Fourth graders in Cottage Lane Elementary School teachers Jessica Sky and Stephanie Logozo’s class recently wrapped up their read aloud of “The Tiger Rising” by Kate DiCamillo as part of their realistic fiction reading unit.
“The Tiger Rising” tells the story of twelve-year-old Rob Horton who discovers a caged tiger in the woods near his home. He befriends a new girl at school, Sistine Bailey, and they grapple with the decision of whether or not they should release the tiger from its cage. The book became a class favorite and students were eager to learn about each of the characters and find out what happened in the end. “There were a lot of details in the book. You can see all of the events happen in your head because there’s a lot of description,” said fourth grader Kai S.
Students were given several different options for a group or individual project based on the book. Students chose to create a new cover for the book, create a play of a scene from the story, create a timeline of the events in the story and conduct research on what would be necessary to keep a tiger healthy such as what food, water, shelter and exercise they would require.
Several students chose to create a play of a scene from the book as they are currently working with Stage Left Children’s Theater where they are honing their skills writing scripts and acting out scenes. For this project, students had to write a script and create any necessary scenery or props to make the scene as realistic as possible. Each group that chose this project had the chance to perform their scene in front of the class.