Thanks to students Leah, Kelci, Craig, Jared, Adrian and Alex and Mrs Dauterman who did the following to fully "enjoy" the Fish experience (5th grade McKinley Elementary School, Minnesota):
"To understand what Tiger experienced, we ate porridge [author's note: rice porridge, no less] and vitamin C tablets each time we met. We baked mud and then poured water on it to see what happens when rains pour onto ground that was baked hard in a drought. We also tried some wilderness survival skills, like brushing our teeth with sticks (we couldn't find ashes) [author's note: thank goodness]. We kept a list of reasons why we thought Tiger was a girl or a boy, and we also voted on our favourite characters. Guide and Donkey won. We made 3-D maps of Tiger's journey out of clay and a board. We looked at pictures of refugees."
I'm just glad they didn't try the "holding breath under mud" part of the book...Apologies to this dedicated teacher and group of students for including this so late, but snail mail really was just that - their lovely letter, cards and photos have reached me via various redirections in August 2007, but I note the original postmark shows Dec 2006!
Thanks to Joan LaMarche, a teacher experienced in teaching using Fish, for sharing this imaginative resource which will surely be inspirational to other educators. Please continue to send your own when you find them successful!
Joan LaMarche, from Incarnate Word Parish School, Chesterfield, MO, USA writes:
"I have been reading fish aloud to my 6th grade classes for the last 3 years.
The students all carry 10 paper fish with them for the week I am reading it.
The take notes about the character on the fish (one fish for each chapter)
and once Tiger has to be "hands free" with the fish, each student must
devise a way to carry their fish "hands free" to every class, lunch and
recess. By chapter 9, I have a Swedish candy fish waiting for them in their
desk and they too have to tuck fish in their cheek. Then each student
writes a persuasive paragraph telling if Tiger is a boy or girl.Then, we work on
writing a 5 paragraph character sketch of the Tiger they met in your book.
The class right now really fell in love with Tiger and actually miss
carrying their fish around."
Creative writing resource, suitable for any age, ideal for reluctant writers or those who find it hard to start!
During the Young Cultural Creators project, Alison Burgess of Dorset School Library Service, researched curriculum links to KS3 in the following subjects:
Citizenship
Geography
Religious Education
Click on the link for her detailed links and suggestions for particular units.
http://www.lsmatthewsonline.co.uk/Fish links to Curriculum.doc
Drama – Some Ideas to Think About
1. The characters in Fish can be viewed in different ways by different people – especially Tiger!
Everyone has seen a film version of a book and argued, "It's not like I imagined..."
Something to Discuss:
If Fish were made into a film, do you think you would like to see it as you imagined it? Would it be best to try and keep to the book's attempt not to fix the location to a named country or give a gender to Tiger, or a nationality/race to the family and other characters? Why do you think the writer did that? If you chose the second option, what difficulties might you have in making the film and how could they be overcome?
Some ideas might be: "real" actors or animation? There are even ground-breaking films which combine the two.Think of different films you have seen which fit these categories and see if that helps – jot down your ideas.
Useful fact: Jim Henson's Sesame Street and The Muppets were universally popular with people, and especially children, of all cultures, colour and backgrounds – he used animals, creatures, monsters and colour on his more "human" characters in an interesting way...
2. We only see events through Tiger's eyes. When Tiger meets up with the Guide and parents again after the attack from the men with guns, we only hear of what happened to the others as they tell it to Tiger (p.154 – 155).
Act out what happened to the Guide and Tiger's parents. The Guide says he has spoken to some soldiers who will take care of the body and see off the other men. When do you think he might have had opportunity to do this – or does he have special powers? You can include this in your role play if you want to.
Teachers! More detailed Drama and Role-Play ideas here!
http://www.lsmatthewsonline.co.uk/More Drama Ideas.pdf
You might find the following links useful for the students to look at in order to provide some background knowledge from which they can develop ideas:
Reuters AlertNet - BOOK: Child refugees tell their stories
www.savethechildren.org.uk (Click Resources - choose young people from drop down menu)