LESSON TITLE: NOT A BOX
Suggested Division and Grade: K–3 The book Not A Box by Antoinette Portis is a story about a rabbit who presents a box and shares how it can be transformed to become an apartment, a rocket ship and more.
Lesson Rationale: Learners will be invited to be creative thinkers and express them- selves in multiple ways. Learners will have an opportunity to share their ideas and collaboratively create a text with educator support.
Consolidate:
6. Direct teaching: Sharing circles are an essential part of oral traditions in multiple Indigenous communities and are used to learn more about the customs and cultures from Elders, family members and the com- munity. They are frequently used when decisions need to be made. The circle is a very important structure in Indigenous cultures and worldviews because it allows everyone to face one another equally while keeping everyone interconnected at the same time. It symbolizes unity which is also the foundation for building a strong community.
Apply:
7. Allow learners “thinking time” to con- sider what they need in their environment to learn (e.g., flexible workspace, quiet setting, etc.) and what they need to feel safe and brave (emotional needs). In small groups, have learners discuss and present their ideal workspace.
8. The educator consolidates learners’ ideas to create a community agreement.
Extensions/Additions:
• Continue to use this sharing circle throughout the year as a way for the group to meet, discuss and make decisions.
• Have learners or staff members introduce themselves, identifying their preferred pronouns.
• Beyond the community agreement, have learners identify the rights and responsibil- ities within a learning community (e.g., I have the right to learn in the environment, I am responsible for staying on task and not disrupting other’s learning, etc.).
Learning Goals: • To co-construct a text that communicates a specific message • To engage in purposeful play that invites learners to think creatively
LESSON PLAN
Minds on: • Divide the learners into groups and offer each group a box. • Pose the following question: What might you do with this box? • Give learners time to think in groups and meet back to share their ideas.
Working on it:
• After the educator has recorded ideas, explain to the learners that the little rabbit in the story Not A Box shows how they might use a box in creative ways. Invite learners to consider the different ways that the character uses the box.
• Read the text, highlighting some ideas that might connect to ones shared by the learners.
• After reading the text, invite learners to share how the rabbit used the box. Record their ideas.
Consolidation:
• The educator can offer tinker trays with a variety of loose parts and learners can show and share what the items they have selected can become.
• The educator can work in small groups to document and record learners’ ideas to be supported with illustrations and text in a book they will co-create.
• Another option is to have learners work in small groups and/or independently to create their own stories.
Materials: • A few boxes of different dimensions
• Trays with various loose parts (e.g., stones, sticks, shells, sea glass, ribbon, paper tubes, metal rings, etc.)
• Chart paper • Markers
Lesson Extensions (could include a suggested announcement or cross-curricular connection):
• The co-created book can be used for shared reading with the learners.
• Read additional books like Not A Stick by Antoinette Portis; It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw; Boxitects by Kim Smith; and The Magic Beads by Susin Nielsen.
ELEMENTARY TE ACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO 39 ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO
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