Fetch a Good Book Activity Guide Chanting the “Red Rover” Rhyme

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Celebrate the unbeatable combination of kids and dogs nonfiction books, as well as DVDs and audio books, with this fun theme, sure to appeal to young readers who about dogs. Add a small dog bed, and fill it with love “man’s best friend.” miniature plush or beanbag toy dogs. Or set out a dog’s feeding dish stocked with markers and cutouts of bones Setting the Scene (see page 9) on which children can write and then post book recommendations for other young readers. Doghouse Reading Room for One. Create a doghouse Dalmatian Dots Display. Make a large cardboard cutout by cutting an arched front door on one side of a large of a Dalmatian (see the patterns on page 10), painted cardboard box. For easy visual control and maneuvering, white, with just the face drawn on. Fold a cardboard cut the opposite side of the box the same way to make support to stand it up on a table or in a corner. Set out a rear door as well. Paint the box. Add a “Fido” sign black circles and white crayons. Kids can write book over the door, and use more cardboard to make an recommendations on the circles and add them as spots angled roof with cardboard shingles. Inside, place a large on the Dalmatian. cushioned fabric dog bed for a small reader to curl up in. On a wall nearby, display a “Fetch a Good Book!” poster. Incentives. In addition to the “Fetch a Good Book!” A large dog dish just outside the door, filled with a few theme bookmarks and book bags, stock up on well-chosen board books, completes the effect. inexpensive novelties like dog bone–shaped crayons and paw print stamps or party balloons, available from www. Bulletin Board. Use “Fetch a Good Book!” posters and amazon.com; or dog finger puppets, stickers, or mini progress tracker pieces to create a theme bulletin board. plush animals, available from www.orientaltrading.com. You might assemble one or several progress tracker dogs, For a special take-home project, make “doggie bags” expanding their bodies with colorful sections bearing the (from small paper bags with dog face cutouts glued on names of participants in the theme programs. Or you them) that are filled with bookmarks, dog bone crayons, might make a border of bones, dog dishes, and books and other small prizes. around the edge of the bulletin board and use the middle to feature details about upcoming programs or covers of favorite books about dogs. Games/Contests

Book Display. Use a bookshelf or tabletop, perhaps Red Rover. You’ll need a large meeting room or yard under the bulletin board, to display fiction and to play this classic game in which two teams take turns

1 Activity Guide © 2013 Demco, Inc. Fetch a Good Book Activity Guide chanting the “Red Rover” rhyme. One team recites the Here’s what you need (per mobile): rhyme to call a member of the other team to run at and break through their team’s hand- or arm-linked chain. • Patterns on pages 10–11 Children who break through the chain get to take an • One cardboard tube (from a roll of paper towels or opponent back to strengthen their team; children who 1/3 of a cardboard tube from a roll of wrapping don’t must join the opposing team. paper) Musical Dog Beds. In this version of musical chairs, kids • Paint, markers, stickers, etc. vie for space in a circle of large dog beds on the floor, all • Yarn or string (7-8’) to the tune of doggie songs like “Bingo” or “Who Let • 1 sheet white or tan card stock the Dogs Out?” • Double-faced tape or glue Barking Contests. Try these ideas: • Stapler and staples • Invite kids to compete with their very best dog bark, • Colored felt and small craft items for decorating howl, or whine. Judge the sounds and award prizes in (for older children) categories like saddest, scariest, friendliest, and so on. Here’s what you do: • Have kids bark, howl, or whine to convey different ca- • Copy the template sign and dog shapes on pages nine messages (“Let’s play,” “I’m loney,” “I’m hungry,” 10–11 onto card stock. “I sense danger,” and so on), and try to guess what • Decorate the tubes with paint, markers, stickers, etc. each “dog” is trying to say. Or, play the dog barks at www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/meaning-dog-barks.html • Run a 2 ½’ length of yarn through the tube, and tie and have kids guess what each bark means. the ends together to make a hanger. • Cut out the “Dog Park” sign and the dog shapes, Dog Breeds Match. Create a paper game in which and decorate them. kids match the names of familiar dog breeds with • Tape or glue the sign to the front of the tube. pictures. You’ll find free labeled clipart pictures of dogs • Cut the remaining yarn into five pieces of different www.picgifs.com/dog-graphics www.pdclipart.org/ at and lengths. Tie one end of each length around the tube, thumbnails.php?album=23 . There’s an online interactive spacing them out along its length. dog breeds match game at www.dogster.com/games/dog- breed-photo-game. • Staple a dog to each string. For older children, provide the dog shapes on the Arts/Crafts templates, but have children cut them out and trace them onto felt instead of card stock, or draw and cut Paper Bag Dog Puppets. Use the instructions at www. their own felt dogs. Decorate them with glue-on pom- dltk-kids.com/animals/mbagdog.htm as the starting point poms, beads, craft gems, etc., and add them to the for making dog puppets from paper bags, paper cutouts, mobile. crayons, scissors, and glue. Then branch out to make Origami Dogs. Have fun with paper folding. Visit different breeds—fictional or “original” canine critters— www.origami-instructions.com/origami-dog-face.html for using different colors and shapes. instructions to make both a dog head and a body to put Dog Park Mobiles. Create fun dog-themed mobiles. The it on. Make just the head with younger children; add the following mobile is designed for very young children, body with older ones. but it can be adapted for greater challenge for older kids.

