What happens when you try to catch a firefly? Crayola® Twistables make lightening bugs (or any character) glow. Follow one from page to page in an original book.

• 1.

  Create a character. Read a favorite story that has one main character. With Crayola Twistables, draw and color the main character. We used a firefly for our sample. Press hard to make bright colors. Cut out the character with Crayola Scissors. Color the other side, too.

• 2.

  Bind a book. Fold several sheets of paper in half and staple at the fold. For scenes set at night or in places like caves, glue black paper to pages with a Crayola Glue Stick.

• 3.

  Punch a hole at the top left corner of your book. Thread string or yarn through the hole and tie a knot. Tape your main character to the other end of the string.

• 4.

  Write and illustrate your title on the cover. On the inside pages, retell the plot in your own words and pictures. Plan the action so the main character pops into every page as you read your book to the class.

Standards

• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• LA: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
• SCI: Ask questions about the natural and human-built worlds.
• SCI: Offer causal explanations appropriate to level of scientific knowledge.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.
• VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle; Ten Flashing Fireflies by Philemon Sturges; Fireflies, Fireflies, Light My Way by Jonathan London; Fireflies by Margaret Hall
• Working in small groups, students investigate how a firefly creates its light. Students report on their findings in an electronic format and include downloaded digital photographs that they have taken or have found electronically.
• Students, working in teams of two or small groups, compose an original story about a firefly or other original character that appears to have special qualities in nature. Students develop the story to the point where character traits can be envisioned by listeners, the setting can be identified, and the plot can be discussed. Students in the groups also develop original sketches of their character and scenes from the story.
• If time permits, schedule a time when student groups can share their original stories with other classes.