by Jessi Michaels

Created on: September 01, 2009   Last Updated: October 25, 2009

Always a hit with children, Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are", has a storyline that young learners can relate to with ease. As with all picture books, before a classroom reading, have the children make some predictions about what they think the story might be about. Remind those who are familiar with the story already to keep the secret so that the others can be surprised. Taking a picture walk through the book and discussing what the children see is a wonderful segue into the story. Depending on the amount of children familiar with the story, ask them if they were ever angry at someone they loved or was someone they loved ever angry at them. It creates a wonderful forum to discuss how being upset with someone we love or vice versa does not mean we love them any less.

When the reading and conversation has been completed to your satisfaction, there are countless ways to add enrichment activities to this story. For the younger children, creating a drawing of their favorite part of the story helps build comprehension and retention of the book. This particular activity can be scaled up or down depending on the child's age and abilities. Though we want it to be a little challenging we do not want to create frustration. Some children will be able to write about what they have drawn. They can change the ending of the story or even the character himself. Other ideas might be:

Paper bag puppets of their favorite characters in the book. (Puppet shows re-telling the story in their own words and voices)

Writing their own stories about a time in their life when they had upset a loved one. (Sharing should be optional)

Visiting another class or younger grade level to tell the children the story of "Where the Wild Thing Are"

Plan an author study, displaying, reading and comparing other books by Maurice Sendak.

Have a "wrap it up" celebration at the end of an author study, perhaps by sharing work with parents or administration, or a good old fashioned party with character cupcakes, cookies or fruit.

Introduce Venn Diagrams in which to compare what is different in the stories and what they have in common..

Maurice Sendak is a fabulous author to introduce in the fall. Many of his stories can be related to Halloween. His books may also be used to discuss Character Education concepts such as, respect, patience, and consideration. Most of all, have a fun time, in keeping with the energy of his writing, creating wonderful memories for the children.

Learn more about this author, Jessi Michaels.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.