Town Mouse or Country Mouse?

Often our perception of the world depends on our point of view.  St Louis School Second Graders learned this concept through a series of lessons.

First, they read the story The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse retold by author Judy Nayer and then listened to a “Read Aloud” version of the story by Jan Brett. Using a visual tool called a Venn Diagram, students compared the two versions of the story to identify key elements and whether they are common to both or appear in only one version or the other.  Students then discussed the different elements of the story and why the same story, when retold, can be a little different each time.

After developing an understanding of story elements, each student made a puppet of either the Town Mouse or Country Mouse in Art Class. The students then worked in groups of 3 to 5 to express or retell the story in many different ways. One group made postcards using the Postpad Lite app and performed a Reader's Theatre. Two groups illustrated the story and retold it in their own words using the video capability of an iPad. Two groups of students wrote and put on puppet shows retelling the story. Finally, two groups wrote a version retelling the story from the cat's point of view. They also performed their version in a puppet show.

Listen to our story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bBuH1BDjZQ