If your family does not know Mo Willems and his work--you have got to seek him out! Mo Willems has numerous children's books to his credit, and he is creating new work everyday. While we didn't have time to explore all his work, we spent lots of time reading about his fun and crazy characters Pigeon, Piggie, and Gerald!
We began by reading all about Pigeon who wanted to drive a bus and get a puppy and eat a hot dog and stay up late! Next we began reading about Piggie and Gerald and all of their fun friends.
We used these characters to help us practice our measurement skills. We ordered the characters by height and weight by using measuring tools like cubes and scales.
After measuring, describing, and comparing these fictional characters, we decided to apply our observational skills to some real animals.
After learning a little bit about real pigeons, we decided to learn a little bit more about some other types of birds by measuring, observing, and comparing.
Birds are great, but there are lots of other interesting animals out there! We decided to learn more about tigers, blue sharks, kangaroos, toucans, and flamings. Students used iPads in small groups to research and record information about their animal.
Next we created some art to show others just what our animals look like, where they live, and how their environment helps them meet their needs.
After all that, there was even a little Mo Willems engineering! After reading Today I Will Fly! students brainstormed ways to fly. There were a lot of creative ideas from jet packs to dragons, but we finally decided that we would engineer airplanes (of the paper variety) to help Piggie fly.
We have been both inspired and entertained by the works of Mo Willems! Next time you are at the library or the book store, take time to look for Pigeon and Piggie and Gerald--they might inspire and entertain you too!
