Character mobiles are an interesting way for students to describe characters in a story.  To make a character mobile you will need:

• Index cards
• Hole punch
• String
• Poster board
• Markers
• Scissors

Students draw a character from the story on the poster board.  Prompt the students to make the drawing at least two feet large with arms and legs that are substantial to support the hanging of index cards.  Once the character drawing is complete, the students should color and cut out the drawing.  Ask the students  to select 3-5 words to describe their character.  Each word should be printed on a separate index card.  Students should make sure the words are spelled correctly.  Young children can tell why they picked the word to describe the character.  Older students can go back in the text and find evidence that supports the word choice and record it on the back of the index card.  Once the index cards are complete, they should be hole punched and attached to a string.  The strings should be cut in different lengths to fit the presentation of the mobile.  The students should decide where to attach the top of the string to the character, for example legs, arms, the top of the head, etc.  Once that has been decided, each spot should be hole punched as well.  Students should be given the opportunity to share their character with the class and to display it for others to see.  Character mobiles can be made for tricksters, fairytale and folktale characters as will as famous Americans or non-fiction characters.  For example, if you are studying insects, students can draw an insect, pick words, and write facts about that insect. You can also use this idea for student of the month and have the student make his/her own character mobile picking words that describe them and telling why.                                                    

Idea Source: The Wright Group
Below are three samples of character mobiles without string. This helps to keep them from becoming a tangle concern.

An excitement map helps students to develop and understand the climax of a story.   To make an excitement map you will need:

1. Poster board or butcher paper
2. Post-it notes
3. Markers

The map graphic is a matrix made by writing the numbers 0-10 along the vertical axis of the poster board or butcher paper. Along the horizontal axis write the number of events, 0 – ? , with the zero point being where the two axes meet.   Students write the events on separate post-it notes and place them in sequence along the horizontal axis.  Next they illustrate each event on separate post-it notes.  The students decide which event is the most exciting and that post-it illustration is placed on the vertical axis at the “ten” over the corresponding event. Once the students have agreed on the most exciting event, they discuss and place the remaining event illustrations appropriately.  Groups will plot the same story in different ways. It is important to have the students justify their choices by explaining their reasoning. Another important aspect is listening to the discussion of other groups as they explain their thought process for the same or similiar story.

The cognitive benefits of excitement maps include:

• Sequencing of events
• Determining climax
• Visualizing
• Explaining reasoning

Idea Source: The Wright Group

The main feature of a story map is that it contains key elements of a story without words.  The pictorial representations of events become a tool for storytelling.  A Tapa cloth is an interesting presentation for a story map using a paper grocery bag.  The look of a Tapa cloth links it nicely to certain topics such as a unit on Native Americans, Egypt, ants or worms.

To make a Tapa cloth you will need:

• A brown grocery bag or individual brown lunch sacks
• Crayons
• Newspapers
• Iron
• Fine line black marker
• Tea candle wax (remove the wick)

Directions

1. Students cut the bottom off the bag and cut down one crease to open the bag to full length.
2. The students brainstorm the events of the story, drawing them in pencil on the bag.
3. Once the illustrations are penciled in, the students go over them with crayons being sure to press firmly to get as much color as possible on the bag.
4. When the events are colored, the students will take a tea candle wax chunk and color over the rest of the bag without illustrations.  They need to make sure they hold the bag carefully around the areas they are coloring with the wax to avoid rips and holes.
5. Next the students will wad up and relax the bag many times to break down the stiffness of the paper. This can take as many as twenty times.
6. Once the texture of the bag is soft and wrinkled, open it up and lay if flat between two layers of newspaper.
7. With supervision, iron over the newspaper layers.  You will see the wax melting through the newspaper as you iron, giving the Tapa cloth a weathered look. ( A parent volunteer could help with this process.)
8. To complete the tapa cloth, students will take a fine line black marker and outline all of the colored illustrations.  This process defines the drawings.
9. The finished product should resemble a leather hide.

Idea Source: The Wright Group

This Tapa cloth is a story map of the book, “A Toad for Tuesday” by Russell E. Erickson. It was done by a group of third grade students.  Tapa cloths can be made individually with lunch sacks or in small groups with grocery bags.  It takes more time to make than other story maps, but is movitating to do with the appropriate topic.

Mind mapping is a strategy for remembering the sequence of events and literary elements of a story.  This strategy includes five components:

• Story Sequence:  The story events are sequenced in a clockwise pattern around the theme on the map.
• Branches/Events: Each branch or event in the story is labeled to identify it’s part of the story.
• Color: Color is used in words and illustrations to help the mind remember what happened  in each event through the association of color.
• Details: Each event has key details. Sound and movement are additional details that can be included to increase memory.
• Illustrations:  A mind map includes words, labels and illustrations.  Each event should include an illustration to represent it.

Students should be able to explain or retell the events and key details of the story.  There are five key cognitive strategies developed through mind mapping:

• Sequencing
• Understanding relationships
• Recognizing details
• Enhancing memory
• Symbolizing

Source: The Wright Group

The illustration on the right is a mind map for the story,”Two Bad Ants” by Chris Van Allsburg. This was a collaborative map done by a group of five intermediate students.  The students documented the journey of the two bad ants through their use of illustrations going from the sugar bowl into the coffee, the cup and saucer, toaster, garbage disposal,  faucet, outlet and home. The students used color and sound to tell the story. For example, the ants are red when they first come out of the toaster and return to their normal color as they cool off.  They are blue when they are under the water in the faucet and covered with food particles when they leave the disposal.  They used the ZZZZZZZZZ sound when they left the outlet.

(Click on illustration to enlarge)

The mind map above was done by a kindergarten class.  It was an innovation of the story “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” retold by Michael Rosen.  The theme of this map was looking for a gold mine.  It was developed during a community event called “Lost Dutchman Day’s”.  The students started in their classroom, took the bus to the Superstition Mountains, rode horses, went through the cactus patch,  swam through a water feature and ran into the cave where they were greeted by bats and found the skeleton of the lost dutchman.  They decided that the skeleton of the lost dutchman would be what would scare them back to the classroom.  They included sound and movement for each event.  Everyone knows that people on the bus go up and down, so that became the movement for that event. The clopping sound of horse hooves became the sound for the horses on the trail.  “Ouch, Ouch” was the sound for going through the cactus patch.  Swimming motions became the movement for the water feature and the sound and movement of bats in flight became the sound for the bat event.   The students used the language pattern from the book to create their story.  Another interesting observation is the soda can in the classroom.  When I inquired about the can, I was told that since they weren’t going to get rich from the gold mine, they decided to recycle soda cans instead.  This was a link they had made to the science theme they were currently studying.