Curious George Free Unit Study

Literature Based Unit Study written by Heidi Jasper; additional lessons by Ami, Louise, Pam Senfield, Paige Poland, and Celia Hartmann

Bible: Memory Verse
Discuss obedience with your child. Why is it important to obey? Memorize Ephesians 6:1 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right."

Social Studies: Geography- Africa
The first few lines of the book mention that George is from Africa. Make a story disk and place it on Africa.

Africa is a continent, it is the second largest of the seven continents on the earth. There are about 53 countries in Africa. The biggest country in Africa is Sudan, the countries with the largest populations are Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia. Africa is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Indian Ocean on the east, the Mediterranean Sea on the north, and the Red Sea on the northeast. Largest island off Africa is Madagascar (movie watching potential!)

The book explains that the man with the yellow hat takes George on a boat to go to America. On the map, point out the journey the boat would have to take to sail from Africa to America.

Game idea: Take two large maps of Africa, one an outline map, one with all the countries on. Cut out the countries then use the outline map and try to piece the puzzle back together.
Outline Map
African Map with Countries

Make a string of African flags to decorate your schoolroom. Choose the flags that are easier to make. When you are done, try to locate the countries on a map. Click here for pictures of African Flags to help with this project.

African Countries Coloring Book

In the Hands of a Child- Africa Lapbook

Social Studies: Map Skills
"Then they looked for the signal on the big map that showed where the telephone call had come from." Find a local map and map the route from your house to the closest fire station.

Social Studies: Traffic
Consider a field trip to a pedestrian corner with a traffic light. Spend some time at the light. Cross using the pedestrian cross walk. Let your student tell you when it’s time to cross. Look both ways before crossing. Find a bench and sit and watch the people and the cars. Make a game of anticipating the stoplight & the pedestrian crosswalk signal. Count the cars that make it through a green light or count the cars that are sitting at a red light. Draw a map of the corner. Check out the road signs.

Just for fun play a game of Green Light, Red Light. Someone is the “traffic light” & stands on one end of the room. The other participants line up on the other side of the room. The “traffic light” yells, “green light!” and turns away from the children. The other children begin walking/running towards the “traffic light”. The “traffic light” yells, “red light,” turns around to see everyone, and all the children stop. If the “traffic light” sees someone still moving, he/she pulls them over! (they’re out) The person to get to the “traffic light” first, wins. (If you want to, you can also call “yellow light!” --move slowly.)

History: Inventions- The Telephone
In our story, the man used the telephone to call the zoo. And George used the phone and accidentally called the fire station!

The telephone was invented more than a hundred years ago (1849-1876). It was invented by several people, though Alexander Graham Bell is the one generally given credit for it. He put together ideas that many people came up with before him. In 1875, he was able to use a telephone to call his friend Mr. Watson in another room and ask Mr. Watson if he could hear him. And Mr. Watson heard! But he had to go running in to the room where Alexander Graham Bell waited to tell him that he could hear! It took almost a whole year longer for Alexander Graham Bell to enable the telephone to allow Mr. Watson to reply back to him!

It's hard to imagine everyday life without the telephone!

When you speak into a telephone, the sound of your voice is carried by electricity over telephone wires to the phone of the person you are talking to. Remember the wires Curious George walked on? The next time you're out and about, point out telephone wires. (Actually, most wires mounted on poles we see now along the streets and roads are really electric wires....telephone wires now go out from your house and out to a telephone box like this one. Most telephone wires are now underground. You can either explain this to your child, or "pretend" with your very young children that the utility poles are telephone wires.)

Activity -- Make Tin Can Telephones: Take two clean, empty tin cans (make sure they have smooth edges!). Punch a hole in the bottom of each. Thread a long piece of thin wire or string through the holes. Use buttons to tie to the ends of each string to act as a stopper. Now the children can stretch out the wire as far as it can go. Have one child talk into one end as the other child (or you) holds his can to his ear. The vibrations from the child's voice will travel along the wire (having the wire straight improves the sound) to the other person's ear.

If your older student is interested in learning just how telephones and telephone networks work, perhaps you could watch this animation together. Here is another explanation that might be suitable for your older student to read for further research. With an older student you could also discuss sound waves and how sound travels (a basic lesson can be found in the Science section of HSS's Where the Buffaloes Begin.)

Social Studies: Present and Past
The book was originally published in 1941, and if you carefully look at the illustrations in the book, your student will note lifestyle differences. One of the first differences that can be noticed is the different types of clothing worn by the sailors on the ship, the pajamas George puts on, the firemen uniforms, and the clothes worn by the balloon man and the children buying balloons. A second noticeable difference is in automobiles. Have the student try to remark on the differences in today's cars, trucks, motorcycles, and fire trucks as compared to the ones shown in the story. Your student may also notice the different style of the traffic light, that there are horses pulling carts down the street, and that George calls the fire department on a rotary dial telephone.

Language Arts: Classic
This book is a classic from 1941. A classic is a book that has survived the test of time. You may want to explain this to your student by making (or using what you already have) a time line. Let your student place your date of birth, his date of birth, and the "birth" of this book on the line.   The visual representation will help him understand what a classic is. Mention other classics you have read/rowed; you may even want to place them on the time line as well.

