Hello my friends of the Omschool! So I have 13--count them! grandchildren and one of the, a little lad named Emmett, loves any and all Mo Willems books, particularly the ones featuring that bombastic pigeon! Most famously of "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" I just read them all "Duckling Gets a Cookie?!" and it was loved as well. Here are some free printable Mo Willems lesson plans for you to use in preschool or early elementary.
Read "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" with "wiginal voices." This was our youngest daughter's way of saying, give all the characters their own voices. This brings them to life. Next
Read with audience participation. Emmett loves anticipating recognized phrases and joining in. So does his little sister Flora who has learned from listening to him. I love how children teach each other vital reading and listening skills by reading and listening.
Color Mo Willems' character coloring pages. In the pigeon books there's only one to a few characters, such as Duckling and pigeon. Other books feature Elephant & Piggie (click here for free printable Elephant & Piggie lesson plans). There's also the Caldecott winner, Knuffle Bunny (click for free printable Knuffle Bunny coloring pages) and Trixie. Use these coloring pages to keep students on track listening to the story.
Create masks or puppets for characters. The good news is that Mo Willems' drawings are so easy to copy that kids can make reasonable facsimiles with just a little tracing. Use lightweight tracing paper to get the basic face or shape of the character then transfer the image to lightweight cardboard or tagboard. Blank insides of recycled cereal boxes are the perfect puppet-making and mask-making media.
Go on a Pigeon Hunt (or Knuffle Bunny Hunt). I got this idea from the Muskegon Museum of Art's Mo Willems exhibit. They hid little cut and paste images of Pigeon around the museum and children received a clipboard with a map of locations in which Pigeon might be hiding. Emmett's and Flora's big brother Henry and cousin Milo had a fan-Pigeon-tastic time hunting up that rascally bird. To recreate, have students cut pictures of Pigeon or Knuffle Bunny and hide images in various locations.
Play a Worst Case Scenario or What if? game. We got to discussing why Pigeon can't drive the bus and none of us could think why. Have children predict or imagine situations in which Pigeon driving would be a bad thing.
Play CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) game. In Duckling Gets a Cookie?! evaluate choices both made, using CBT, to determine why Duckling did and Pigeon did not (get a cookie). Discuss what Pigeon could do differently.
Make Pigeon cookies (with nuts and without) and have a Pigeon Party! Make small cookie-sized tracings of Pigeon. on parchment paper, using the method described above. Cut out images. Make blue sugar cookie dough (or white and frost with blue frosting). Roll out dough and "trace" pigeon images on cookie dough. Bake but watch for browning. You could make Knuffle Bunny and Elephant & Piggie cookies with gray and pink cookie dough. All Mo Willems images are very easy to recreate.
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