Patricia Polacco, Author and Illustrator

Grade Levels: 3 - 5

INTRODUCTION

Students will get a nonfiction glimpse at Patricia Polacco, a storyteller and illustrator who makes imaginations swirl and hearts dance.

SUGGESTED TIME ALLOWANCE

1 hour

OBJECTIVES

Students will:

gather facts from autobiographical text.

learn about the writing and illustrating process.

discover how fiction draws from life experiences.

have an opportunity to correspond with a published author/illustrator.

practice letter-writing skills.

MATERIALS

Patricia Polacco Facts and Questions Worksheet

Letter to Patricia Polacco, Rough Draft

PROCEDURE

1. Introduce key vocabulary: illustrator, learning disability, meteor, publisher.

2. If students have never read a Patricia Polacco book, read at least one of her books aloud before having them do this Web activity. A few favorite Polacco books to start with are Chicken Sunday, Thunder Cake, Appelemando's Dreams, or Boat Ride with Lilian Two Blossoms.

3. Go to Patricia Polacco's website (http://www.patriciapolacco.com). From there, students will find Meet Patricia Polacco written at the top left of the contents column. Clicking on this will bring them to the autobiographical section.

4. Choose from the following autobiographical links in the following sections: Meet Patricia Polacco; Who the Heck is Patricia Polacco; Welcome to My Home; A Visit at Work.

5. Using the Patricia Polacco Facts and Questions Worksheet, students should first write which link they have chosen, then read the autobiographical text. As they read the text a second time, they should record facts about Patricia Polacco on the worksheet.

6. After writing facts about Patricia Polacco, students will record facts about themselves. This will give them some ways to compare and contrast their lives and interests to this author/illustrator.

7. Next, students use the Back arrow to return to the four choices on the Meet Patricia Polacco page. Click on the fourth section, New Books and Projects, to see what Patricia Polacco is currently working on. On the worksheet, students should record at least two questions they have about her recent work or things they read in her autobiography section.

8. After completing the Facts and Questions Worksheet, students will compose a letter using the Letter to Patricia Polacco Rough Draft.

ASSESSMENT

Each student's progress will be measured by the information recorded on his or her worksheet, as well as by the draft of the letter he or she composes to Patricia Polacco.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

Revise and send student letters to Patricia Polacco by U.S. mail (Patricia Polacco, 118 Berry St., Union City, MI 49090).

Explore the Books section on the website http://www.patriciapolacco.com, and read the summaries of some of Patricia Polacco's books.

Read Appelemando's Dreams, then do illustrations of your own dreams using oil pastels and watercolor paints on butcher paper to make a mural.

Watch the Reading Rainbow video, Rechenka's Eggs, read Chicken Sunday, then make pysanky eggs like the ones in those two stories, using crayons and egg dyes.

Have your students read Thank You, Mr. Falker, then interview your school's learning specialist about learning disabilities and how they teach students with visual and auditory processing problems.

For a complete list of Polacco titles, go to the Books section on the website http://www.patriciapolacco.com.

STANDARDS CORRELATION

Standards at McRel: http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/
Language Arts

Students:

use strategies to draft and revise written work.

write in response to literature.

write in a variety of formats, including personal letters.