The Guiteras PTO generously funded the author-illustrator visit.
Photo Captions
Top, Left Photo: Scott Magoon showed us how he uses the Paper App to make illustrations on his iPad. Later a student came up and colored an illustration.
Top, Right Photo: How do you draw Ugly Fish? With letters from the alphabet!
Bottom photo: Scott Magoon reading "Spoon."


We began the study with Big Mean Mike by exploring the main character's sense of identity.
Focus Question: How does Scott Magoon as an illustrator create Mike as "big" and "mean"?
After reading and discussing the books and its illustrations, students had their choice of a learning activity.


Gallery
Try an extension activity for Spoon and Chopsticks!
For Spoon – Illustrate a “family portrait” inspired by the Spoon Family Portrait. You can’t use spoons though!
Think of another everyday, household object and illustrate a family portrait for that object.

For Chopsticks - Amy Krause Rosenthal and Scott Magoon are working on their last book in the "Kitchen" trilogy. Amy Karuse Rosenthal says on in her blog: "As to the title and lead character, I’ll give you a wordplay clue: First there was Spoon. Then came Chopsticks. And now, the last __________ ."
Create a front cover or a page that uses the word play clue to explore the character who will star in the book.
For both Spoon and Chopsticks - You probably noticed text-to-text connections. Or maybe you want to compare and contrast the books?
You can make/draw your ideas as a Venn Diagram, T-chart or any kind of visual representation. Or write a paragraph to express your observations.
Scott Magoon says that for the illustrations for Ugly Fish, he " thought of the book as the fish tank. So when you open to read it, you’re peering in on the action of the story."

Fun with The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot!

Jordan's Next Page Activity

Student Work Gallery of Movie Posters

Big Mean Mike by Michelle Knudsen

Big Mean Mike - Behind the Scenes
Mostly Monsterly by Tammi Sauer

Mostly Monsterly - Behind the Scenes
Ugly Fish by Kara LaReau

Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Spoon - Behind the Scenes
Chopsticks by Amy Krause Rosenthal

The Nut Family Books

Click here for videos starring The Nut Family