BERTRAND'S BOAT
Another one of my mother's genius ideas! Although, SOME kids already knew this story, so I had to start to say at the beginning of class" If you know the story already, please don't say anything."
Anyway, it's basically a storytelling activity, where I start by telling this imaginary story that goes along with an origami boat project that you can do with any piece of scrap paper. Takes up half a class period, depending on how many struggle buses there are in the folding process. This is the dialog I wrote myself and memorized before giving the story:
BERTRAND'S BOAT
By: Miss Emily
Green: Commentary
Red: Student Responses
Purple: Actual Story
Blue: Questions I ask the class
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
We are going to do some storytelling today!
Me: Can anyone tell me what storytelling means?? (Students raise hands and answer what storytelling is.)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Me: Good job! Sometimes stories are true, but some are not true. When they are not true, what is this called?
(Students respond with answers such as myths, legends, fairy tales, fables, etc).
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Me: I have heard that the forest of Broceliande (the forest where we live) is famous for myths and legends. Can anyone tell me some of them? (Some kid gives examples: King Arthur, Merlin, Various Fairies, etc.)
Me: Well, I bet you’ve never heard the story of Bertrand?
I was cleaning out our apartment the other day (I live at the school), and I found an old diary of an American Assistant years ago, and I read it, and I wanted to tell you what she wrote.
Well, Bertrand was a student at Broceliande a very very long time ago. But, not many people know his story, because…well, you’ll see!
Bertrand was a student just like you. He had tests, he studied, he played sports, he went to class, he talked with his friends, but probably the biggest similarity with Bertrand and you is that he had a really cool American assistant. AND he loved her.
But, unfortunately, American assistants only stay for one year at Broceliande, so after she left, he became very very sad.
Remember last week, we talked about Martin Luther King, and his dreams, remember? Now, Bertrand had the biggest dream in the world? Can you guess what it was? (Some kid says "to marry the American girl" or "to go to the United States to find her.")
Now, how does one person get to the United States? (Kid: Airplane)
Yes, airplane! But, unfortunately, Bertrand was very poor. He had no money to go to the United States by plane. If you have no money to go by plane, how would you go? (Kid: Boat?)
Yes! Now, Bertrand decided to research and research boat tickets, but they were too expensive! NOW what would he do? (Kid: Swim? Navigate himself?)
YES, Bertrand decided that he could learn how to sail and that would save money.
Every day before and after school he practiced how to sail in St Malo de Beignon (a little lake by our school) until he was an expert sailor.
Once and expert sailor, he went to buy a boat, but he had no money, so he decided to build one himself.
He was a very bad student. In class, he did not want to do work and he never studied, he just drew sketches of boats, the detail of the materials, the size, etc. He even learned the vocabulary of the boat in English (show class what a bow, stern, sail is). Little by little, his boat grew and grew…until it was PERFECT. Would you like to see what it looks like? (Have a boat already made out of paper to show). He was so proud when it was finished that he wrote his name on the sail in BIG letters. (write BERTRAND on the boat's sail)
He told all of his friends that he would sneak away to the United States, because they all knew how cool the American girl was, and they supported him in his quest to find her. He didn’t tell his family or his teachers. So, as a parting gift, his friends in his_____ class all gave him one item for a trip. One item that would remind him of France.
What are some items that are typically French?
Students always say things like: a beret, wine, cheese, bread, striped shirt, etc. MAKE SURE THEY MENTION FOOD
So, Bertrand loaded all of those items in his boat and set off sail. (I have a sound machine app on my iPhone, so I played "Harbor Seagulls" as Bertrand was leaving).
Things started off calm, but then there was a big storm. Blah blah, improvise...rip off one end of the boat. (Played a "Thunderstorm" sound)
Then, a little further, a shark smelled the French food, and he took a bite out of the other side. (Played the JAWS sound)
Wind damaged the sail. ( blah blah improvised, rip off the sail. Played wind sound on my app)
And then, just like that, Bertrand disappeared, and nobody ever heard from him again.
Did he survive? Did he die? Did he find his love? Nobody knows.
After some time, all of Bertrand’s friends wanted to solve the mystery once and for all, to find out where their friend had gone, so they decided to do a big search everywhere along the coast where Bertrand was supposed to land. They looked everywhere...on the beach, in the sky, in the water...
But, they only found one thing. Can you guess what it is??
(Unfold to Bertrand's Shirt)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After class, hand out pieces of scrap computer paper (there's gotta be a recycle bin in the lounge you could take from). Then, teach the class how to fold the boat (good following direction activity).
