Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall,illustrations by Barbara Cooney, is a story about an ox-cart man and his family living, for a period of four seasons, in Plymouth, New Hampshire. He and his family make and grow everything they bring to Portsmouth Market in the Fall to sell.It is a wonderful book to use around late October, beginning November.

Having enough copies of the book so everyone has one copy is a special treat. The children can work together with a partner when reading and doing packet work.

Sometimes you may work with the whole group listening to them read and discussing the events of the story. Other times you may work with small groups or individuals, covering recognition and meaning of words, discussing action and descriptive words, and working on the sequence of events in the story.

The children will spend two weeks working on various activities connected with the story.After designing and coloring a cover, they will complete a packet. The packet includes writing about the characters, location, and problem in the story, followed by how they might handle the problem. A discussion usually follows concerning the sequence of events in the story.This may lead to the organization for the mural.

Planning and designing a mural brings the whole class to the rug. Together, they decide what has happened in the Beginning, Middle, and End of the story. The groups separate to work with their specific section. After drawing the illustration for their section, deciding who is going to draw what, sentences are written to complete their part of the mural.These sentences are set up with each group on chart paper. The words are then copied onto the bottom of the mural. Each child is responsible for the writing of at least one sentence. Seeing the finished mural on the outside wall is a rewarding conclusion for everyone.

Making a Big Book is our next project.