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Moon
Sandwich Mom
By
Jennifer Richard Jacobson
Book
Discussion Questions:
Have
you ever felt they way Rafferty felt in this story?
When?
Why
couldn't Rafferty find a new mother?
Why
do you think Rafferty returned home?
 Reading
Comprehension Mini-Lessons:
Cause
and Effect: Discuss the reasons why Rafferty left
each of the new homes. Draw a cause and effect graphic
organizer to help students see the relationships.
Sequence:
Have students retell the story. Sketch significant
scenes with arrows to illustrate the correct sequence.
Point out the beginning, middle and end. (Later you
might suggest that students create storyboards on
file folders and use cutout figures to retell the
story at home.)
Book
Celebration
Create
classroom centers that reflect the homes that Rafferty
visited: At the "Porcupine House", provide bean
bag games (if possible, place this center in the gym
or outside and add other large motor games), at the
"Beaver House", provide materials such as Popsicle
sticks for building, and at the "Raccoon House", provide
card games (see curriculum connections). At "Rafferty's
House", provide easels for painting or play dough with
stars and moon cookie cutters.
Paint
Your Paws! Dip students’ feet in paint and let
them create a "paw-print mural" like this one from
Longfellow School in Portland, ME.
Language
Arts
Lullabies:
Rafferty's Mom always sings him lullabies at rest
time.
Activities
- Have
students share their favorite lullabies with you.
Record the words in a class book.
- Record
students singing their favorite lullabies. Play
the tape at restful times.
- Copy
a popular lullaby on chart paper. Focus on frequent
print and/or phonemic elements.
- Suggest
students write a lullaby.
- Have
students draw pictures of their dreams. Use the
illustrations to create a computerized slide show.
Play lullabies as background music.
Internet
Connections
Math
Card
Games: Rafferty learns to play cards with the
Raccoon family. Card games are a terrific way for
students to learn math skills!
Activities
- Slap
Jack
- Crazy
Eights
- Go
Fish
- Old
Maid
- Hearts
- War
(rename the game if you wish)
- Uno
Internet
Connections
Shapes:
Rafferty's Mom cuts sandwiches into stars, moons,
clouds and suns, but she may very well have cut them
into squares, circles, and triangles!
Activities
- Have
students paint with sponges cut in basic shapes.
- Make
sandwiches for snack – use cookie cutters to create
sandwiches of different shapes.
- Invite
students to build what the beavers did: tents
and tree houses, rockets and rafts from paper
shapes or pattern blocks.
- Make
a shape path. Using chalk on your driveway or
sidewalk, or drawing on a strip of butcher paper,
make a path with circles, triangles and squares
drawn fairly close together. Challenge your students:
Can you walk this path by stepping on circles
only? Squares? (This activity is from How
Is My First Grader Doing in School? By Jennifer
Richard Jacobson)
Internet
Connections
Science
Foxes:
Rafferty and his mom are foxes. Studying foxes is
a great way to teach students about habitats, adaptation,
and how literature has created myths about these mammals.
Activities
- Create
a KWL chart. Find nonfiction and web sites to help
students answer questions in the "What I
want to Learn" column
- Have
students create books that explain facts and myths
about foxes
- Have
pairs research a particular species. Then have
groups come together to compare and contrast the
habitat, food and behavior of the different species
Internet
Connections
Social
Studies
Mother's
Day: Rafferty goes in search of a new mother:
a mother who is fun. Help students to realize, just
like Rafferty, that no mother is more special than
their own.
Activities
- Suggest
that children make a "My Mother is Fun"
book. On each page have children list (My Mother
is Fun because _________ ) and illustrate reasons
why their mother is wonderful to be with. (Idea
from the kindergarten classes at Longfellow School
in Portland, ME)
Internet
Connections
Art
Mixing
Colors: Rafferty and his mother make orange, green
and purple tracks. Help students discover how these
colors are made.
Activities
- Fingerpaint
with two primary colors to make a secondary color
- Use
shaving cream and food coloring to combine colors
Internet
Connections
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