Hawks Kettle, Puffins Wheel and Other Poems of Birds in Flight Lesson Activity

Posted on October 28, 2019 by Maureen Schlosser

Hawks Kettle, Puffins Wheel Summary

Did you know that crows protect each other by forming a mob? When a crow feels threatened, he caws for help. His buddies fly in and harass predators. They caw and peck and use their feet to make the threat go away. Author Susan Vande Griek describes this fascinating bird behavior with poetry and descriptive text. Intriguing artwork by Mark Hoffman fills the double-page spread with movement and action.

Twelve birds are featured in this captivating book. Readers will enjoy the engaging snippets of information about each bird. The striking illustrations support the text by showing the birds in motion.

Hawks Kettle, Puffins Wheel Lesson Activity

AASL Standards Framework for Learners: I.B.3 Learners engage with new knowledge by following a process that includes generating products that illustrate learning.

How do illustrators create the illusion of movement? Ask learners to notice the techniques Mark Hoffman uses with this Hawks Kettle, Puffins Wheel lesson activity. They will notice how the direction of the wings and the placement of the beak work together to tell an animated story.

Close readers will notice how Hoffman uses lines to create movement. Streaked lines in the background point to where the bird is going. Trailing white lines behind the birds show where the bird is coming from. Readers may compare this white path to the contrails planes leave in the sky.

Watch how illustrator Steve Jenkins shows movement with collage. Notice how he studies pictures of moving animals before he puts pencil to paper. Invite learners to study an animal of their choosing. They can use books, images or watch a live video from Explore.org. Encourage learners to illustrate the animals using techniques modeled in Hawks Kettle, Puffins Wheel and Other Poems of Birds in Flight.