Window+Reinforcing+Activity

====Once you have completed viewing the book, have the students get into small groups of 3-5 and make a list of all of the changes that occured to the backyard view throughout the book. Then have the students place these changes into two categories: "Good changes" and "Bad changes". Push them to really think about each and every change from every viewpoint and to be ready to explain the rationale behind each of their choices. Once the groups are done, reconvene and make a master list on the board or a big sheet of paper of what each group thought was a good change and bad change. If there are discrepencies among the lists, have the students give their reasoning behind their choice and debate through class discussion. If their is a solid case for both a good and bad change, tell the students that it's alright for something to fall into both categories as many changes may help out one thing, but hurt another. ====

====Once this discussion is done, have the students pick out the setting for this book based upon context clues (ex. parrots, frogs, lizards, tropical trees). Once you have established that the book takes place somewhere outside of the United States, have the students imagine what North America must have looked like before the settlers began to appear. After discussing the major changes that North America and the U.S. has gone through, have the students create 5-10 pictures of their own displaying the changes on the comic strip graphic organizer seen below.====