Snacks/Recipes asking for advice. You, or the group as a whole, will try to answer the letters as Mr. Mutt. Puppy Chow. This sweet, crunchy treat that looks like kibble can’t be beat! Melt ½ cup of butter, 1 cup of The Perfect Dog for Me. Have kids practice descriptive peanut butter, and a 12-ounce package of chocolate writing with an essay titled “The Perfect Dog for Me.” chips, and stir until smooth. Place a 12-ounce box of They may describe their current pet, or some ideal Crispix® or Chex® cereal in a bowl. Pour the melted canine creature that exists only in their imaginations. mixture over the cereal, and stir to coat thoroughly. Then Encourage lots of detail about how the dog looks, acts, pour the coated cereal into a large plastic bag, add 2 ½ smells, feels to the touch, etc. Encourage illustrations to cups of powdered sugar, and gently shake the bag until go with the essays. A visit to Animal Planet’s “Dog Breed the powdered sugar covers the cereal. Makes 24 small Selector,” at www.animalplanet.com/breed-selector/dog- servings. breeds.html, is good preparation. Scooby Snacks. Keebler® makes Scooby Doo!™ Baked Adventures with a Dog. Have children read stories Graham Cracker Sticks, shaped like dog bones—perfect about kids having adventures with dogs, and then for this theme! imagine such adventures for themselves and their dogs. They will create comic strips (of six to eight frames) that Canine Cookies. Make sugar cookies shaped like dogs, share their adventures. doghouses, or fire hydrants; shape ginger cookies like dogs or dog bones; or decorate round cookies with “Puttin’ on the Dog.” Post some well-known idioms or chocolate chips or bits of frosting to look like puppy adages involving dogs. Invite kids to find more. Then paws. have them choose a saying and write about what it means, where it came from, and how it relates to their Puppy Pops. Some bakeries sell puppy pops on sticks, lives. Here are a few to get you started: “It’s raining which are made of either little cake balls or doughnut cats and dogs,” “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” holes decorated with puppy ears and faces. You can also feeling “sick as a dog,” “fighting like cats and dogs,” “the get dog head lollipops in different flavors through dog days of summer,” “let sleeping dogs lie,” leading “a www.amazon.com. dog’s life,” you’re “in the dog house,” “putting on the dog,” you’ve “gone to the dogs,” “top dog,” “dog is man’s best friend,” “underdog,” and “his bark is worse than his Writing Projects bite.” A Dog’s Life. Read Dear Mrs. LaRue or one of the companion books about Ike. Point out and discuss how Special Events the illustrations show the contrast between what Ike experiences in his imagination (in gray tones) and the “Man’s Best Friend” Movie Night. Arrange a showing of reality (in color). Talk about dogs the children know, one or more family feature films about the relationships and what the children might imagine their lives to be between people and dogs. like. Have the children write journal entries about a dog, detailing the events of a day from the dog’s point of Marley & Me (directed by David Frankel, Twentieth view. The entries might be serious or funny, realistic or Century Fox, 2009, DVD, ASIN B001REZM6K) wildly imaginative. Invite them to illustrate their journal Because of Winn-Dixie (directed by Wayne Wang, entries, and display the results. Twentieth Century Fox, 2005, DVD, Help Me, Mr. Mutt! Read the book by that title, and ASIN B0009NZ2KG) invite kids to imagine themselves as dogs. They will write Lady and the Tramp (Walt Disney Studios Home letters to Mr. Mutt, describing their problems and Entertainment, 2012, DVD, ASIN B0061QD88S)

