Frieda Wishinsky

CURRICULUM IDEAS

TRY THESE ACTIVITIES with Frieda’s books.

They’re fun, easy to implement and creative.
You can use them in any classroom or for any grade.
They fit into the curriculum.

Picture books! Extend the fun!

  1. Imagine you can invite any character in a book over to your house to play, chat, have dinner or just hang out. Who would it be? Why?
  2. Turn a story into a play. Find props. Make them simple or elaborate. Use the actual words in the story in your dialogue. Act the play out for your class.
  3. Pick a picture book and see how an illustrator adds information, humor, and even extra characters to the words of a story. List five visual additions the illustrator has made to the words.
  4. Pick five verbs from a book and substitute another verb of your own choosing. e.g., walk- stroll. Which verb works better—the one in the book or yours? Why?
  5. Imagine you and one of the characters are pen pals. Write a letter telling about yourself and asking the character questions about his/her life. Use information from the book to help you.
  6. Create a mural or a collage based on a book.
  7. Make a plasticine scene from a book in a box.
  8. In your own words write a short description of all the main characters in a book. e.g., Jennifer Jones is annoying, friendly, affectionate and noisy.
  9. Find five adjectives from a book. Use them in a sentence of your own.
  10. Make-up an advertisement for a book. For example: Will Baby Louise ever stop crying? Read OONGA BOONGA and find out.

Chapter books and novels! Explore the story in different ways!

  1. Describe yourself to one of the characters in the book. Tell the character such things as what you like to do, eat, where you live etc.
  2. Come up with another ending to the story.
  3. Who was your favorite character? Why?
  4. Who was your least favorite? Why?
  5. Some of Frieda Wishinsky’s books use time travel. Do you like to imagine traveling in time? Why or why not?
  6. If you could travel backwards or forwards in time, where would you go and why?
  7. Titles are important in books. Pick a title in one of Frieda’s books that you like. Why?
  8. Pick a title that you think could be better. What new title would you choose? Why?
  9. Names are important in stories. Take one book and note which names suit the characters and which names don’t. Tell why.
  10. Take one scene in a book and turn it into a play. Why did you choose that scene?

Biographies! There’s more to discover!

  1. What famous person would you like to read a biography about? Why?
  2. What makes a biography interesting to read?
  3. Do you like reading about people and times from long ago? Why or why not?
  4. Is there someone in your family who has an interesting story about their life? Who? Tell that story.
  5. What is the difference between a biography and an autobiography?
  6. Write a one page autobiography of your life.
  7. In a paragraph describe what the times were like in one of Frieda’s biographies. Why did you choose that book and those times?
  8. Find a photograph of one of the people in a biography Frieda wrote and compare the photo to the art in the book. If there is no art, compare two photos in the same book.
  9. How do you think the art in a picture book biography adds to the story?
  10. Draw a picture of one of the people Frieda has written about doing something you found interesting in the book.

Non-fiction! It’s full of interesting facts and fun!

  1. List three new facts you learned in a non-fiction book.
  2. Write three questions you’d like to ask about the subject or people in this book. Research the answers online.
  3. History is the story of people and places from the past. Name one interesting person you learned about and tell why in a paragraph. Give a detailed answer e.g. I learned that Albert Einstein did not do that well in school. He learned in a different way and did not like to memorize information.
  4. If you could go back in time, who would you like to meet after reading a non-fiction book. Why? What would you say to that person?
  5. The world today to a person you learned about from the past. What do you think they’d think about the world today?
  6. Do you like photos or art in a non-fiction book or both? Why?
  7. Draw a scene from a non-fiction book.
  8. Would you like to live in a different time? When? Why?
  9. What is your favorite non-fiction subject? Research and write two/three paragraphs about that subject.
  10. Pick one or two pictures or images from a non-fiction book and draw or paint your own version of the photo or image.
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