(LIVE) Friendship, Laughter and Feelings With Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad

NOTE ON REQUIRED EXPERIENCE: This course is most successful for those that are currently strengthening their 'learning to read independently' (while still partnering with a grown up at times) or are able to read on their own. Enrolled learners should have some beginner experience writing independently (stretching out sounds to write words, phrases and simple sentences). Accurate spelling is NOT required at all :)

OVERVIEW:
Arnold Lobel's literary gift and creation of the classic characters Frog and Toad are timeless. Through their short story adventures, we learn the value of having a friend to lean on -- one who supports (and strengthens) daily struggles, helps us find humor in surprising places and has our best interests at heart.

Throughout this course, learners will be guided to read two specifically assigned short stories a week in preparation for class (it may or may not be obvious from the beginning why each week's stories have been put together). During the course of each week, a consistent schedule will be in place to nurture a steady, anticipated course pace -- however, each week's independent scavenger hunts and subsequent in class written projects/ artistic pieces will be a creative variety of assignments!

READING SCHEDULE:
(Short story reading assignments are pulled from the following four Arnold Lobel titles: 'Frog and Toad Are Friends', 'Frog and Toad Together', 'Frog and Toad All Year', 'Days with Frog and Toad'. These titles are widely accessible and you are free to choose to lend or purchase these four books for the course.)

Week 1: The Story/ The Surprise
Week 2: Cookies/ Tomorrow
Week 3: A List/ A Swim
Week 4: The Kite/ A Lost Button
Week 5: Shivers/ Alone

CLASS STRUCTURE:
5 days prior to the course beginning, a video introduction on Story Scavenger Hunts (SSH) will be posted (as each learner will hear in the video, read in the course description and discuss during class time, a SSH will accompany each week's reading assignment)! While each week's dual story selections differ, our live course time will follow the same structure:

-- Thematic elements, friendship/ life lessons, entertaining text details, opinion prompting, etc. of the week's short stories will coordinate with the sharing of the details in each learner's SSH
-- Writing piece modeling and independent learner time to engage in task themselves. Examples of writing pieces may be: simple themed poetry (such as an acrostic), compare/ contrast diagrams (using words or simple phrases, illustrations), brainstorming for * *verbal* * character persuasions, applicable reader to character connections, etc.
OR
-- Artistic piece modeling and independent learner time to engage in task themselves. Examples of artistic pieces may be: watercolor painting connected to a story element, sketching, designing with household materials, etc.

Each class meeting's writing OR artistic piece (only one per week) will always represent a direct connection to the particular Frog and Toad stories assigned that week.

STORY SCAVENGER HUNT EXAMPLES:
Each week's Story Scavenger Hunt (SSH) will be created by me, posted the day each new course week begins and have a list of four tasks. These Scavenger Hunts will sometimes be physical objects, sometimes actions or feelings, but will always go hand-in-hand with the particular stories of the week. An example of a feelings-based SSH might be: 'Frog was incredibly patient when Toad was frustrated over his lost list. Find someone in your life that exhibits patience for you or others'. A learner could 'show' this finding in their SSH by illustrating this person in the given space on their template, having a detail ready to share for class on who they chose and why.

COURSE GOALS:
Reading with purpose, nurturing connections to characters, learning from a variety of story environment and expressing our understanding in different ways!