Fish in the Air Free Unit Study

Fish in the Air

Author/Illustrator: Kurt Wiese
ISBN: 0670316504
Unit Study Prepared by Denise Gregson
Summary: A boy’s father takes him to purchase a kite for his birthday. After selecting the biggest kite he could find, the little boy finds out it was more than he bargained for!

Lapbook Components
An official lapbook hasn't been made for this unit; however, these templates may help you on your way!

China Shutterfold minit book by Wende

Flag of China minit book

Prepared Singular-Plural Chart

Lantern Shape Book by Breezy Tulip

Fish Tri-fold Book by Breezy Tulip

Bible

Contentment/Greed – Fish wasn’t going to be content until he could have the largest fish kite he could find. As it turns out, he would have been better off with just an ordinary kite. Always looking for more and better and comparing with what others have doesn’t bring contentment. The Bible tells us that “godliness with contentment is great gain” in 1 Timothy 6:6.

City Gates /Jerusalem (see also Social Studies lesson on ancient walled cities)

The old city of Jerusalem has had numerous gates over the many thousands of years of Bible history. . You can still walk through some of them today, while others have been sealed at one time or another.

Take a look at the Bible story of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem or Joshua 6, in which the Lord uses Joshua to bring down the walls of Jericho (Joshua 6).

Language Arts

Plurals

Make note of the title and point out that the word “Fish” can be either singular or plural

( “fishes” is also correct as plural). Tell your student that after you read the story you will determine whether the “fish” in the title is singular or plural. (How many fish were in the air?)

Name a singular word and see if your student can tell you the plural. Here is a Prepared Singular-Plural Chart for this activity. (If you are doing a lapbook or notebook this week, you can fold the chart in half and paste in your book.)

e.g.

fish - fish or fishes

dog – dogs

cat – cats

goose – geese

dish – dishes

foot – feet

person – people

kid – kids

child – children

woman – women

man - men

mouse – mice

louse – lice

die - dice

Famous sayings:

Discuss the expression “Big things come in small packages” What does it mean? Bigger isn't always better and vice versa. Have you ever experienced this before, for example you got a small package that contained a “big” gift or a big package that contained a very “small” gift?

Vocabulary:

See if your child comprehends the following phrases by having your student act them out:

“The people stood gaping”

‘He scrambled to his feet”

Chinese language

Tai Fung (pronounced “tie foong”) means “big wind”. Does this word remind you of an English word related to wind? Tai Fung sounds a lot like the word typhoon and the word may have its origin in this Chinese word ! A typhoon is a tropical cyclone – a circulating storm system.

Chinese characters are usually written left to right but they can also be lined up vertically, with more than one character sometimes representing a single English word. Each syllable has a character for it and since most Chinese words have multiple syllables, the words are usually made up of more than one character. In addition, there is a traditional as well as a more simplified version of the characters. Mainland China has adopted the simplified version where as traditional characters are still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. All of the Chinese dialects are written the same way, but the pronunciation varies.

Names:

In Chinese, a person’s family name comes first.

Try to find your child’s name in Chinese characters so that they can try to write it. Alternatively, your student can try to write Fish’s name. Turn to the page where Fish decides on the kite he wants and notice his name in large pink characters (it matches with the first page where he is practicing writing his name)

This site may be of help:

http://chineseculture.about.com/library/name/blname.htm

Social Studies/History

City Walls

Ancient cities were often more like fortresses than cities. The perimeter consisted of a massive stone wall (or walls) with gates to permit or prevent the entry of people and animals. In times of war, enemy forces often concentrated their attacks on these openings, typically the weakest part of the city wall, so the gates were usually constructed in such a way that they were flanked by, or actually part of, one or more defensive guard towers.

Chinese cities occasionally have remnants of city walls that were built in the Ming Dynasty designed to withstand artillery bombardment.

Inventions/Discoveries:

Some things that are commonly considered to originate in China: kites, umbrellas, fireworks, dominoes, abacus, compass, rice, tea, pet goldfish.

