Southwest Children's  Literature

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Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book

Storytime Plan:

AGES: Appropriate for ages three to ten; craft requires use of scissors.
THEME: Celebration! / ¡Celebración!
OVERVIEW: Children will have fun listening to a story, watching a puppet show, dancing, and creating papel picados.
PURPOSE: To have children of various linguistic and cultural backgrounds enjoy a bilingual (English/Spanish) story time.

RESOURCES
Children's Books:
Morales, Yuyi. Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. (2003).
Moreton, Daniel. La Cucaracha Martina: A Caribbean Folktale. New York:Turtle Books. (1997).
A selection of children's books to display, including Latin American and Caribbean folktales, nonfiction books about cockroaches, titles by Yuyi Morales and alternate versions of the "Cucaracha Martina" story.

Materials and other resources:
This story time plan is best accomplished with two storytellers.
Play CDs of Latin and/or Caribbean music.
For the Cucaracha Martina puppet show: puppets (cockroach, and four other animal puppets), props (fake window, gold coin, powder puff, bow, and wedding veil), puppet stage and decorations.
For the craft: tissue paper, scissors, string, tape and/or stapler.
Take-home: La Cucaracha Martina finger puppets. (See below.)

PROCESS
Introduction:

Thank the children and parents/caregivers for coming. Introduce the theme of Celebrations!/¡Celebraciones! Ask children about celebrations they've recently been to or are planning.

Story: Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book
Introduce the story by asking the children what a "trickster" is and if they can think of characters who are tricksters. Tell the children that this is a counting book and that you'll be counting in English and Spanish throughout the story. Talk about the book cover and use it to introduce the characters.

Read the story. Have one storyteller act as Grandma Beetle and read her lines, as the other reads the full text. The full text reader should get the children more involved in the story by asking the children questions (i.e., "Do you think Grandma Beetle wants to go with Señor Calavera?") and encouraging them to count along and act out Señor Calavera's emotions (i.e., "He rolled his eyes - can you roll your eyes?"). Support children in reciting refrain "Just a minute Señor Calavera," with Grandma Beetle. At the end of the story, ask the children what they thought of it, and see if they figured out who the trickster was.

Puppet Show: La Cucaracha Martina
Introduce the puppet show by telling the children the name of the show, its origins, and asking them if they know what a cucaracha is, and if they think that a cockroach can be beautiful.

Perform the show. See puppet show script for La Cucaracha Martina. (See below)
Ask the children what they thought of the puppet show. Find out what character they liked the best and why. Point out that weddings and birthdays are both types of celebrations.

Dancing:
Facilitate group circle dance with "call out" movements to the traditional "Mexican Hat Dance" music performed by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.

Craft: Papel Picados
Show the children a finished papel picado and ask if they have seen one before; point out the papel picados in Just a Minute. Show the children how to create a papel picado, comparing it to making a snowflake out of paper, which they may have done before. (See http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/do/papelpicado.html for detailed instructions.) Children can make papel picados to take home, or to help decorate the library. Hang up the children's papel picados in a prominent place in your library.

Extensions/Modifications:
Children and parents/caregivers can checkout fiction and non-fiction materials related to the program to take home. Finger puppet handouts can be colored and the story retold (sequence of events) at home.

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