23 Down Here, Up There

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Down Here, Up There

Spend the morning with a space-travelling cat and a pair of street-travelling boys, exploring worlds from outer space to inner Halifax. These two fabulous storytellers show young readers that at the root of all good stories is a delight in the words themselves. Little ones will be tapping their toes to Shauntay Grant’s rhythmic renderings and delighting in the illustrations created by Ashley Spires that bring Binky the astronaut to life.

Curriculum Connection:

• create imaginative writing and representations based on models they have heard or viewed.
• gain a perspective of local habitats.
• identifying word patterns.
• oral reading.

Activities

1. Have students identify the way sounds are represented in Binky the Space Cat or Spires’ new Binky to the Rescue and/or Grant’s The City Speaks in Drums.

2. Explore the concept of onomatopoeia and have students practice rendering sound effects for various situations both out loud and in writing.

3. Have students bring a notebook and go outside to walk around or observe a nearby area.

4. Ask them to use sound effects to represent the noises that they hear around them, such as cars and so forth.

5. In the classroom, students can create a short illustrated journey through a city block or town using what they have observed and their own imagination.

6. Older students (grades 2-3) may also try this activity: http://www.kidscanpress.com/Assets/Books/w_BinkyTheSpaceCat_2028/PDFs/BinkyTheSpaceCat_2028_storytime.pdf

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