Activities Coloring Pages Word Puzzles Word Treasures Return to the Story
Get ready to discuss, share, play, create, and read your way to developing and empowering a strong character.
Imagine
It’s a wonderful day for a party. And it’s not just any party. This one comes only once a year. It’s the seafood festival and everyone on Breakers Island is invited to come.
Story Focus, Virtues, and Life Lessons
Story Focus:
A Community Celebration
The people hold an annual event to show their pride in the village of Red Haven, in the fishermen who work in the Sugar Sea, and in Breakers Island.
Virtues:
Pride
Life Lessons:
Pride – the satisfaction and pleasure taken in an achievement. A feeling of happiness that you get when you or someone you know does something good, difficult, etc.
- Fishermen:
It doesn’t matter if it has been a good year or a bad year for the fishing industry. They always take pride in their work. - Children:
Children carried tall poles with pictures of boats, whales, fish, and seashells. The people clapped for the children as they marched to the beat of the drums.
Magical Moments
Interactive Discussion and Activities
Reading Story Techniques
First, pre-read the story before reading it aloud with your learner. Use expressive language, gestures, motions, and sounds to make the story come alive:
- Begin the story with a calm and soothing voice.
- Shiver to imitate being cold when reading the second paragraph.
- Raise your head and pretend to listen, imitating Callie listening to sounds outside in the village of Red Haven.
- Make a barking sound for the dogs in the third paragraph.
- Change your tone of voice when reading the lines of each of the three cats (Callie, Clover, and Kelly).
- Change your tone of voice to sound like the Mayor in his opening speech.
- Sound excited and enthusiastic when reading the Mayor’s speech.
- Cheer and clap for the fishermen.
- Purr like a cat when reading the part with the cats being fed.
- Imitate the sound of a drum beating loudly.
- Clap again when reading the part where the children were marching.
- Make the “pop” sounds for the firecrackers, progressively making them louder.
- Make “boom” sounds for the fireworks.
- Continue to change your tone of voice to match each cat’s lines.
- End the story in a calm and soothing voice.
While Reading
Interject these questions to involve the learner:
- When did Callie wake?
- Who hung the sea signal flags?
- Where did the Seafood Festival take place?
- What did the children carry?
- Why did Belle stay at the farm?
After Reading
Use the answers to these questions to recall points in the story.
- Who marched in the village square? Why?
Drums began to beat loudly. Children carried tall poles with pictures of boats, whales, fish, and seashells. The people clapped for the children as they marched to the beat of the drums. - Where were signal flags hung? Why?
Callie watched fishermen hang the sea signal flags. She saw a large banner that read, “Seafood Festival.” Callie could also see long strings of firecrackers hanging on tree limbs. She heard the dogs bark, “Woof, woof, woof.” News of the Seafood Festival spread quickly through the village of Red Haven. - When did smoke fill the village square?
The darkness of night was near. It was time to light the firecrackers. Bright sparks flew in all directions. Pop! Pop! Pop! More firecrackers popped. Smoke filled the village. - What did the animals like and dislike about the Seafood Festival?
- Like — The cats purred in happiness as the people fed them pieces of fish.
- Dislike — Kelly said, “Belle did not come. She stayed at home to watch over the farm. Belle said it was too loud and hurt her ears.”
- Why did the village celebrate the fishing industry?
The Mayor walked into the village square and said, “Welcome to the Seafood Festival! We are here to celebrate our fishermen. We are proud of the work they do for Breakers Island.” - Note: Close with a discussion on the importance of different industries and work that support everyday life.
Behavior/Social Development (All Ages):
- Feeling proud of your accomplishments is a good thing. Having pride in what you do is also a good thing. Share stories and personal examples.
- Bragging and boasting, putting others down, and acting better than others are negative behaviors associated with pride. Teach your learn about the downfall of pride and help him/her understand how to show empathy instead of arrogance. Give examples to illustrate the differences, such as “Shannon tells everyone she is the smartest kid in the class.” “Jack is the captain of the softball team and always puts Mark in the outfield because he can’t catch the ball.” and “Mike and Mary were picked as captains for kickball. Mike picked only his friends. Mary picked others besides her friends.”
