Why the Sky is Far Away Retold by Mary-Joan Gerson

Why the Sky is Far Away
Retold by Mary-Joan Gerson
AD670L

            A Nigerian folk tale about why we have to work to get our food. Once long ago, the sky was just a bit above us, anywhere we humans went we could reach up and grab a piece of the sky and it would taste like regular food. The sky could taste like fruit or meat, and everyone was able to be fed from the sky this way. But people are wasteful and take more of the sky than they need, so the sky threatens to leave us humans and float out of reach forever. When a woman disregards the sky's warning and throws out a piece of the sky she couldn't finish eating, the sky leaves and flies far, far away.

Garden State Children's Book Award -  1991

Learning Activity:
            After reading the story, ask the student questions about the character Adese and the moral of the folk tale.
            How did Adese anger the Sky?
            Why do they think she took a piece that was too much for her?
            What did everyone learn to do after the Sky flew up far away?
            How can we use nature so that we don't repeat Adese's mistake?

Learning Standards:
CCSS:ELA-L.RL.2.2  Recount stories, including fables and folk tales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
CCSS:ELA-L.RL.2.3  Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
CCSS:ELA-L.RL.2.6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

Goals:
The student will understand the central conflict of the folk tale, the motives for Adese and the Sky, and explain the meaning of the story.

Objective:
Cognitive –
            The student will be able to answer the question prompts using evidence from the story.
            The student will come up with 3-4 possible ways we can be less wasteful in our daily lives so we can avoid repeating Adese’s mistake.

Outcome:
The student will be able to take the message of the story into other readings and practices on environmentalism.

Selling Tool: Book talk video - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxp1ys6gy6hxR0NQX0lKdkhLMnM/view?usp=sharing