Other
Subject Connections
There are other ways to use this book
to tie it into all aspects of learning and there are also some fun things that
teachers can do to make learning more fun.
Reading
and Writing Connections
 |
Have students journal
about the lesson taught in the book. |
|
Have students write an
essay that gives the story a different ending, such as if Rani had not
devised a plan. |
Vocabulary
and Spelling Connections
|
Give the students a
spelling and vocabulary test on these words before you read the book to
them. |
|
Have students look up
words from the book that they probably would not know the definition to: |
|
Raja
Famine
Trickle
Plentiful
Clever
|
Fulfill
Province
Exclaim
Contents
Reward
|
Decreed
Implore
Palace
Halt
Deed
|
Media
Center Connections
|
Either you as a teacher
can go the library and get other books by Demi or other folktale books or
you can have students go together as a class to look for these items. |
|
Read other books by the
Demi. |
|
View a film on India. |
|
Show a film and sixteenth
and seventeenth century artwork from India to show what inspired Demi’s
illustrations. |
|
Look for other books that
tell the story of folktales. |
Social
Studies Connections
|
Compare the government of
a raja to that of our government today. |
|
View a film on other
dictatorships. |
|
Discuss the culture of
India (clothes, animals, housing, ect…) |
|
Discuss other places
where famine has occurred. |
|
Use maps to show where
India is located and how far it is. |
|
Make a map and color the
places in the world where rice is grown. |
Science
Connections
|
Talk about what other
things can double in quantity for example, babies and germs. |
|
Conduct experiments with
rice. Research where it comes
from, how much it weighs, what happens if you put it in water versus oil? |
|
Study the different
animals in the story and compare them with animals we have in America.
The students could do a report on one of the animals in the book,
such as writing a little report and having a picture of the animal on half
a poster board. |
Art
and Music Connections
|
Bring customary Indian
dress and allow students to try on the clothes. |
|
Listen to Indian
music. |
|
Put on a play or act out
an Indian story. |
Fun
Connections
|
Make rice one day in
class |
Recipe for
plain, long-grain rice
2 t. unsalted
butter or oil
1 c. long-grain
white rice (not converted)
1 ˝ c. water
˝ t. salt
|
Take a field trip to an
Indian restaurant to eat, so the students can experience Indian food. |