Write a story inspired by the news

It’s Eric Carle’s birthday, and like many other bloggers, we wanted to do something to celebrate.  His books have been among the latest of our favorites lately, and I think the boys have been particularly enamored too!

We read 10 Little Rubber Ducks and loved it.  Such a cute book!  And the version we borrowed from the library had a little squeaker at the end for the duck.  The boys loved this book while we had it!
The part that fascinated me the most was actually not part of the book, but at the beginning when Carle explains his inspiration for the book.  He read a news story about a bunch of rubber ducks that went overboard and thought he had to write a story about it.  So we decided to find an interesting news story and write a story about it!

It took me awhile to find a nice lighthearted story, but I finally found one about the space shuttle Enterprise being shipped from Florida to Manhattan.  The boys watched a video of it on the ship…and they watched it many many times.

Then Baloo and I collaborated on a story.  We told it from the ship’s point of view.  It starts out with “I am the space shuttle Enterprise”.  In our story the ship sees a dolphin in the ocean, some birds land on his nose and sing, and he sees the statue of liberty.  Baloo is very fascinated with the Statue of Liberty!

The Baloo illustrated the story!  He used a space shuttle toy as a model, and we looked up pictures of the Statue of Liberty so he could draw her too!

Then they convinced Gigi to read them the story.

Check out all the other great Eric Carle inspired ideas!

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
No Twiddle Twaddle
Reading Confetti
Teach Preschool
Mommy and Me Book Club
The Educators' Spin On It
Living Montessori Now
Living at the Whiteheads Zoo
Famiglia and Seoul
Smiling Like Sunshine
The Iowa Farmer's Wife
Rainy Day Mum
Familylicious
Our Feminist Play School
Inspiration Laboratories
Royal Baloo
Kitchen Counter Chronicles
Smile Play Learn