a wolf at twilight.  He came over on a boat from France.  When the people on the boat chased him into the sea, he swam ashore.  Can you draw a picture of the Loup-Garou hiding from the Acadians in the space above?

Students develop historical and cultural perception by recognizing and understanding that the arts throughout history are a record of human experience with a past, present, and future. (Lang Arts Content Standard1/ National Theater Standard 2)

                                                                                      D) FIND A STORY WORD

             How many “story” words can you find?

A.  Can you alphabetize these story words?

B.   Circle the words you have heard before.

C.   How many can you write a short definition

                                                                             COMPARING AND CONTRASTING

                                                                  (ALIKE)                            (DIFFERENT)

Your objective is to practice reasoning skills in comparing and contrasting   the various stories heard.                            (Standard Seven Nat’l. Lang. Arts Content)

How were the stories alike?  

How were the stories different?

Students imagine and clearly describe characters, their relationships, and their environments.  (National Theater)

                                                                                                              STORY RECALL

Do you remember which stories were told?  Can you write a sentence

telling what each story was about?

1. STORY TITLE: _________________________________________

2. STORY TITLE: __________________________________________

3. STORY TITLE: __________________________________________

Which story was your favorite? _______________________________

Why _____________________________________________________

                                                                                            WRITE A STORY

Write your own story and enter it into a contest sponsored by Angela Davis,

The Yarnspinner!  Visit her website:   www.yarnspin.com to see which

student won the last contest!   Remember a good story has a beginning, middle,

and an ending.  A good story also has a conflict or a problem to be solved.   Good luck!  

Students write competently for a variety of purposes and audiences. (Standard Two English Content)

                                    ART

Using a pecan shell to represent the boat, and pieces of grass, draw a picture of Michaul traveling through the swamps in his pirogue looking for crawfish 

STORY MATH

T-Jeanne and his family were having a crawfish boil.

T-Jeanne has 3 big pots to have a crawfish boil.  T-Jeanne has a big family so his father bought 6 bags of crawfish.  Each bag had two hundred and eighteen crawfish.  How many crawfish did T-Jeanne’s father buy? ____________

Mary’s family bought 4 bags of crawfish and three bags of potatoes.  Each bag had eighteen potatoes.  How many potatoes did Mary’s family have? __________      How many crawfish? __________

T-Jeanne’s brother, Little John, counted 23 ears of corn to put in the crawfish.  They cut each ear of corn in half.  How many pieces of corn were going into the crawfish?_____________

T-Jeanne’s sister counted 10 cloves of garlic.  Her mother said they would only need 4 cloves.  How many cloves were not used? ________

T-Jeanne’s father said be sure to put one half bottle of 32 ounces cooking oil in each pot to help peel the crawfish easily.  How much is half of 32 ounces? ______________

How much cooking oil will be needed? _______________

One bag contained 14 lemons.  Each pot received how many lemons?  __________Each lemon had to be cut in half.  How many lemon halves went into each pot? ______________

Who ate the crawfish? _______________________________

How much was left?   None!            They ate it all!

WORLD MAP

Your objective is to identify countries and regions that the stories came from  and identify their geographical location on a map.    

 (Nat’l Standard 1 S.S. Content)

Angela has visited many countries sharing her stories.  Look for a world map in your Social Studies book.  See if you can locate these countries on the map.

                                                                      (Tell which continent the country is in.)

COUNTRY                                                           CONTINENT

France                                                 ___________________________

Peru                                                    ___________________________

Austria                                                ___________________________

Canada                                               ___________________________

Mexico                                               ___________________________

Ukraine                                               _____________________________

Can you find these states on a map of the UNITED STATES?

LOUISIANA   TEXAS     MISSISSIPPI      ALABAMA        ILLINOIS

GEORGIA        OHIO        ARKANSAS        FLORIDA          OREGON

SCIENCE

Many animals in the swamps are protected by camouflage.      

What is camouflage? _____________________________________ ________________________________________________________

The swamps are extremely fertile due to periodic flooding by silt-laden overflow waters.  The swamps support mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and insects and many fish.

Can you give one example of a living thing that lives in the swamp for each area?

1. Mammals     __________________________________________

2. Birds            __________________________________________

3. Amphibians  __________________________________________    

4. Reptiles        __________________________________________  

5. Insects          __________________________________________

Tell one way they camouflage themselves   _________________________

        WORLD MAP

                        Your objective is to identify countries and regions that the stories came from

                   and identify their geographical location on a map.   (Nat’l Standard 1 S.S. Content)

     1. Label the continents above 

South America            Africa              Australia         Europe      Asia

North America           Antarctica

     2. Label the bodies of water.

Indian Ocean       Pacific Ocean    Atlantic Ocean     Artic Ocean

     3. Circle the United States of America. 

     4.  Do you know other names a swamp maybe called?                     

     5. Can you find other places in our world where swamps are located?

                                                     FIND THE SWAMP ANIMALS

How many swamp animals can you find?   Circle only the kinds of animals found in a swamp.                                                 

 Alligator          Mosquito          Nutria

Snake              Wolf                 Owl

Elephant           Fox                  Lizard

Spider              Muskrat           Ducks

Giraffe             Mouse             Opossums

Monkey           Shrimp             Peacock

Crawfish          Bat                   Monkey

Rhinoceros       Worms             Birds

Snail                Tiger                Horse

Porcupine        Antelope          Wolf

Raccoon          Cow                 Hippopotamus   

                                     Can you name any others?

