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Crow Boy

Read the book on-line

SOCIAL STUDIES

Geography: Japan
The name Japan means "the sun" and Japan is also referred to as “the land of the rising sun”. The Japanese flag is a red circle (sun) on a white background. Have students use red and white construction paper to make a Japanese flag.

The country of Japan is made up of over three thousand islands. Many of these islands are mountainous and some are volcanic. Japan’s highest peak is a volcano called Mount Fuji. Have your students research how islands are formed.

In the book, Crow Boy the story takes place in a village in Japan. A village is a small community of perhaps 5 to 30 families that settled in a rural area. In Japan, villages are often farm or fishing communities. You’re older students can research Japanese villages and create their own on paper.

Even though Japan is relatively short on real estate, it has the world’s tenth largest population with about 128 million people. People in Japan have to get use to living very close together.

Outline Map of Japan from World Atlas
Japan Flag Minit Book
Where is Japan?

Japanese Culture
Food: In Japan, people eat their food with chopsticks. They also have different dinner etiquette. For example it’s considered very rude to ever point with your chopsticks or leave your chopsticks sticking up in your bowl of rice or other food. You should never use your chopsticks to stab or skewer food. When serving food from a common platter, you should use to opposite ends of the chopstick than what you put in your mouth. It’s also considered good manners to pick up a bowl of rice and hold it right below your mouth so the rice doesn’t fall in your lap. Making slurping sounds when eating soup or drinking something is a compliment to the chef.

Buy inexpensive chopsticks for your students to try using them. Have them practice using the chopsticks by picking up cotton balls before they try eating with them. When ready, give your student a small bowl of sticky rice to try.

Clothing: Visit Making Friends and print out a Japanese paper dolls. On the page are two traditional Japanese outfits; the kimono (kee-mo-no) and the gi (gee).  The word kimono simply means things to wear. Both women and men wear the kimono. Kimono are very rarely worn as every day clothing today. Sometimes if one travels to a rural area in Japan or a smaller island like Okinawa, you will see the kimono worn by elders. A Japanese woman usually owns only one kimono in her lifetime. It’s a special kimono worn for the coming of age ceremony on her 19th birthday. Kimono are still popular in wedding ceremonies, but are typically rented.  The traditional shoe worn with a kimono is a pair of geta sandal. They look very similar to American flip-flops. The Japanese also have special socks to wear with their geta sandals. They're called tabi socks. The socks are kind of like mittens for feet. The big toe is separate from the rest of the toes to make wearing sandals easier.  The white pants and shirt set found on the page is called a gi. Gis are typically worn in a dojo when practicing martial arts such as karate.

Chop: A chop is a personal seal and is sometimes used as a signature. Chops are often found on scrolls, screens and official documents. Traditionally, they are usually carved in soft stone, bone, or wood and are made of symbols that say something about the owner or are things important to them. When an artist was done creating his work of art, he would dip is chop in red ink and stamp it onto the piece.

Have your students create their own chop by carving it into a small block of craft foam or a gum eraser. For younger students, you may want to have them draw a simple design on paper and then transfer it to the chop and carve it yourself. Or you can use a ready made stamp from the store that has a picture that has meaning to the child. Be sure to remember to carve the design in reverse so it shows up correctly when stamped. Once you have the chop, your student is ready to use a red ink pad to stamp away.

Writing:  The teacher liked Chibi's writing.  How do the letters look different than the way your student's letters look?  Japanese writing is different (and beautiful!).  If you student is interested, let him watch this video demonstrating some Japanese calligraphy.    You can also print this Japanese Numbers book and use it in your lapbook or notebook.

 

Human Relationships:  Making Fun of Others
The children in the story make fun of Chibi by calling him names like slowpoke and stupid.  This is so unkind.  Discuss name calling with your student and why she should not participate in it.  Also discuss how she should react if someone makes fun of her.

Human Relationships:  Recognizing talents in other people
Mr. Isobe saw something special in Crow Boy-- something that none of the other teachers or students saw.  What was it?  Something good!  Crow Boy wasn't weird or stupid.  He was smart and special.  Encourage your students to think of family members, friends, and other people they know.  What talents do each of these people possess?  What makes each person special? 

LANGUAGE ARTS

Vocabulary
forlorn - lonely and sad
trudging - to walk laboriously or wearily along or over
honored - high respect, as that shown for special merit; esteem
graduation - the successful completion of a program of study
attendance - the frequency with which a person is present
imitate-  to copy exactly

Prepared Crossword Puzzle
 

Discussion Questions/Writing Prompts
How do you think Crow Boy felt when his classmates made fun of him? How do you think he felt when they gave him the nickname Crow Boy?
If you were Crow Boy, how would you have liked to been treated?
What lesson do you think Crow Boy’s classmates learned?

