Love That Dog Adaptations

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech is a narrative poem novel. While I have not read the entire book with my students, I read a section for a unit project. There is a poem written in the text called "My Sky." Working in Alternative Schools, I've often had to plan small mini units because of the changing population of students. "My Sky" was a perfect anchor text.

When reading "My Sky," I was able to discuss both poetic and literary elements with students. To demonstrate their understanding of both the poetic and literary elements, I had students complete two adaptations of the poem.

The first adaptation asked students to create a concrete poem that used a symbol from the original to represent the theme, tone, and plot. Students were asked to include other poetic elements as well.

The second adaptation asked students to create a 5-page picture book. Each page represented one part of the plot line. Students summarized each part of the plot with complete sentences and images.

The "My Sky" Adaptations Bulletin Board. Student had the option to type or handwrite their story adaptations. Concrete poems were mostly written in the shapes of balls, dogs, or blue cars.

Pop Up Play

The Plato online educational program concludes the drama unit with a play adaptation. Students are asked to adapt a fable, folktale, or nursery rhyme into play format. I was trying to find a creative and interactive way to do this, and decided on a pop up book. Students will first choose their text and adapt it to play format. Then, students will create a pop up book using art supplies. I turned to google for some pop up book directions. My model is below. I can't wait to start the project with the students tomorrow!