Who Has Been Here?

Pamela Miller and Hilary Inwood

Grade level: 4
Provincial curriculum links: Ontario
Subject: Literacy
Keywords: riddles

Description

This literacy activity is intended to be linked to the science lesson "Who Eats What and Where?" Inspired by the book In the Garden: Who Has Been There? students will use one of the signs of wildlife found in the previous activity to create a riddle about that animal/insect. The riddles will be compiled into a class book.

Curriculum Framework

Topic: Reading and Writing
Strand: Reading, Writing, Oral and Visual Communication
Specific Lesson Goals:

Make predictions while reading a narrative piece on the basis of evidence;
Write simple and compound sentences;
Use a variety of sentence types correctly and appropriately;
Introduce vocabulary from other subject areas into their writing;
Create a variety of media works.

Preparation

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Length of lesson: 20-30 minutes
Resources required:

Small sheet (1 per student)
pencil (1 per student) and a few erasers to share
Barrett George, Lindsay. In the Garden: Who's Been There? Green Willow Books, 2006.

Procedure

In an outdoor location read the book "In the Garden: Who Has Been There?" to the class. As the reading proceeds have students predict which animal has been eating the vegetation.
Discuss the book with the class: what does it tell us as readers about the garden? Did they enjoy the book? Why or why not? How was it written to use the element of surprise?
Ask them if there might be similar evidence of wildlife in this outdoor place. (If they have already done a leaf and insect study, they will be well aware of the things to look for.) Working in pairs or small groups, give them 5 minutes to find evidence of one type of wildlife in the place and bring back a description of it to the larger group.
Invite them to share their findings with the class.
Explain that you would like them to create a book of riddles as a class, similar to In the Garden: Who Has Been There? Each pair will be responsible for creating one riddle that introduces the wildlife of this site. Briefly discuss the concept of a riddle and its structure (see website below for assistance). Ask that they base their riddles on the evidence they found a few minutes earlier. (e.g. Who piled leaves in crook of that branch? Squirrels. I loved that garbage you left out last night - who am I? Raccoons.)
Distribute the paper and pencils for the pairs to record their riddles. Once they have completed the task, ask the pairs to share their riddles with the class.
Explain that they will create illustrations to accompany their riddles back in the classroom, which will be compiled into a collaborative book. (Refer to accompanying instructions on book-making.)

Discussion and Questions

Riddles use the element of surprise to grab the reader's attention and to share information. What is a riddle? What is your favourite riddle? How can riddles be used to tell others about outdoor places?
Wildlife isn't the only life form that leaves behind evidence that it 'has been there.' What types of evidence do humans leave that they have been in a place?

Student Assessment and Evaluation

A rubric and rating scale could be used to assess the riddles and the accompanying illustrations. Rough work (drafts of the riddles and illustrations) can be added to a processfolio for evidence of working method.

Enrichment and Extension Activities

Bring all of the students' riddles together with illustrations into a class book.
This literacy activity can be linked to the visual arts activity "Drawing on Leaves" by using leaf drawings or prints as the illustrations for the riddle book.
During the next visit to the school library, students can be asked to find other riddle books to read together.

Educator Notes

This literacy activity is intended to be linked to the science lesson "Who Eats What and Where?" and the visual arts lesson "Drawing on Leaves".

References/Resources

Barrett George, Lindsay. In the Garden: Who's Been There? Green Willow Books, 2006.
Teaching Poetry Through Riddles. http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=169
Writing Riddles. http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/riddle/

This exercise is adapted from Teaching in the Outdoor Classroom, Evergreen/TDSB Summer Institute, 2007, 82 pages.

Submitted by: Pamela Miller and Hilary Inwood

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