There's a Rumble in the Jungle

Materials

1. Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz
2. Cardstock paper
3. Scissors
4. Markers, crayons, and paint
5. Felt pieces
6. Yarn
7. Glue
8. Elastic bands
9. Large cardboard boxes

Instructions

1. Read the book Rumble in the Jungle to the children several times over a period of a week or more. The children will become more familiar with the story each time they read it, and they will start repeating parts as they read. Ask the children if they would like to pretend to be the animals in the book.
2. Using cardstock paper, cut out several simple masks representing the animals in the book. There are quite a few animals, so this step may take a few days. Let the children decorate the masks using felt, yarn, paint, markers, and so on.
3. Attach elastic bands to both sides of each mask and fit the child's head.
4. Let the children use the masks freely for a few days. Continue to read the book each day. Explain to the children that they are going to act out the book.
5. Open and flatten the large cardboard boxes. Encourage the children to draw and paint a jungle background on the boxes. Instead of cardboard, you could also use large pieces of craft paper.
6. When everything is ready, gather the children together. Assign roles by giving each child an animal mask. Have everyone sit together facing the scenery.
7. Begin to read the book. As each animal is mentioned, encourage the children to go up in front of the scenery and pretend to be that animal. There are no lines for the children to repeat. They simply pretend to be the animal they represent. For example, they can stomp like a gorilla and beat their chests, or slither on the ground like a snake.
8. Continue reading until the story is done. More to do Dramatic Play: Bring in a video camera and make a Rumble in the Jungle movie. Record the children as they act out the book.

Instructions

1. Fold a piece of paper into quarters. This will become a
book with eight pages. Turn the folded paper
so that the main "spine" fold is on the left. Cut
off the bottom strip to separate the pages,
keeping the main fold intact. Open it and
staple at the main fold using a long-arm stapler. This
makes a small eight-page book. Make one for each child.
2. Encourage the children to choose a topic and a title
for their book. Examples of titles are: "Good Food,"
"Community Helpers," and "My Circus Book." Children
could also make their own version of a favorite story such
as "The Three Little Pigs." Let them illustrate their cover.
3. Ask them to illustrate their books by drawing pictures
or cutting out pictures from magazines. Encourage
them to dictate stories on sentence strips and glue
them to the appropriate pages.
4. Write "the end" on the last page!
5. This project lets children practice in a variety of skills,
such as number recognition (numbering the pages),
sight word recognition, concepts of print (front, back
of book, left to right progression), vocabulary
words such as "author," "illustrations," "fiction,"
and so on.
6. Children love to read the books they created.
Encourage them to read their books to their classmates.
They may exchange their books to read to each other.