Symbols:

Find all the dragons you can in the illustrations (including the title page).

The Chinese New Year is not the same as our New Year (January 1^st). It is celebrated some time between late January and late February. The date is determined by the Chinese calendar, which is a combined solar/lunar calendar. There are lots of superstitions practiced among the Chinese during the 15 day holiday season regarding personal appearance, cleanliness, lucky colors or food items and taboos. The holiday has added significance because every Chinese celebrates his/her birthday on New Year, regardless of the month in which he or she was actually born.

The Lantern Festival mentioned in the book is celebrated on the 15^th of the first month of the Chinese New Year, marking the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Children participate by carrying their own lantern and often there is a competition for the most beautiful lantern. Lantern Shape Book by Breezy Tulip

Fishing with intricate nets is common in rural areas of China and other parts of Asia.

Wide straw hats are often while working outside in order to keep the sun the face.

The illustrator used the lithographic method for his illustrations. This process is based on the fact that oil and water do not mix. The artist uses greasy crayons or pencils to draw a mirrored image of the artwork onto a stone tablet. An oil-based ink is then applied to the plate forming a bond with the greasy crayon lines. Water is then wiped onto the remaining unpainted areas to discourage the ink from smearing. A sheet of paper is then placed over the entire plate.

How is the wind shown in the various illustrations? Lines, puffs, movement of objects, hats blowing off.

A fish hawk, or osprey, is a bird of prey, which is a bird that normally uses its beak or talons to kill its prey. Notice how aggressive the fish hawk is portrayed in the illustration.

Fish hawks live throughout the world along rivers, lakes, bays, and seacoasts. They eat mostly fish (they are also known as fish hawks); they feed on them as they near the surface of the water. They hover over the water and plunge in to find prey. The fish hawk call is a series of sharp whistles, cheep, cheep, or yewk, yewk.

Antaomy: An osprey is about 2 feet long with a wingspan of 5-6 feet. It’s coloring is brown with white markings and a dark mask on its white head. The osprey has nostrils that close in order to keep water out, and backwards facing scales on the talons which act as barbs. These characteristics help make catching fish easier.

Nests and Babies: They build massive nests (so do bald eagles) that may reach TEN feet in height! An osprey will catch a fish and take it back to the nest for its young. It carries the fish head first to minimize wind resistance while flying.

For fun, get out a tape measure and show your student how long an osprey is, how wide its wing span is, and how large its nest is.

When the kite breaks after being attacked by the fish hawk, Little Fish’s gown opened up like an umbrella or parachute and he glided gently to the river. The “parachute” is slowed by air resistance. Air is made up of gas molecules that have to be pushed out of the way for any object to move through it. These molecules exert force (pressure) on objects that try to push them out of the way.

Try making simple parachutes in order to demonstrate this effect. Take 4 equal pieces of string about 18 inches long and tape them to the corners of a paper napkin. Tie the strings together and add a large paperclip to serve as a person. Let the napkin go and notice how the air resistance on the napkin slows the paperclip down. Compare it with dropping a paperclip without a parachute.

The story speaks of a silver dollar. In many countries today the currency is dollars. This does not mean, however, that a Hong Kong or Australia dollar, for instance, has the same value as a US dollar.

A currency is another name for money or a unit of exchange, which allows for the exchange of goods and services. Today currency can be in the form of paper money (also known as banknotes or bills) or coins.

At the current time (2006), one Chinese yuan is worth about 12 ½ cents (US). This would be a good time to review the values of the various coins. For your older student you may also like to research the history of how currency developed.

If possible try to find the recent episode of Mythbusters which disproved the myth that a balloon(s) could pick up a person.

Until recently, fortune cookies were virtually unknown in China. There are different theories as to the origin. If you like you can read more.
More about fortune cookies.

Library List
Kite Flying by Grace Lin (information in the back about kites and China)
Catch the Wind!: All About Kites by Gail Gibbons