Another Great Book!

Here is another great book that sparked a memory I have from an elementary school observation I did a couple years ago. The story, titled "The Squiggle" written by Carole Lexa Schaefer and illustrated by Pierr Morgan, is about a young girl who finds and picks up a red ribbon on the sidewalk and uses her imagination to create many different things with it. On top of the story being a great creative message, the illustrations are incredibly beautiful. In the classroom I observed a few years back the teacher did not use this story as a reference but it fits quite well into an "extra time" project she has for all her students. Every week she would have a pile of scrap paper and on the blank side of the scrap paper was pre drawn line. Every week the line would change transforming from a dash, to a semi-circle, to an unfinished organic shape, etc. Students who finished the days assignment with a few extra minutes to spare could grab one of these papers and begin creating a drawing that utilized that line. For example, a semicircle line could become the top of a base ball cap, the ice cream of an ice cream cone, or the ballon of a hot air ballon. Each week (or month, I can't exactly remember) she would pick a "winner" from each grade and their drawings would be posted on a bulletin board until the next winners were chosen. Students would also receive a small art supply to take home to continue their art making!