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Ross, G. (1995). How Turtle's back was cracked. New York, NY: Penguin Putnam. ISBN: 0-8037-1728.
Genre: Traditional Literature and Multicultural
Reading Level: K-4
Summary: This tells the Cherokee tale of why turtles have cracked backs. One day, Turtle and Possum were eating persimmons from a tree together. As they were eating, the Wolf decided to come eat their persimmons, and Possum got very angry and killed the wolf. Even though Turtle did not kill Wolf, he went around boasting that he was a mighty hunter and killed Wolf. The wolves became upset to hear the Turtle had killed Wolf and they captured him and threw him into the river as punishment. When Turtle fell into the river, he hit a rock and his smooth shell cracked. He mended his wounds, but to this day, people can still see where Turtle’s back was cracked.
Activity: After reading the book, have students act out the story. You can have students make masks to represent different animals. There are numerous ways to make masks. One way is to use paper plates. Here is a website that has ideas about how to make animal masks with paper plates: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/paper-plate-crafts
While the children are making the masks for the performance, they can listen to Cherokee music, so they can hear the music of the culture which told this story. Here are some links to pieces:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so4yqkTNQY0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhcgX1VHsgk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgDRclR9gks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTRBVFezmS4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1gxWnWz2bs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aEeKVXzYlc
Activity Inspired by: Bafile, C. (n.d.). Readers Theater: Giving students a reason to read out loud. Retrieved May 1, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/readers-theater-giving-students-reason-read-aloud
Genre: Traditional Literature and Multicultural
Reading Level: K-4
Summary: This tells the Cherokee tale of why turtles have cracked backs. One day, Turtle and Possum were eating persimmons from a tree together. As they were eating, the Wolf decided to come eat their persimmons, and Possum got very angry and killed the wolf. Even though Turtle did not kill Wolf, he went around boasting that he was a mighty hunter and killed Wolf. The wolves became upset to hear the Turtle had killed Wolf and they captured him and threw him into the river as punishment. When Turtle fell into the river, he hit a rock and his smooth shell cracked. He mended his wounds, but to this day, people can still see where Turtle’s back was cracked.
Activity: After reading the book, have students act out the story. You can have students make masks to represent different animals. There are numerous ways to make masks. One way is to use paper plates. Here is a website that has ideas about how to make animal masks with paper plates: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/paper-plate-crafts
While the children are making the masks for the performance, they can listen to Cherokee music, so they can hear the music of the culture which told this story. Here are some links to pieces:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so4yqkTNQY0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhcgX1VHsgk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgDRclR9gks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTRBVFezmS4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1gxWnWz2bs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aEeKVXzYlc
Activity Inspired by: Bafile, C. (n.d.). Readers Theater: Giving students a reason to read out loud. Retrieved May 1, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/readers-theater-giving-students-reason-read-aloud