Classroom Activities using the Itty & Bitty Series:
My hope is that the Itty Bitty series will be used in classrooms to introduce or enhance a unit on poetry. The activities here should be fun, full of the joy of wordplay, and encourage a lively exploration of the dictionary. Poets craft words; those are our primary tools, and students are invited here to enter the world of poetry, language, sound, rhythm, and rhyme.
If this is entered upon as an adventure, I believe it will instill a greater curiosity about language, words, and the amazing richness of the English language. The origins and stories behind certain words in the books are mini-tales unto themselves. The word “ragamuffin” in Book One is over 650 years old! “Camouflage” in Book Two is from the French, in WWI. So many stories!
For the youngest readers (pre-school, for example), a “Where’s Waldo” approach can be used. Students may hunt for the black and white graphics and images in Book Two: Friends on the Farm, which the illustrator uses to play with the “Pinto” theme that is threaded through the series.
BOOK ONE
- Itty & Bitty: Two Miniature Horses
INTRODUCTION TO POETRY- Read the poems aloud for the sheer delight of the sound and sense. This is light verse, written in couplets, with full rhyme at the end of each line. Have students try writing some short, two line poems about a friend, relative, or pet. Have them read their lines aloud, to be sure that each line has the same number of stresses, and that their rhymes really work.
- CHARACTERS
- The characters of Itty and Bitty are introduced in Book One. They are both miniature horses and best friends, yet they are opposites. Itty is a neat-nick; Bitty, a slob. Have fun pointing out their differences, and why sometimes opposites make such good friends. Once the children get a sense of their personalities, they might have fun making captions for the following photo:
Feel free to click on the image to download and print off this photo and laminate it.
The children can be creative writing captions for this photo of author, Nancy, reading to the two “real” minis. (It was 103 degrees that day, and we had to pose in the pasture for a professional photographer). Cartoon-type caption balloons can be purchased or made and stuck to a laminated photo or blow up of this photo, adding to the fun.
- DICTIONARY & DETECTIVE WORK
- Pair off students and have them look up some of the more difficult words in Book One, like ragamuffin, unkempt, and martingale. Show them some of the “codes” in the front of the dictionary, such as OE for Old English and ME for Middle English to help decipher the story behind the words. This is a good way to introduce them to etymology, and make looking up words more of a treasure hunt. They also might begin to understand some easy prefixes, such as “un” in unkempt=”not”.
- HISTORY OF THE MINIATURE HORSE BREED
- Many stories and myths exist relating to the history of the miniature horse breed. The actual facts are as interesting as any myth. Have students do some library hunting to find out about how this breed got started, and some of the main characteristics of the breed. Author Nancy was careful to research her facts, so for example, minis do not wear shoes (except in the case of service minis, who need traction to go up and down stairs and ramps), and often do sleep two to three in a stall. Of course, they do not drive cars, but they are often transported in the back seats of cars!
- MINIATURE HORSES & THE HISTORY OF CHILD LABOR -- COAL MINES
- Miniature horses were used in the mid-1800’s to replace the young boys who were harnessed to pull coal tubs deep in the mines of Great Britain and Europe. This is a chapter of the Industrial Revolution that often goes unstudied in history texts, but most students find this very interesting. The photos taken by Lewis Hine to expose this deplorable practice can be “Googled” and discussed. Janet Barkerhouse’s book, The Pit Pony, is an interesting tale of child coal miners in Cape Breton, Canada. Easy to read, and very moving. A movie version of this book exists, and can be found in DVD format.
BOOK TWO
- Itty & Bitty: Friends on the Farm
CHARACTERS- Get to know the different characters in book two. Since most are dogs and horses, it might be fun to do some mini-research on Pintos, Thoroughbreds, and Bouviers. Disney has made a movie about a Bouvier in his movie, The Dog of Flanders.
- SPOTS & DOTS
- A specific vocabulary associated with the Pinto breed ( a color breed) is fun and unusual. Words like Tobaino, Sabino, and Overo are used to describe the different patterns of spots and markings on these horses. Students might try penning a few silly ditties using these colorful words (after they’ve looked them up), and other things related to spots and dots!
- WRITING FROM PHOTOS
- Nancy often writes from real life events or photos, and then puts a special twist on them. Have students bring in a photo of their own or supply photos for them to write about. Again, keep the poems short. Two lines, rhymed, are best.
BOOK THREE
- Itty & Bitty: On the Road
JOURNEY MOTIF- Follow the minis’ adventures as they travel from Texas to Devon, PA, with one very silly detour to the Bronx Zoo. There is lots to play with in this book -- the airplane ride (minis used in therapy are now allowed to fly on planes, in bulkhead!) Look at a map and trace their route; the Bronx Zoo -- explore the zoo animals and discuss spots & dots (or not, in the case of the zebras). Kipling’s Just So Stories might be fun to introduce/read here (for example, “How the Leopard Got Its Spots”); and finally the cruise ship adventure.
- HAVE THE KIDS MAKE UP A TRIP, OR DESCRIBE ONE THEY'VE TAKEN
- They can make maps, road signs, and a suitcase -- like Itty’s -- a shoebox with a ribbon handle and labels of places visited glued on is a great hands-on activity. Stickers can be drawn by the students, or purchased inexpensively at craft and hobby stores. The suitcase can then be filled with things they’d take on their travels. (Itty always takes sunglasses, sunscreen, maps, toys, and a bandana (his clothing) and carrots!).
- HUNT FOR THE "PEGASUS" THREAD IN BOOK THREE
- This can be a fun lead into mythology. Why do you think the author uses Pegasus as the ship’s name, and as the ice sculpture for the midnight buffet on the cruise ship?
- THE BIRD
- Illustrator Rose Mary Berlin added the little bird as a character in this book who follows along on the trip. Allow the children to give it a name, and make up a storyline for this little fella. They can give it a voice, and maybe even try to write a few lines in rhyming verse for it. It might be fun to talk about a “bird’s eye view” of the trip, to give them a feeling of perspective or point of view.
- MORE DICTIONARY DISCOVERY
- Here’s a question/game: How does the expression, “hill and dale” in Book One tie into the big horse, called a “Clydesdale,” that Bitty meets in Book Three at the Devon Horse Show? What do Clydesdales and Miniature Horses have in common? (Answer: both breeds of horse originated in Scotland).
