Subject Area: Language Arts

Book Summary
A perfect bedtime story about little bunnies that zoom off for an outer-space adventure, but always return at bedtime.

Objective
Children will create charts and graphs to compare the book with other fictional tales about space travel.

Before Reading
Show the children the cover of the stories you will be reading and ask them to describe the cover illustrations. Invite them to predict what each story will be about.

Teaching Plan

Comparing Outer Space Adventure Books
Materials

• Chart paper
• Mural paper
• Glue stick
• Markers and pencil

In advance: Collect several other fictional stories about outer space adventures such as Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton (Larousse Kingfisher Chambers, Inc., 2000); Bugs in Space: A Pop-Up Journey by David A. Carter (Simon & Schuster's Children's Books, 1997); I Want To Be an Astronaut by Byron Barton (HarperCollins Children's Books, 1992); and Pajama Sam: Mission to the Moon by David Grossman (Lyric Studios, 2000).

Activities
Informational Charts

1. Choose two or three additional fictional outer-space stories to read to the children along with Astro Bunnies.
2. Have the class create a language-experience chart after reading each book to record specific information about each book. Encourage them to describe the main character(s), setting, main idea or summary, and why they enjoyed the story.
3. Review each of the charts after reading all of the books. Invite the class to create another chart to summarize differences and similarities of each story.

Venn Diagram

1. Rewrite or type out the children's responses for each story to use for this activity. Keep the responses separated by placing them into separate envelopes or use a paper clip to keep them together.
2. On a large sheet of mural paper, draw two or three intersecting circles (depending upon the number of books that you will be comparing). The spaces where the circles intersect must be large enough to record information.
3. Write the heading "Comparing Space Adventures" on the top of the paper. Write the title and author of each story beside each circle. Engage the children in a discussion about each story to refresh their memories about specific details.
4. Explain to the children that they will compare the similarities and differences of each story. Tell them that you will read each story response and they will decide where it belongs. The intersecting areas of the circle will contain responses that depict similarities of the story. They will place responses that only relate to the specific story in the outer circles. Encourage the children to explain why the response will go into a particular area.
5. Review and read the Venn diagram with the children. Ask them if the stories were more alike than different? Invite them to explain their answers.

Extension: Have fun with an outdoor Venn diagram to find out which books children liked best. Use chalk to draw very large intersecting circles to represent the different books. The circles and intersections should be large enough for children to stand inside. Write the title of each book inside the outer area of each circle. Tell the class that they will stand in the outer area of the favorite book. If they like all of the books, they will stand in the intersecting area. Encourage the children to count the number of people in each section and to create a summary of the information they gathered.

Other Bedtime Bunny Books
Cowboy Bunnies
by Christine Loomis
Another wild bunny adventure depicting the day in the life of cowboy bunnies who also returns home in time for their bedtime rituals.

So Many Bunnies: A Bedtime ABC and Counting Book
by Rick Walton
Old Mother Bunny lives in a shoe with 26 children, and she knows exactly how to tuck each one into bed alphabetically.

Good Night, Sleep Tight, Little Bunnies
by Dawn Apperley
A soothing bedtime rhyme about baby animals preparing for bed.

Other Books by Christine Loomis
Rush Hour
At the Mall
At the Library
The Hippo Hop

Teaching plan written by Risa Young