These activities can be done by the individual, but by doing them as a class
on chart paper it allows for the students to revisit more than just their own thoughts.
At the end of the author study these can be put together to create a big book about
Don Brown
List of Books
The class will create a chart of books they
have read by Don Brown. Students will highlight award-winning titles with some type
of symbol. Children will learn about the importance of capital letter and underlining
or Italics in writing a book title. At the end of the study the list can be rearranged
in order of publishing dates, which gives the opportunity to learn about copyright
dates. This also might lead to a discovery of a pattern in the author's work schedule.
Wonderings and Guesses
As books more Don Brown books are read
there may be techniques noticed that cause the children to wonder and predict about
Don Brown or Don Brown's other books. For example many of Don Brown's books are based
around travel. The children can bring their wonderings into group discussions, which
may lead to further research.
Compare and Contrast Books
Students
can use Venn Diagrams or a chart with likes and differences to compare and contrast
Don Brown's books or even compare and contrast one of Don Brown's books to another
author or illustrator.
Examples: Compare and contrast the illustrations in all
of Don Brown's books.
Ruth Law Thrills a Nation to One Giant Leap The Story
of Neil Armstrong.
Use character maps to compare and contrast characters
from different books.
Noticing Don Brown's Style
After reading
and comparing books, the students may notice a certain style being repeated. For
example, Don Brown uses watercolors in many of his books and the characters all look
very similar. Also, when Don wants the feat that the character is attempting to seem
very large the characters are drawn very small.
Historical Figures Timeline
The class will create a timeline that will be displayed on the top of the wall around
the room like a wall border. As Don Brown's books are read the students will add
the historical figure and the events in which he or she take part in to the timeline.
Other events occurring at this time may also be listed to give a better understanding
of the settings and stories.