Book Bag Activities for
The Teacher from the Black Lagoon
by: Jessica Mink

• Thaler, Mike (1989). The Teacher from the Black Lagoon. Illustrated by Jared Lee. New York: Scholastic, Inc.

Rationale:

• I chose this book for a couple of reasons. First, the title is very eye catching and draws you into the book. Also, the content of the book activated my prior knowledge on the nervousness and scared feelings a child feels on the first day of school. This would be a wonderful book to be read at the beginning of a year or by a substitute teacher.

Information about the Author: (source Mike Thaler, America's Riddle King)

• Mike Thaler was born in Los Angeles in 1936. He started his professional career drawing cartoons for adults. A children's book editor saw one of these cartoons and encouraged Mike to try his hand at writing for children. His first attempt met with success, and THE MAGIC BOY was published in 1961.
• Mike has produced many well-known and loved characters in children's literature. Elementary school teachers across the country happily have read about Mrs. Green from THE TEACHER FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, and Bubba Bumpo from THE BULLY BROTHERS SERIES.
• The creator of The Letterman from PBS's Electric Company series, Mike Thaler has published over 130 children's books, and has been called "one of the most creative people in children's books today" and "The Court Jester of Children's Literature."
• Mike Thaler lives near Portland Oregon with his wife, Laurel Lee, who is also a writer. He travels each year throughout the country helping children and teachers create their own stories, riddles, and books. He writes and teaches with inspiration and creativity filling his books with his love of language and laughter!

Questions to use with the story:

• Before reading- Where does the story take place? What is the child feeling on the cover? What do you think is making that shadow?
• During reading- What does Mrs. Jones carry with her? What does Mrs. Green look like? Which teacher has warts? If you were the student, what would you do if your teacher looked and acted like Mrs. Green? Without reading the page 13 and using your prior knowledge of Mrs. Green’s actions, what do you think Mrs. Green will do to this student? What did you think I would look like before we met?
• After reading- What did you like most about the book? Name one thing that the author did that made you feel like the book was a real story. Name one thing that you didn’t like about the illustrations.

Ten activities to use with the story:

• Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence: The student will go through the whole book and find the descriptive adjective used by the author. These descriptive words will be used as part of a spelling list for the entire class. Each student should find at least three descriptive words and their definitions to contribute to the list
• The students will read the book in small groups and make an entry in their reading journals. These journals will be discussed in small groups (literature circle). The topics that should be covered are; 1) real-life connections, 2) word choice, 3) favorite parts, and 4) favorite characters. All of these areas should be justified by why the student chose to include that in the specific area.
• Logical/Mathematical Intelligence: The students will be directed in collecting materials that make a good teacher. They will be asked what a teacher needs in her desk, what he/she needs to teach, what materials he/she needs in her room, etc. These materials will be organized into a chart and categorized. The charts will be compiled into one class chart and discussed. The topics discussed will by why are these things important, what are they used for, and could a teacher get a long with out them and why.
• Visual/Spatial Intelligence: The student will be asked to draw a picture of what they thought their teacher would look like on the first day of school. The materials they will need include markers, crayons, construction paper, scissors, and glue. On the back of the drawing the students will write a description of their teacher and share it with the whole class.
• The students in small groups will be asked to pick out their favorite scene from the book. The groups will make a diorama of the scene they chose. The groups will be organized by jobs. These jobs include the architect, the engineer, the artist, and the construction worker. The architect will design the display, the engineer will oversee the job, the artist will make the display and the construction worker will put it together. All opinions of the group members will be taken into account in the designing and artwork of the diorama. This diorama will be displayed in the reading area for the whole class to enjoy. The materials that will be provided are shoe boxes, cardboard, magazine, construction paper, scissors, markers, crayons, and glue.
• Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence: : The individual student will be assigned a sentence in the book. The individual words from the sentence will be put on notecards, which are provided. As a whole class, the words will be put in the pocket board in jumbled order, and the class will fix them to retell the story. We will have teams working on individual sentences and the whole class will put the story in order.
• The class will play a mock game of charades with the book. A small group will be assigned to an individual character in the book and will act it out for the class. The class will guess the teacher, and if a group stumps the whole class then they will be the captains for the next day. The student will have 15 minute at the end of class to plan and get prop ideas if applicable. The next morning during reading time the game will be played.
• Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence: The student will be assigned an activity to write a verse to a song about the book. This song can be about a character, a scene, an emotion felt while reading, a real-life connection, or anything else that would be applicable. As a class, we will listen to “The Purple People Eater”, which will be the background for the song. After all the songs are completed, as a class, we will perform them.
• Intrapersonal Intelligence: This activity will be an emotional diary. As the students read the books in this series they will be required to keep a diary about how the book made them feel. They will be asked to answer questions like 1) what emotion are you feeling, 2) what brought on that emotion, 3) which part of the book made you feel the strongest emotions, etc. The diaries will be kept until the student had read at least 5 books in the Black Lagoon series.
• Interpersonal Intelligence: In small groups, have the student’s do a readers theatre of one of the Black Lagoon books. Each group will chose a different book and will be required to turn it into a script, assign parts, get props, elect a director, and perform the book for the whole class. They will have at least two reading periods to perfect this play. If more time is needed then it will be worked in.

Props:

• Dress up clothes
• Art materials – shoe boxes, markers, crayons, glue, scissors, construction paper, cardboard, magazines, etc
• Book series
• Composition paper (for songs)
• Notecards
• Pocketboard

Bibliography of other related Books:

• The Principal from the Black Lagoon published by Cartwheel books, October 1999
• The Custodian from the Black Lagoon published by Cartwheel books, September 2001
• The Cafeteria Lady from the Black Lagoon published by Cartwheel books, September 1998
• The Music Teacher from the Black Lagoon published by Scholastic Trade, September 2000
• The School Bus Driver from the Black Lagoon published by Cartwheel books, September 1999
• The School Nurse from the Black Lagoon published by Scholastic Trade, December 1995
• The Gym Teacher from the Black Lagoon published by Scholastic Trade, October 1999

Assessment Plan:

• The students will assessed on the completion of at least 6 out the 10 activities in the book bag. These will be graded on completion, ability to follow instructions, participation in small group discussion and work, grammar, spelling, conventions.
• A checklist could be made for every activity to ease in the grading process. The book bag project will be worth 100 points. These points break down into 10 points for each activity and 40 points for participation. If a student wishes to complete more than 6 of the activities, he/she will receive extra points to add to the “Point Pot” at the end of the semester to redeem for a prize(s).