15-1-39-项鲽-南京
The Secret Birthday Message Lesson Plan
Story summary
This book is about a boy receiving a secret message, the message is written by shaped illustrations and context. The shaped illustrations provide important information, the boy needs to find out the meanings the shapes stand for, in order to find his birthday gift.
Vocabulary
• shape: circle, semi-circle, star, oval,triangle, square, rectangle
Materials:
Lego toy in shapes in the book,
or cutout shaped cards
Draw the shapes on a turn plate
Warm up：
Ask kids “ what is the shape of the sun? The moon? The orange?... “
Introduction:
Have kids preview/learn the shapes by using the lego toy or the cutout cards
Story telling
Read the secret message with the cutout cards or the lego toy, ask them what the shapes may stand for in the real life. Turn the pages to discover each shape.
Story review
Use the cutout card or the lego toy to imitate the whole scene Tim deciphers his birthday gift, meanwhile retell the story.
Activities
1. For elder children: 2 children a group, everyone draw 4 shapes to make a rebus, give the message to each other and see if he/she can decipher the meaning. For example draw a dog to represent a dog, draw a triangle to represent a mountain.
2. For little kids: play the turn plate, when the pointer stops, ask “what’s this?” Have kids answer “ circle!” “Star!”. Or the kids can run the turn plate themselves.
家里的这本书，和我的22个月孩子共读，她表示没什么兴趣。这本书适合已经会书写和阅读的孩子。对于小小龄的宝宝，这种有一条完整的故事线，前后联系紧密的故事他们还不能理解，因此也不会产生太大兴趣。
