Early Childhood Technology Literacy Grant Literacy Activity

Developed By: Laura Woodside, Washington Grove Elementary School

Overview: The tales of Curious George are guaranteed to bring smiles and laughter to any classroom of young children. The following activity uses this familiar character to help first and second graders learn about other places as they visit the Curious George Is Curious About North America web site. At the Curious George Web site, students will read about how children at other schools across America have answered Curious George's 9 questions about their hometowns. Then, the children will write their own answers to Curious George's questions, telling him about their hometown.

Stunt Level: First or Second Grade upper emergent/fluent readers/writers

Time Frame:
30 minutes-Introduction and whole class web site exploration
30 minutes- Follow-up writing activity

Objectives: The students will:

• Read and/or listen to gain information about a topic.
• Incorporate background knowledge when writing complete sentences.

Materials:

• Computer with Internet access to <http://www.georgeworld.com/travels>
• Curious George Questions Activity Sheet
• A selection of Curious George books by H.A. Rey (Optional)

Prerequisite: Students should be able to identify the town/city they live in and be able to describe it. It is also helpful if students are familiar with the character Curious George and have read some of H.A. Rey's books.

Procedures:

1. Tell students that the class is going to visit a Web site called Curious George Is Curious About North America! Explain that Curious George has been traveling around North America and has visited many schools.
2. Explain that Curious George would like to come to your town also, but that they are going to need to write to him first to answer his questions about your town. Tell them that at the site they will read about some schools that Curious George has visited and how other children answered Curious George's 9 questions. The 9 questions are:
   • What would Curious George enjoy doing in your hometown?
   • What should Curious George pack in his suitcase when he visits your hometown?
   • What kind of sites would Curious George see in your hometown?
   • What types of sports could Curious George participate in?
   • What could Curious George do with you after school?
   • What special events could Curious George see in your hometown?
   • What would Curious George's favorite part of the day be?
   • If you could take Curious George to meet anyone in your community who would it be?
   • What types of animals might Curious George see in your area?
3. Go to the Curious George Is Curious About North America Web site <http://www.georgeworld.com/travels>
4. At the Web site, a large map of North America will appear with yellow stars indicating the places where Curious George has visited. Allow a student volunteer to use the mouse and click on a star. Curious George's 9 questions will appear with the answers from the school in that area. Read aloud (or have a fluent reader read) the school's answers to George's questions. Visit another star and read the answers. Discuss why answers differ depending on location. (i.e. why George needs to bring a heavy coat to one place and not another)
5. After students have explored several different schools and read about the different places that George has visited, tell them that they are now going to answer Curious George's questions about their town.
6. Hand out the activity sheet and allow children to work independently or in groups to write complete sentences to respond to Curious George's questions.
7. After children have completed their answers to Curious George's questions, allow children to share their answers with each other.
8. As a group review your answers to George's questions and compare them to a different area. You may want to ask students to predict which star they could click on to see an answer to a specific question that is similar to their answer, or that is very different. Be sure to ask students to give a reason for their predictions. (i.e. I think George will see different animals here because it is near the water and we are not)

Suggested Lesson Modifications:

• If answering 9 questions in written form is too difficult for some students you can divide the class into pairs or small groups and have each group work together to answer a different question.
• If children are not yet ready to write complete sentences in response to Curious George's questions, they may enjoy drawing a labeled picture of what Curious George would like to see in their town or drawing a labeled picture of his suitcase and what he would need to bring to their town.
• More fluent readers could complete follow-up or written response activities comparing their answers to those of different locations.

Extension or Homework Ideas:

• Write a letter to Curious George persuading him to visit your school.
• Write a story telling what you think will happen when Curious George visits our classroom.