Language Development (Younger Learners):
- Antonyms: cool – warm, front – back, go – stop, good – bad, in – out, up – down
- Color: red and yellow
- Identify word patterns: Sound “– ew”
Bolded words, among the following were used in The Seafood Festival – blew, brew, chew, crew, drew, dew, flew, grew, knew, news, slew, stew - Identify words your learner may not be familiar with, such as “curious,” “sparks,” howls,” and “burst.”
- Different spelling and meanings: their and there; to, too, and two
Language Development (Older Learners):
- Introduce the word “pride,” defining its meaning as a feeling of happiness that comes from achieving something. When you do a good job or finish a difficult task, you feel pride. Ask for and share personal examples.
- Extend the discussion to include the negative meaning of pride, which refers to having extremely high self-regard. Explain to your learner that a person can often tell when another person is proud because they will not admit that they do anything wrong; they always think they are right and refuse to take advice from others.
- Help your learner better understand the downfalls of pride by asking them to identify negative behaviors with various scenarios. Examples are:
- “Greg constantly talks about how he’s the best baseball player on the team.”
- “Maria is always staring at herself in the mirror and tells her friends that she is the prettiest girl in their class.”
- “Sean thanked his coach for helping him to become a better player.”
- “Pamela laughed at Mark when he ran slower than she did in gym class.”
- Identify characteristics of both the positive and negative aspects of pride. Examples of positive pride are achievement, success, accomplishment, happiness, proud feelings, praise from others, being gracious, and thankful, etc. Examples of negative pride are self-centeredness, vanity, self-righteousness, a know-it-all attitude, bragging and boasting, poor sportsmanship, and comparing or putting down others.
- Create or read about situations involving pride. Have your learner identify the behavioral aspect of pride displayed, both positive and negative.
Involvement Tip (All Ages):
Be conscious of how you speak about your accomplishments. Your learner is listening and watching! Speak with humility and refrain from bragging.
Making Memories
Discover the values covered in this story through guided activities and fun projects that ensure learner involvement.
Arts and Crafts ideas for Creatively Understanding the Virtues
Arts & Crafts Activities (Younger Learners):
- Make thank-you cards for the important people in your learner’s life, such as their mother and father, grandparents, a teacher, or anyone who your learner feels is important to him/her.
- Draw a picture that honors someone special or someone who deserves praise. Ask your learner to think of a special person who has done something extraordinary and deserves praise. Have your learner draw a portrait of that person and paint or color it.
Arts & Crafts Activities (Older Learners):
- Create personalized thank-you cards. Begin by having your learner make a list of persons they feel impart value to their life, such as his parents, grandparents, or anyone who they feel is influential to them. Extend this brainstorming session to include looking for individuals who make a difference “behind the scenes,” such as the teacher who gives extra help, the custodian at school who keeps the hallways clean, or a tutor who has helped them pass math class. Using various art supplies, or the computer, make a card of thanks for each person on the list.
- Create a “Pride vs. Humility” poster or sign. Using the characteristics discussed in the language development exercise, have your learner create an artfully enriched poster or sign to post in their room.
- Design a vanity license plate that shares information about themselves.
“The cats purred in happiness as the people fed them pieces of fish.”
Lasting Impressions
Continue with learning experiences to extend your stay.
Follow-up Activities (All Ages):
- When discussing the issue of negative pride, focus on humility, honesty and accepting others as ways to battle negative pride. Share stories and personal examples for each characteristic.
- Create a personalized list of persons who have had a direct impact on your learner’s life.
- Teach your learner to apologize to others, accept advice from others, and receive compliments graciously. Discuss showing pride in a positive way.
Real-Life Activities (All Ages):
- Identify a service project in your community that will provide your learner with a chance to experience putting others before themselves. Examples are helping serve food at a soup kitchen, donating or helping stock food at a local food pantry, and donating personal clothes or toys to a shelter.
- Help your learner develop a sense of healthy pride by making it a habit of letting them know when you are proud of them. Help them identify the feeling of pride in themselves, when it is warranted, by simply asking what happened in their day that made them feel proud of themselves.
- Help your learner show compassion by using their skills and talents to help others by volunteering. Examples are volunteering time after school to tutor younger children, helping out younger children on a community sports team, helping with a community cleanup project, baking goodies for a school or community bake sale, and visiting the elderly in long-term care facilities.
”Bright sparks flew in all directions. Pop! Pop! Pop!”
Activities Coloring Pages Word Puzzles Word Treasures Return to the Story
We are here to celebrate our Fishermen.