Anyway, it's basically a storytelling activity, where I start by telling this imaginary story that goes along with an origami boat project that you can do with any piece of scrap paper. Takes up half a class period, depending on how many struggle buses there are in the folding process. This is the dialog I wrote myself and memorized before giving the story:
BERTRAND'S BOAT
By: Miss Emily
Green: Commentary
Red: Student Responses
Purple: Actual Story
Blue: Questions I ask the class
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
We are going to do some storytelling today!
Me: Can anyone tell me what storytelling means?? (Students raise hands and answer what storytelling is.)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Me: Good job! Sometimes stories are true, but some are not true. When they are not true, what is this called?
(Students respond with answers such as myths, legends, fairy tales, fables, etc).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Me: I have heard that the forest of Broceliande (the forest where we live) is famous for myths and legends. Can anyone tell me some of them? (Some kid gives examples: King Arthur, Merlin, Various Fairies, etc.)
Me: Well, I bet you’ve never heard the story of Bertrand?
I was cleaning out our apartment the other day (I live at the school), and I found an old diary of an American Assistant years ago, and I read it, and I wanted to tell you what she wrote.
Well, Bertrand was a student at Broceliande a very very long time ago. But, not many people know his story, because…well, you’ll see!
Bertrand was a student just like you. He had tests, he studied, he played sports, he went to class, he talked with his friends, but probably the biggest similarity with Bertrand and you is that he had a really cool American assistant. AND he loved her.
But, unfortunately, American assistants only stay for one year at Broceliande, so after she left, he became very very sad.
Remember last week, we talked about Martin Luther King, and his dreams, remember? Now, Bertrand had the biggest dream in the world? Can you guess what it was? (Some kid says "to marry the American girl" or "to go to the United States to find her.")
Now, how does one person get to the United States? (Kid: Airplane)
Yes, airplane! But, unfortunately, Bertrand was very poor. He had no money to go to the United States by plane. If you have no money to go by plane, how would you go? (Kid: Boat?)
Yes! Now, Bertrand decided to research and research boat tickets, but they were too expensive! NOW what would he do? (Kid: Swim? Navigate himself?)
YES, Bertrand decided that he could learn how to sail and that would save money.
Every day before and after school he practiced how to sail in St Malo de Beignon (a little lake by our school) until he was an expert sailor.
Once and expert sailor, he went to buy a boat, but he had no money, so he decided to build one himself.
He was a very bad student. In class, he did not want to do work and he never studied, he just drew sketches of boats, the detail of the materials, the size, etc. He even learned the vocabulary of the boat in English (show class what a bow, stern, sail is). Little by little, his boat grew and grew…until it was PERFECT. Would you like to see what it looks like? (Have a boat already made out of paper to show). He was so proud when it was finished that he wrote his name on the sail in BIG letters. (write BERTRAND on the boat's sail)
He told all of his friends that he would sneak away to the United States, because they all knew how cool the American girl was, and they supported him in his quest to find her. He didn’t tell his family or his teachers. So, as a parting gift, his friends in his_____ class all gave him one item for a trip. One item that would remind him of France.
What are some items that are typically French?
Students always say things like: a beret, wine, cheese, bread, striped shirt, etc. MAKE SURE THEY MENTION FOOD
So, Bertrand loaded all of those items in his boat and set off sail. (I have a sound machine app on my iPhone, so I played "Harbor Seagulls" as Bertrand was leaving).
Things started off calm, but then there was a big storm. Blah blah, improvise...rip off one end of the boat. (Played a "Thunderstorm" sound)
Then, a little further, a shark smelled the French food, and he took a bite out of the other side. (Played the JAWS sound)
Wind damaged the sail. ( blah blah improvised, rip off the sail. Played wind sound on my app)
And then, just like that, Bertrand disappeared, and nobody ever heard from him again.
Did he survive? Did he die? Did he find his love? Nobody knows.
After some time, all of Bertrand’s friends wanted to solve the mystery once and for all, to find out where their friend had gone, so they decided to do a big search everywhere along the coast where Bertrand was supposed to land. They looked everywhere...on the beach, in the sky, in the water...
But, they only found one thing. Can you guess what it is??
(Unfold to Bertrand's Shirt)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After class, hand out pieces of scrap computer paper (there's gotta be a recycle bin in the lounge you could take from). Then, teach the class how to fold the boat (good following direction activity).