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A RED WAGON YEAR
By Kathi Appelt
Illustrated by Laura McGee Kvasnovsky
(Harcourt Brace & Co., 1996)
Classroom Ideas
As we grow, most of us, at some point in our lives, have relied upon
an object for "security." For some that might be a blanket,
a pacifier, a favorite stuffed animal or a beloved doll. For my younger
sister, Patti, it was her little red Radio Flyer wagon. She took it with
her everywhere--to school, to our grandmother's house, to the beach, all
around the neighborhood.
And she used it for everything, from delivering Girl Scout Cookies to
filling it with water and raising turtles. Who knew there were so many
uses for a little red wagon!
ACTIVITIES:
- Have a parade. Help your students decorate their wagons and then
march all around the school, the church, and the neighborhood.
- Have a rolling sand castle contest. Roll the wagons to the nearest
sand box or beach and build a castle on wheels.
- Start a garden. My other sister used an old wagon to start her flowers
in the spring before transplanting them to her garden. Have a flower
show!
- Have your students make a list of all the ways they can use a wagon.
What else can you do with a wagon in January? In February? In December?
- Create your own "marketplace." Many countries still have
open air "cart" markets where people bring their wares as
well as fruits and vegetables to sell.
- Study all kinds of wagons--oxcarts, conestogas, station wagons! What
were these used for? How were they used? Are they still in use today?
Write a story about one of these wagons. If you could travel in one,
where would you go? Who would you take with you? What would you see
along the way?
- A hundred years ago, the mail was delivered across the west in Wells
Fargo wagons. Pretend your wagon is a mail truck. In February, when
it's time to deliver Valentines, teach your students about the mail.
Let them take turns being the mail deliverer.
- What if your wagon was "magical" and could take you anywhere?
Have your students pretend that they each have a magic wagon. Ask them
to write stories about their wagons and the properties that each one
has. Where could they go? What would they do? What if they had a dragon
in their wagon? Be outrageous. Be fantastic. Be silly.
- Sometimes animals are used to pull wagons--goats, oxen, elephants,
horses, mules, even dogs. Try to find some pictures of these working
animals and put them up on the bulletin boards. Are these animals still
used today? What kinds of wagons do they pull? Where can they be found?
- The circus is famous for its colorful wagons. Have a circus parade
with your students' wagons. Then have a circus!
If you have any other good ideas for using this book, please send them
to me care of Harper Collins Children's Books., 1350 Avenue of the Americas,
New York, NY 10019 or email me at
.
Thank you!
Kathi Appelt
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