Language Arts: Drama
Many different scenes in this book may be fun for you to re-enact with your student(s).
The man in the yellow hat capturing George
George trying to fly like a sea gull and falling in the water (and being rescued)
The balloon man -- you may even want to get a helium balloon to have fun with this one!

Language Arts: Words that Describe
At the beginning of the story we are told that "He was a good little monkey and always very curious." Point out to your student the words that describe George-- good, little, very curious.   What other words can your student think of to describe George.   Have your student try filling in this sentence:

George was ___________ and very ___________.   You can make this sentence as true (example-- George was brown and very fuzzy.) or as silly (George was stinky and very hairy.) as you wish!    How many different sentences can you create?

With your older student, discuss that describing words have a proper name (adjectives) and they are one of the parts of speech in the English language.

Language Arts: Writing
According to Webster's Dictionary, the word curious means "desirous of learning or knowing; often inquisitive or prying." Discuss the meaning of this word with your student. Talk about how George was curious. Ask them to give you specific examples from the story. Finally, have them write at least two sentences about something they are curious about

Art
Look through the pictures with your student and let him decide which colors H.A. Rey uses. Allow your student to create a water-color picture with green, blue, red, and yellow paints. After the picture dries, encourage him to add details with charcoal as H.A. Rey does in his illustrations.

Math
Count policeman, balloons, and zoo animals. Are there enough balloons for each animal? (No) How many more are needed?

Science (Monkey vs. Ape)
The most obvious differences between apes and monkeys are: apes don't have tails, and they are generally larger than most other primates. Like most rules, this one has exceptions: some monkeys lack tails and some are large. Gibbons, considered to be apes, are smaller than some monkeys. If your student is interested, continue with more characteristics as noted below.

If you use an Animal Classification System in your home school, click here for a Curious George Card.

Monkeys
more than 200 species
small
arms equal in length or shorter than legs (have your student measure his own arms and legs to see which are longer)
active during the day (diurnal)
*most* have visible tails
weak sense of smell, dry nose

Apes
about 14 species
large (except Gibbons)
arms longer than legs
no tails
weak sense of smell, dry nose
lack of hair on face
capable of using language
have social lives
capable thinkers and problem-solvers

If your student is capable, let him make a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting Apes/Monkeys.

After your study of primates, ask your student if George is an ape or a monkey (ape). What kind of ape is George? He is a chimpanzee!

More about chimpanzees! http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/apes/chimp/Chimpcoloring.shtml *One reference to evolution, but you could black it out with a permanent marker or discuss with your child how we know that chimpanzees are not related to humans.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/apes/chimp/ -- again, you can leave the evolution-y stuff out.

Science: Different Types of Boats
"the man with the yellow hat put George into a little boat, and a sailor rowed them both across the water to a big ship."

There are many different kinds of boats! Has your student ever been in a boat? What kind of boat was it?
Different boats are used for different jobs-- large barges are used to carry cargo, small kayaks are used for sport and recreation. Other boats are used for fishing and some boats even serve as houses. Would your student like to live on a boat? Some boats are used in specific areas of the world like the Jamaican banana boat and the Chinese dragon boat.

Use these Prepared Boat Cards to introduce your student to some of the many different boats that have been used around the world throughout history.

Ways to use Prepared Boat Cards (you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open this file)
1. Classification (classify the boats with your younger student by size making one pile for BIG boats and another pile for little boats; classify the boats with your older student -- boats used in the present vs. boats used in the past.)
2. Have your student find all the boats that have sails, all the boats that use oars (row boats), or all the boats that can be used for recreation (fun).
3. Print two copies of the cards and play concentration or memory. You may not want to use all 24 pairs depending on the ages of your students.
4. Print two copies of the cards and play Go-Fish! (Choose about 12-18 pairs depending on ages of your students and how many people are playing.)
5. Let your older student choose a card out of a bowl each day for "boat research of the day" and have him write up a paragraph about that boat after researching it in an encyclopedia or on-line.
6. Ask your student to put the cards in alphabetical order.

Science: Birds (How do Birds Fly?)
"on the deck [Curious George] saw some seagulls and wondered how they could fly"

Three main things help a bird fly – design of the wings, hollow bones and powerful chest muscles.

1. Design: Shape, bone structure and feathers. It is the draught of air pushing up on the underside of the wings that allow a bird to fly. Movement of the wings in different directions gives birds the ability to slow down, speed up, change direction and generally maneuver about in the air. If a large surface area of wing is exposed to on-coming air movement it will slow down the bird - this is how the wing flaps (aero foils) work on a plane. If less surface area is exposed the bird will move faster. Watch sea birds diving or predatory birds (i.e. eagles) diving to catch smaller prey they hold their wings in tight to reduce wind resistance and gain speed.

2. Bones: Birds have hollow bones filled with air, which means they are much lighter than we are in proportion to their size.