101 Dalmatians (directed by Stephen Herek, Walt as many as they can by following the clues. They will Disney Video, 2008, DVD, ASIN B001B1T7BU) turn in their sheets, perhaps for a small prize for each completed sheet. Hotel for Dogs (directed by Thor Freudenthal, Paramount, 2009, DVD, ASIN B001UJIMFU) Balloon Dogs. To enhance any themed program, invite a volunteer or two to make balloon dogs for kids to take Reader’s Theater. Find several books or poems about home and teach them to make their own. dogs that are suitable for reader’s theater performances, and help children prepare and present them as individuals or small groups. Use minimal props and Math/Science Activities costumes when they add to the effect. Rely on expressive reading. Here are some suggestions: Dog Years. Help kids figure out their ages and the ages of family members in dog years, or their dogs’ ages in • “Three,” “Darla,” or “Tillie and Maude” from Once I human years. The common formula of equating one Ate a Pie human year to seven dog years is misleading, because • Dear Mrs. LaRue (with a narrator, one or several chil- dogs reach maturity quickly and age faster than we do. dren as Ike, and someone showing the pictures) There’s an online calculator that converts human years to dog years, and vice versa, more accurately, at • Diary entries from Dog Diaries: Secret Writings of the www.onlineconversion.com/dogyears.htm. WOOF Society • Chapters from Down Girl and Sit: Smarter Henry the Fourth. Read the book by that name, and use than Squirrels the story and suggested activities to explore the concept of ordinal numbers with young children. Dog for a Day. Invite kids or families to celebrate all Canine Charts and Graphs. Read Help Me, Mr. Mutt!, things canine. Share dog stories and poems, and sing paying attention to the graphs and charts Mr. Mutt songs like “Bingo” and “Where, Oh Where Has My includes in his letters of advice. Create several different Little Dog Gone?” Play Red Rover and Pin the Tail kinds of graphs and charts showing aspects of dogs’ lives, on the Puppy. Recruit volunteers to paint puppy faces like growth, feeding schedules, use of time in a day, and on kids and help make dog-ear headbands. You’ll find so on. Start with variations of the graphs and charts in directions for the headbands at www.lovesugarkisses. the book to reflect your silly or serious responses to the blogspot.com/2011/07/diy-puppy-ears.html. problems posed. Then try some original ones. If you use Be Kind to Dogs Day. Invite a local veterinarian or the Help Me, Mr. Mutt! writing prompt on page 3, create animal shelter staff person to present a program on graphs or charts to go with your responses. Along the responsible pet care, pet safety, dog adoption, and way, explore what forms of graphic representations work spaying and neutering. May I Pet Your Dog? is a good best to convey different kinds of information. accompaniment to this program, helping kids learn how Space Adventures with Max the Dog. Read the story to safely approach and meet dogs they don’t know. (without the sidebars) Max Goes to the Space Station Fetch! Send individual children or small teams on a or other titles in the Science Adventures with Max the hunt around the library to learn about dogs and, at the Dog series. Point out that the stories are science fiction same time, get familiar with your collection and practice because they are set in the future and use ideas and library skills. You can customize this hunt to your technology that we don’t yet collection, using the “Fetch a Good Book Task List” at have. Then go back through the end of this guide. Make one copy of the task list for the sidebars, exploring together each child or team. (Cover any tasks that do not work accurate scientific information for your collection before copying.) Have children find about the subjects of the books.

