FOLLOW THE LINE

By Laura Ljungkvist
Published by Viking
ISBN:0-670-06049-6

FROM THE FLAP: Follow the line on a journey from the city to the country, from the sky to the ocean, from morning till night. In this stunning counting storybook, Laura Ljungkvist uses her trademark continuous line to create an array of crisp, innovative, detail-packed pictures.

Each scene contains questions designed to get children counting, thinking, and observing. Young counters will enjoy following the very same line all the way through the book, from front to back.

KATE’S TAKE: Line up some fun activities with Laura Ljungkvist’s Follow The Line.

HOW MANY? MATH Logical/Mathematical and Visual Spatial
Ask children to solve these math problems which are based on spreads in the book, and ask them to draw a picture to illustrate each problem.

1. A house has two rows of windows. If there are three windows in each row, how many windows are there all together?

2. There are four blue fish in the ocean and three red fish, how many fish are there all together?

3. There were nine trees in the forest, two fell down. How many trees are standing in the forest?

4. There are three apple trees and twelve apples. If each tree has the same amount of apples, how many apples are on each tree?

LINE CLASSROOM BOOKS Visual/Spatial and Verbal/Linguistic
Draw one line on a sheet of 8x11 paper. Draw a different line for each child in your class: squiggly, jagged, curved, straight, vertical or horizontal. Ask them to turn the line into a picture. On the bottom have them finish the sentence starter: I turned my line into _______________________. Special thanks to Ingrid Holmes for this activity.

LINE DANCING Kinesthetic and Musical
Do a line dance with the kids. This site http://www.helenandnitalinedancing.com/Videos.html has a great line dancing video to the tune of Grand Old Flag.

LINE MIRRORS Kinesthetic and Interpersonal
Ask kids to stand in a line. Have a child step out of the line and face their peers. Ask the child to lead the class in simple movements such as tapping, patting, or stretching. Everyone in the line mirrors the leader’s actions. This is a great way to build confidence in the leader and classroom community.

LINE PATTERNS Logical/Mathematical and Visual/Spatial
Give the students small strips of paper of various colors. Ask them to form a pattern with the strips of paper. Students might choose to make a pattern out of straight lines, or they might choose to form shapes with the strips and make a pattern with shapes.

BOOK BUDDIES:
-Harold And The Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
-Ish by Peter H. Reynolds
-Follow The Line Around The World by Laura Ljungkvist
-Follow The Line Through The House by Laura Ljungkvist
-The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds