Will and Orv
By
Walter A. Schulz

Materials needed to complete the lesson:

• Will and Orv by Walter A. Schulz
• notebook paper
• printed activity pages
• white construction paper
• pencil and crayons, markers, or colored pencils
• poster board
• Power Point presentation software

Before Reading:

• Look at the pictures below.  Do you know what they all have  in common?

Find Out Here
Visit The Wright Brothers page and find two facts about  Wilbur and Orville Wright before they became famous inventors.

•  The story, Will and Orv, is historical fiction.  That means the story is about a real historical event or something that really happened.  The author adds or changes certain parts of the story to make scenes and characters more interesting.  What types of things in the story do you think might be fiction or made-up?  What types of things would be real or true?  Print and complete the "Real History or Fiction" activity page before reading.

While YouRead:

• Read the story Will and Orv by Walter A. Schulz.  Print the Reading Activity Page and complete each item as you read the story.  Notice that the items on the page go with specific page numbers in the book.

After Reading:

• After reading Will and Orv, review the "Real History or Fiction" page.  How many items did you get correct?  How did the fictionalized parts of the story change it or make it more interesting?  Discuss your ideas with your teacher, classmates, or partner.

• Learn more about the Wright Brothers by visting the Wright Brothers On-Line Museum.  Find at least 6 new facts about the Wright Brothers and their historic first flight.  Add your facts to the classroom's Wright Brothers fact chart, or make a chart of your own to keep track of your information.

• Review the story and its pictures.  Pay close attention to the way the weather, water, and land look.  On white construction paper, draw and color a weather picture of the day of the first flight.  Write a sentence at the bottom of the picture describing the scene.

Choose one of the following writing activities to do.

• Write a 2-3 paragraph report about the Wright Brothers using the facts posted on the classroom chart.  Use the steps of the Writing Process to help you write your report.    Type your final draft on the computer using the computer's word processing program.  If you want, add clip art to your page.

• Write a poem about the Wright Brothers and their first flight using the Cinquain Style of poetry.  Use the adjectives from the Reading Activity Page in your poem.

Display your artwork and share your writing with others so they can learn about the historic first flight.

Beyond What You Read: Choose one of the "beyond reading" activities to do:

• The Wright Brothers were not the first men to dream about flying like birds.  For hundreds of years people have been trying to figure out a way to fly.  Visit the online book about the history of flight to learn about how things fly and other early flying machines.  Be sure to read through each part of the book.  Choose one of the early flying machines to compare and contrast with the Wright Brothers' Flyer.  Create a Venn Diagram on white construction paper.  Finally, draw and color a picture of your own flying machine invention.  Be sure to label the picture and give you invention a name.

• The Wright Brothers' invention, the Flyer, opened the door for all types of air transportation.  Less than one hundred years later people fly across the country and around the world every day.  Men have flown to the moon and into outer space.  NASA is now trying to figure out a way to send people to Mars!  Visit the Kennedy Space Center to see what is new in modern space travel.  Find one topic that you like and create a fact page using Power Point software.  Add pictures and sound for fun!

• Kids love airplanes.  (Don't you?)   Now it is time to make your own.  First, check out the cool cartoon of a paper airplane flying.  Afterwards, choose a paper airplane to build.

Would you like to know how you are doing on this lesson?  Use the scoring rubric below to keep track of your progress.

  This is the end of the Will and Orv cyberlesson.  I hope that you had fun learning about the first flight, the Wright Brothers, and other important aviation events.                                      Mrs. Cloyd
 

A CyberLesson created by Barb Cloyd, St.Mary School, Muncie Indiana