Where the Wild things Are
I would doubt that there is a decent school library in the world that does not have a copy of Maurice Sendak's 'Where the Wild things are' and with last years film release this book is finding a fresh audience amongst both teachers and students and is a great story to engage your students with.
A colleague of mine Mark Muldoon recently put together a brilliant unit of work for his grade 5/6 students that ties a number of elements of the book, film, soundtrack and artwork into a complete literacy unit.
The story is highly applicable to kids of all ages as it deals with emotions, family issues and how our behaviour and feelings affect the world we perceive around us.
Obviously for copyright reasons I cannot post digital copies of the book or film so the first thing you will have to do is source these. I have supplied you with a number of resources below with a descriptor of what each element is.
Teacher Guide: This is the official teacher guide from Warner Bros Pictures: IT contains a range of activities and tasks for both teachers and students. A great starting point.
Permission slip to see the film: Use this if your students need parental permission to see the film at school.
What are the themes of Sendak's books? This activity explores the concepts and themes that run throughout all of Sendak's books for students to compare and contrast.
Book review; This is a great example of a quality book review of where the Wild things are and should be shown and modelled to students before starting their own.
Making Family connections: This is a great task for students to do in linking the events that occur in the book and film with those of their own lives.
Cloze Activity: of Book review
letter of Apology: Make a list of the “mischief” Max did at the beginning of the book. Then write an apology letter from Max to his mother.
Transcript of the Film: You might like to use parts of this in your reading sessions
Write your own Blurb: Use the example to assist you.
When I feel sad I will.. get your students to write about their emotions
Leave your memories of "Where the wild things are" Blog - great interactive activity
Craft Activities: These are some great creative activities generally based upon the artwork from the book. Activity 1, Activity 2, Activity 3, Activity 4, Activity 5
Create your wild self: students can use this create a wild monster of their own that they might like to translate into a story. A number of opportunities here.
I hope you enjoy these and if you have any other ideas I'd love to hear them