Extend the activity by having children draw fanciful by Mark Teague. Scholastic Press, 2003. ISBN illustrations of Max in his space suit exploring other 0439206634. 1-4. See also Letters from the Cam- astronomical destinations, and perhaps writing stories to paign Trail: LaRue for Mayor and Detective LaRue: go with them. Letters from the Investigation, also by Mark Teague. Life Cycle. Use Seymour Simon’s Dogs and other • Dog, by Juliet Clutton-Brock. DK Children, 2004. resources to explore the life cycle of Canis lupus ISBN 0756606780. 4+. familiaris (the domestic dog), from puppy to adolescent • Dog Crafts, by Linda Hendry. Kids Can Press, 2002. to adult to senior. There’s a printable coloring page of the ISBN 1550749625. 3-6. cycle at www.education.com/worksheet/article/color-life- • Dog Diaries: Secret Writings of the WOOF Soci- cycle-8. ety, by Erik Brooks, Betsy Byars, Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers. Henry Holt and Co., 2007. ISBN Internet Activities 0805079572. 3-5. • Dog Gone! by Leeza Hernandez. Putnam Juvenile, Best Friends. Bookmark the video clip titled “Best 2012. ISBN 0399254471. P-2. Friends” for a quick, heartwarming chuckle as a large • Dog Heroes (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker), by dog waits patiently while his toddler “walker” plays in Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Bryce. Ran- a puddle. The clip can be found atwww.huffingtonpost. dom House Books for Young Readers, 2011. ISBN com/2012/12/10/dog-waits-while-toddler-splashes- 0375860126. 3-5. puddle_n_2270197.html and is also available on YouTube. • Dog of Discovery: A Newfoundland’s Adventures with Lewis and Clark, by Laurence Pringle. Calkins Creek, Doggy Jigsaws. Bookmark several online jigsaw puzzles 2004. ISBN 1590782674. 3-6. of dogs for kids to enjoy on their own. You’ll find fun • Dog Songs: Celebrating 101 Dalmatians, by vari- ones at www.kidzone.ws/sg/summer/254.htm, http://www. ous artists. Walt Disney Records, 1996 (music CD). dltk-kids.com/puzzles/pt.asp?id=20130219, www.dltk-kids. ASIN: B000001M2C. All ages. com/puzzles/pt.asp?id=20111109, and www.kidzone.ws/sg/ sept-decjigs/014.htm. • Dogs, by Seymour Simon. HarperCollins, 2009. ISBN 0061730440. 1-5. Online Dog Games. For a wide selection of online • Dogs in the Dead of Night (Magic Tree House), by games with dog characters and themes for young Mary Pope Osborne. Random House Books for Young children, visit www.pbskids.org/games/dogs.html. Readers, 2013. ISBN 0375867961. 3-5. • Down Girl and Sit: Smarter than Squirrels, by Lucy Fetch a Good Book Resources Nolan. Two Lions, 2009. ISBN 076145571X. 1-4. . • Flawed Dogs: The Novel, by Berkeley Breathed. • 101 Dalmatians, by Dodie Smith. Puffin, 1989. ISBN Philomel, 2009. ISBN 0399252185. 4-6. 0140340343. 3-6. • Fred Stays with Me, by Nancy Coffelt. Little, Brown • Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo. Candle- Books for Young Readers, 2011. ISBN 0316077917. wick, 2010. ISBN 0763650072. 4-6. K-3. • BULU: African Wonder Dog, by Dick Houston. Year- • The Good Dog, by Avi. Atheneum Books for Young ling, 2011. 0375847243. 4-8. Readers, 2003. ISBN 0689838255. 4-6. • The Case of the Lost Boy (The Buddy Files), by Dori • Help Me, Mr. Mutt! Expert Answers for Dogs with Hillestad Butler. Albert Whitman & Company, 2010. People Problems, by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens ISBN 0807509329. 1-4. Crummel. HMH Books for Young Readers, 2008. • Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School, ISBN 0152046283. 2-5.

