Pistes d'exploration

Before reading, brainstorm and list all the types of homes you know. 

Notice the use of rhyme and rhythm. Why do you think the author repeated some words and phrases? Choose a favourite page to read aloud to the class.

Build a model of one of the houses from the book using recycled materials. Include a paragraph that describes your house. Hold a vernissage to showcase your models. Invite other classes and family members to attend.

Using the author’s creative way of thinking, look around the class and find unconventional “homes” (a blackboard is home to chalk, a wall is home to a poster, etc.). Compile your ideas in an illustrated class book.

Before reading, brainstorm and list all the types of homes you know. 

As the book is read aloud, add other types of homes to your class list. In what ways can the information categorized (by construction material, animal/object homes, size, etc.)? In a small group, try one of these methods of organization. Compare your results with other groups.

Explore the variety of text patterns used. Make a class anchor chart of the different models.

Choral read the story or prepare a Reader’s Theatre with the whole class.

Use magazines and/or photos to create a collage poster about houses. Write a poem in the author’s style. Share your poem in a cooperative inside-outside circle.

Fly Away Home, At Our House, Doors in the Air, Storybook Homes

Mots-clés

Picture book , animals , habitats , homes , recurrent patterns , stories in rhyme , wordplay

Commentaire descriptif

“A hill is a house for an ant, an ant.A hive is a house for a bee.A hole is a house for a mole or a mouseAnd a house is a house for me!” So begins this rollicking long poem about the different houses that shelter people and animals. Some will be familiar to readers (a spider’s web, a dog kennel, a rabbit hutch), while others will be unexpected, such as a husk being a house for an ear of corn, a throat for a hum and a sandwich for some ham. In Hoberman’s world, almost anything can be a house to something else. The rhythmic tempo and oft-repeated phrase “And a house is a house for me!”-–will inspire reader participation or perhaps a choral reading. Artwork is imaginative and occasionally surreal, ranging from simple, colour illustrations to highly detailed, intricate drawings with lots to point to and identify. The poem’s final assertion that “the earth is a house for us all” is a welcome message of acceptance and inclusion, and an important reminder that we must all be mindful of the earth.