Aesop's fable: The Crow and the Pitcher
After you study crows this week, you may want to read this story together which shows that humans have regarded crows as an intelligent bird for a long time.
Read the fable on-line

ART

Mixed Media
Yashima used crayon, ink, pencil, and tempra to illustrate this book.  Can your student pick out the various mediums in the pictures?  ("Do you see where the crayon is use?  The ink?  Pencil?").   Discuss that when illustrators combine mediums, we call this mixed medium.  After studying the illustrations together, go to your art supply cabinet and let your student choose two (or more) different mediums to combine to create a picture of his own.   

Black and White drawings
Just for fun, let your student try a black and white drawing like Chibi.  Does he like it or would he rather add color?  Discuss these things.  Look at other books you may own that only have black and white drawings.  Would your student add color to them or leave them black and white?  Why?

Japanese Artist Study
Katsushika Hokusai lived September 23, 1760 until April 18, 1849. He was a Japanese painter and printmaker from the Edo Period and is most famous for his series of woodblock prints called "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji". One of the views, "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa," has become most popular and is studied by art students all over the world.

Hokusai was born in what is now called Tokyo, Japan. During his life, Hokusai produced tens of thousands of prints, paintings, and illustrations. Hokusai's themes were usually the Japanese countryside, the people and legends. Many years later, Hokusai’s prints influenced other great artist like van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Toulouse-Lautrec.

Activity-- you may consider trying woodblock prints with your students.

How to make woodblocking prints:

1.) Start with a rough sketch of what you would like your finished print to look like. You might look up examples of other woodblocking prints online to get some ideas.

2.) Once you have your design sketched out, start making your drawing for the key block. This is bed done on tracing paper.

3.) Sandwich a piece of carbon paper between your drawing and your block of wood. Typically, a Japanese artist would use a block made of wild cherry, but any block of soft wood will due. Make sure to place your sketch face down so it will come out right when printed. (This is why doing your drawing on tracing paper is a good idea. You can turn the paper over and still see your lines to trace them.) Using a pen or stylist, trace over your design to transfer your drawing onto the block of wood.

4.) After you have transferred your design to the wood, remove the drawing paper and carbon paper. Using very fine carving tools (or plain nails from the hardware store) start carving your design into your key block.

5.) When you have completed your carving, now you can test your design. Using an ink pad or ink roller, ink the carved side of your wood block. Be sure to apply the ink evenly. While the ink is still wet, place onto a piece of scrap paper. Press down evenly and lift your key block straight up (so not to smudge the design). Then allow your impression to dry. Evaluate your design and make adjustments to your carving as necessary.

6.) Repeat step 5 until you are happy with the results. Then stamp your design onto your final project this can be canvas, paper, cloth, etc. Color in with colored pencils, paint, or leave in black and white.

*Note- For younger students you may try letting them carve on something softer like a Styrofoam meat tray.

Japanese Garden (design project)
The Japanese place great value on their gardens. Garden designers are considered artist. Gardens are typically represent a miniature world. Since space is rare many gardens are sculptured to represent a miniature world. Items placed in the garden represent larger landforms. Rocks for example symbolize mountains; trees represent forests and so on.

Make your own miniature Japanese garden. You can find many attractive containers are your local gardening or home improvement store. Look for a container that is long and doesn’t have very high walls such as a large saucer for a terra cotta pot. You can research plants that typically grow in Japan and see if they are available in your area. If not, any plants will do, just remember this is suppose to be a miniature world so small plants are best to work with. Once you have your container and plants all you need now is rocks and pebbles and any other embellishments you might want to add such as sand for a beach or desert perhaps. While you’re at the store you might also look for decorative bamboo. They have become very popular over the last few years. These plants have been bent to grow into decorative patterns.

If your student is feeling particularly creative you might try experimenting aluminum foil or other plastic containers to add water features. Or you might try adding small pebble painted blue (such as fish tank gravel) to represent the water features instead.

This is a great time to introduce younger students to what makes plants grow and different land features. Older students might enjoy researching Japan’s land features and using the miniature garden for making a replica of the country.
 

SCIENCE

Crows
Discuss the following information with your student.  You may also want to check out some library books about crows.  Be sure to watch the video clips below as your student will really get an understanding for just how smart this bird is!  After you finish learning about crows, you may want to have your student record what he's learned in this Crow Tab book (to include in your lapbook). 

Anatomy:
Crows comprise the genus Corus.  These birds are usually black with black beaks and black legs, some have white, brown, or gray coloring in addition to their black.  The common crow is approximately 8-12 inches long. 

Diet:
Crows will eat just about anything (they are omnivorous eating plants and animals).  Their diets include worms, insects, road kill, mice, berries, crops, (especially corn), the eggs of other birds, and anything else they can find (even fast-food!).   An adult crow needs 11 ounces of food each day.  Despite their bad reputation for eating crops, crows also eat a number of pests which are harmful to those same crops, including cutworms, wireworms, grasshoppers and even noxious weeds.

Range:
The 40 some members of this genus can be found just about anywhere in the world (except Antarctica, New Zealand, and South America). They thrive in mountains, woodlands, across plains and farmers' fields, and throughout urban areas. 