• Henry the Fourth (Math Start 1), by Stuart J. Mur- phy. HarperCollins, 1998. ISBN 0064467198. P-2. • Invasion of the Dognappers, by Patrick Jennings. EgmontUSA, 2012. ISBN 1606842870. 4-6. • Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech. HarperCollins Reprints, 2001. ISBN 0064409597. 3-6. • Marley: A Dog like No Other, by John Grogan. Harp- erCollins Reprint, 2008. ISBN 0061240354. 3+. • Max Goes to the Space Station: A Science Adventure with Max the Dog, by Jeffrey Bennett. Big Kid Sci- ence, 2013. ISBN 1937548287. 3-5. Also see other series titles • May I Pet Your Dog? The How-to Guide for Kids Meeting Dogs, by Stephanie Calmenson. Clarion Books, 2007. ISBN 0618510346. K-3. Also available through online marketplaces as a DVD video program. • Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Mira- cle, by Brian Dennis, Mary Nethery, and Kirby Law- son. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009. ISBN 031605318X. 2-5. • Once I Ate a Pie, by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan. HarperCollins, 2010. ISBN 0060735333. P-3. • Sounder, by William H. Armstrong. HarperCollins, 1972. ISBN-13 9780064400206. 4-7. • Working like a Dog: The Story of Working Dogs through History, by Gena K. Gorrell. Tundra Books, 2003. ISBN 0887765890. 4-7. • You’re a Good Dog, Carl, by Alexandra Day. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1991. ISBN 0671752049. P-3.

Customize your own task list using a combination of these tasks and your own.

1. Find a movie about dogs in the library’s DVD collection. Write the title of the movie here:

2. What Dewey Decimal Classification number takes you to information on pet care? _____ Go to that number in the children’s nonfiction section of the library. Write the title and author of a book on that subject here:

3. Find a board book about dogs or puppies. Write the title and author of the book here:

4. Look for a representation of a dog somewhere in the library. It might be a puppet, on a poster, or decorating the children’s room. Write here what you found and where:

5. Find a beginning reader book about dogs or puppies. Write the title and author of the book here:

6. Go to the library’s collection of recorded music. Find a CD with a song about dogs or puppies. Write the name of the song and the name of the CD here:

7. Find a jigsaw puzzle of a dog picture set out somewhere in the library. Add a piece to the puzzle, and write where you found it here:

8. Go to the collection of magazines for adults. Find a magazine that shows a dog on the cover. Write the title of the magazine and the date of that issue here:

9. Find a book of children’s fiction about a dog. Write the title and author of the book here:

10. Look in the children’s graphic novels collection. Find a book from a series that features dog characters. Write the series title, individual book title, author, and illustrator here:

11. Find a display of bookmarks with a dog on them. Take a bookmark.

12. Go to a computer station, and find a website about different breeds of dogs. Write the name of the website and its URL (web address) here:

13. What Dewey Decimal Classification number takes you to information about the domestic dog’s close relative, the wolf? _____ Go to that number in the children’s nonfiction section of the library. Write the title and author of a book on that subject here:

14. What Dewey Decimal Classification number takes you to information on craft projects related to dogs? _____ Go to that number in the children’s nonfiction section of the library. Write the name of the craft project and the title and author of a book on that subject here:

DOG PARK