                                                   THINKING ABOUT THE STORIES

 You can easily imagine the setting for the program Swamp   Party. But what if the story took place near where you live.  What area near your home might you place these stories?

1. What area or body of water in your state would you place the alligator? or Michaul? 
2. If Feliciana was your brother or sister, which room would she have in your home and why? 
3. The Loup Garou is a make believe character.  What animal does he most closely resemble?
4. If your teacher played the role of the Loup Garou what would he or she say to you and why?  
5. What time of the day do you think each story take place? (morning, evening or night)   
6. Mr. Al E Gator?  _____________   De Loup Garou__________   Michaul & the Crawfish?_______
7. Why do you think Feliciana didn’t want her hair brushed?
8. What about the story Mr. Al E. Gator made it a tall tale?
9. What items would you need for a real swamp party?

 Being sprinkled with water is fun.  Do you think being sprinkled will help you to read more books?  Why  or why not?

                                                   WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER?

Michaul                         Crawfish                          Feliciana

Loup Garou                   Mr. Al E. Gator               Little Girl

Little Boy                      Mr. Boudreaux               T-Jacques

T-Jean                           T-Juste                            Octave

Baby Rousell                 Mama                              Grandpa

Which character would you say you were most like?

 ________________________________________________________

Why?

Students explain how the wants and needs of characters are similar to and different from their own.  (National Theater Arts Standards 7)

                                                     STORY MEANINGS

Several idioms are used in the storytelling program.  An idiom is a phrase or expression whose meaning cannot be understood from the ordinary meaning of the words in it. 

Here is an example of an idiom:  It’s raining cats and dogs.

This does not mean it is really raining cats and dogs.  It means it is raining hard. 

Here are more idioms from the stories.  Can you tell what they mean?

1. “Howl, for all those times you got it good”                

2. “She must have had eyes in the back of her head”

3. “Show them your pearly whites”

4. “She chopped off her pigtails"

INTERNET STORY  HUNT

Visit Angela Davis, the Yarnspinner’s website  www.yarnspin.com

1. Write the names of any two stories on the site. ______________________________   ____________________________

2. How many stories did you find on the site altogether??

____________________________________________________________

                                              VOCABULARY

Angela used some unfamiliar words during the storytelling session.  If you were listening carefully, it was easy to figure the meanings of the words.  Can you recall the word meanings?

Pirogue is another word for ____________________________.

A fais-do-do means a _________________________________.

Cayenne is a type of __________________________________.

Jalapeno is a type of _________________________________.

                                                                     FAIS DO-DO

In olden times, every family member gathered for a party in someone’s home. 

This meant several generations were present at the party.  How many

people do you have any your family?  Write the names of as many relatives

you can think of:

Mama______________________________________________________

Daddy______________________________________________________

Brothers____________________________________________________

Sisters______________________________________________________

Grandpa____________________________________________________

Grandma____________________________________________________

Uncles______________________________________________________

Aunts_______________________________________________________

Cousins_____________________________________________________

Extended Family______________________________________________

                                                                                                Part Two

                                  Teacher's Study Guide

                                                          CONNECTING TO THE STORY

Making personal connections with the stories helps listeners to relate to events, characters, themes and other story elements which deepen their understanding and allow students to personalize the lessons to be learned.

When I heard the story it made me remember the time_________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________.

            THINK

If someone asked me to describe the most important character of the story, I would write

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

              Each of the characters in the story handled the situation differently.  This is called character                    perspective.  Different perspectives cause the characters to respond differently.                       

What perspective did the main character have? _______________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Which character had a different perspective from the main character?______________________

How were the two characters able to resolve their differences of opinion?___________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Setting, the place where stories take place, also affects story outcomes.  How does the setting                                  contribute to the overall impact of the story?__________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Can you think of a better setting for the story to have taken place?_________________________

How would the story change if the setting took place in your neighborhood?_________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

ANALYZING THE CHARACTERS

Choose any three characters from the stories you heard.  See how well you can analyze them!

                           STORY OBSERVATIONS

                                                                How many details of the stories can you recall?

   FIND and ALPHABETIZE A STORY WORD                                        

                 How many “story” words can you find?

              Can you identify what type of stories the storyteller shared today

                                 Using a Venn Diagram

            Comparing Likenesses among the Stories

CREATE A DIFFERENT STORY ENDING

If could end the story differently how would you change the ending?  Rewrite the story’s ending to your satisfaction.

___________________________________________________________________                                                                    TITLE

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