Nesting Habits
Crows build bulky nests out of twigs and line them with bark, grass, and/or small roots.  The female lays the eggs in the nest (usually 4-7) and the male helps with the incubation. Once the eggs hatch, the baby birds remain in the nest for 6-8 weeks while their parents bring them food.

Intelligence:
Crows (and ravens) may be the most intelligent of all birds.  These videos will let you and your student see just how smart the crow is!

                           

Crow Photographs

Five Senses
Chibi uses his five senses to explore the world around him.  Review the five senses and discuss how we use each one.  Can your student recall examples from the story of how Chibi uses his sense?  (sight-- the desk, the patch on a boy's shirt; hearing- he closed his eyes and listened on the playground; touch- insects and grubs).  Consider taking your student outside this week.  Go on a sense walk (you may want to do different walks on different days).  You could go for a listening walk.  What do you hear?  Birds?  Can you mimic their calls?  You could also go on a touching walk (you may need to learn about a few poisonous plants in your area first) or a looking walk; you could even go on a smelling walk.  Enjoy nature together as you teach your student to really observe the world God has made. 

Day/Night
Japan is on the other side of the world. Students can learn about the sun and the moon. Asia, including Japan, is located in the Eastern Hemisphere. We are located in the Western Hemisphere. When the Eastern Hemisphere is experiencing daylight the Western Hemisphere is experiencing darkness. Locate Japan on the globe. Using a flashlight, show that when we have daytime, Japan has nighttime.
 

MATH

Estimation
Use a bag of rice to introduce estimation and how to use a scale. Prepare small cups with the following quantities of rice a head of time; 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 (if you’re feeling ambitious). Show your student 10 pieces of rice and ask them to count the grains in the pile. After your student has come up with the correct number of grains, then explain to them that now they know what 10 pieces of rice look like. Ask if using that information can they make an estimation of how grains are in the next cup. After they have guessed count with them the number of grains (20). Then repeat the procedure. Once you have gone through all of the pre-measured cups, you might encourage your child to grab a small handful of rice on their own and then both of you can make a game of take turns guessing how many grains are in the new pile. Count the grains of rice with your child and see who was the closest.

Measure out rice into small sandwich baggies (you may want to pre-measure the bags before hand so you get even round numbered weight). Using a scale, let your child measure the smallest bag and record the weight. If your student is already comfortable using a scale, you may try using the bags in a similar fashion to the activity above to expand on estimation. You can also use the bags and a balance scale to have your student see what pairs of bags would equal the first bag placed in the scale. For example if you place a 10 oz. bag in the first half of the scale, your student would have to place two 5 oz. bags in the second half for the scale to equal out.

Time Zones
Have your older students research time zones. Then have them figure out how many hours apart your time zone is from Tokyo, Japan. Make up a worksheet of different times and have them write down what time it would be in Japan. For example, if it’s noon here, what time is it in Tokyo?

Abacus
There is an abacus in the classroom in this story.  What is an abacus?  An abacus is a manual aid to calculating that consists of beads or disks that can be moved up and down on a series of sticks or strings within a usually wooden frame. The abacus itself doesn't calculate; it's simply a device for helping a human being to calculate by remembering what has been counted.  Make your own abacus

JUST FOR FUN

Cooking:  Rice Balls

1. Boil the rice in a rice-cooker.
2. Put a little salt into a glass of water until it tastes salty, and prepare the stuffing of rice balls --- pickled plums("umeboshi"), cod roe or salmon, a piece of fruit.
3. Cool the boiled rice until you can handle it (but not too cool. The rice won't become a 'ball' if you cool it too much).
4. Take small handful of the boiled rice with your two hands. (It's a good idea to wet your hands so the rice won't stick.)
5. Put the stuffing in the center of the boiled rice.
6. Grip the boiled rice in your hands forcefully with the fingers of the left hand, and the middle finger and the third finger of the right hand, and the palms of the two hands and squeeze several times.
7. Finally, wrap it with a piece of strip nori (found in most ethnic aisles of the grocery store).

Rice is one of the most universal foods on the planet. Nearly every culture on the planet has its own unique rice dishes. Research rice dishes from other countries and make a cookbook that includes recipes from countries from all over the world. This is a great time to bring up that even though, we may have many differences, we are still very similar at the same time. 

Origami
Origami literally means "folding paper” and is the art of paper folding. There are many books and free resources on the internet available with patterns and techniques for making origami. Find a few suitable patterns for your student’s level and make a mobile from the finished product.
 

RESOURCES

Library List (other books set in Japan)
Basho and the Fox Tim Myers
Yoko by Rosemary Wells
How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman
Grass Sandals by Dawnine Spivak
Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say
A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno
Taro and the Tofu by Masako Matsuno
Little Oh by Laura Krauss Milmed

Helpful Links:
http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/    This is a very well done site that contains a large amount of information about Japan and is geared toward elementary aged students.

Materials and information on this website belong to the original composers. It may be used for your own personal and school use. 

Material may not be used for resale.  © 2005-07 HSS