3. Muscles: A bird’s pectoral (chest) muscles are very strong which helps them move their wings to fly.

Feathers are made of a tough and flexible material called "keratin". Feathers look solid, but they are not. The spine down the middle, called the shaft, is hollow. The vanes are on the two halves of the feather. They are made of thousands of branches called barbs. Because there are many spaces between these barbs, a feather has as much air as matter. Find some feathers to look at – try to find a variety of feathers to compare those that come from the tail, wing and body. Compare the different types of feathers while explaining to your child that the wing and tail feathers help the bird to catch air and fly while the down feathers cover the bird's body to keep it warm. Point out to your child how the inside of a feather is hollow and explain how that makes feathers very light. Throw a wing or tail feather in the air and watch it spiral to the ground. Throw a down or body feather into the air and see how it just floats.

Science: Buoyancy
George has to be rescued from the ocean by a life preserver. George cannot swim or float, yet when he grabs onto the life preserver, he can float, and he can be hauled back on board the boat. What makes something float? Grab a container (such as a bucket), fill it with water, and experiment with different items to see if they float. Try a pencil, paper clip, tennis ball, golf ball, rubber ducky, pen, etc. Try anything (just make sure some of them can float). After trying a couple of items ask your student if she knows what makes some items float and some not float. Before you experiment with an item, make sure you ask your student to predict whether or not the item will float or not and then ask them why they think it did or did not.

Health and Safety: Water Safety
Refer to the incident where George jumped overboard on the boat and had to be rescued with the life preserver. (This could be a separate lesson or could be an extension of the science lesson.) This is a wonderful opportunity to present water safety. First of all, your student should recognize that life jackets, floaties, and other flotation devices are necessary to use in deep water if they do not know how to swim or if they are boating or learning how to water ski. Also, this is a great chance to teach how to be rescued if ever the necessity arises. It's important for people to know that if a life guard comes to rescue them, the drowning person is to grab the flotation device, not the life guard/rescuer. If they grab the person and not the device, they may cause the rescuer to drown, as well. You could make a mock life preserver, tie it to a rope, and practice rescuing.

Health and Safety: Dialing 9-1-1
In the story, George dials "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven" and reaches the fire department. Today, we don't dial that; instead, we dial 9-1-1. Teach your student the importance of dialing 9-1-1 for emergencies (fire, health, and security emergencies). This would also be a good opportunity to make sure he knows his address and phone number so they can report to the operator where to go in case of an emergency. Give your student a mock phone or a picture of a keypad so they can practice keying the numbers (even a calculator would work). He could also practice reporting the problem and reciting his address.

Health: Tobacco Use
One more health issue you may or may not want to address is the incident of smoking in the story. This may not be something your student picks up on, but then again, they may, or you may just want to take the opportunity to address the issue anyway. Remember that the book was written in 1941 when the hazards of smoking were not well-known. Lung cancer, which can be caused directly from smoking, was not known at the time. The dangers of smoking can be addressed with the student.

Rabbit Trails
Learn phone etiquette.

Visit your local Fire Station; learn about Fire Safety.

If you have 'rowed' Petunia, compare the zoo animals in Curious George with the Farm animals in Petunia.

Learn about jungles and the animals that live there.

Let your older student research to find out why some balloons float (helium)

Explore another HSS Curious George Unit-- Curious George Takes a Job

For older students, a good go along book is The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margaret and H.A. Rey by Louise Borden. It's a lengthy picture book that tells about how the Reys fled from Paris just before the Nazis invaded. It also has some biographical information about the authors from before and after their flight from Paris. Curious George was originally named Fifi. There are photographs, copies of H.A. Rey's diary entries, and lovely illustrations.

Just For Fun

P.E. Lesson- Balance
Curious George walks on telephone wires. Explain to your student that this would take balance, then practice balancing by doing the following activity:
Make your own “balance beam” by drawing a line on the floor (chalk if outside, masking tape if inside), or use a 2”x6” or a 2”x4” board on the floor.

Challenge your child to do the following with the line: (1) walk, (2) stay still for one minute, (3) hop, (4) walk, jump, hop backwards, (5) close eyes while walking, (6) put something on top of his head while he walks (a small bean bag is perfect for this, or a toy, a paper plate, a picture of George, a cup of water), (7) put his hands behind his back or in pockets while he walks the line.

For another variation: Notice that Curious George walks on two wires at a time. Construct another balance beam along side the first and have your student "walk the wires." Which was easier?

Craft: Monkey Puppet
Give your student a brown paper lunch bag and have her glue on pre-cut ears, mouth, nose, eyes, and an oval belly. (The body parts should be the appropriate colors, sizes, and shapes.) You can also make arms with hands and legs with feet if you'd like. Finally, ask her to draw on the other body parts with makers. An extension of this puppet activity is to have them act out a scene from the book with their monkey (see Language Arts: Drama lesson). If you have more than one student, you could assign different puppet characters to each (the man with the yellow hat, some make a fireman, some make a balloon salesman, etc.), and then they could put on a play of the book using each of their characters.

Craft: Toilet Paper Roll Animals
Make toilet paper roll animals to represent animals George may have seen in Africa or new animal friends he may have at the zoo. The website DLTK's Crafts for Kids has lots of patterns for toilet paper animals. Go to www.dltk-kids.com/animals/tproll.html

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