Muskrat Will Be Swimming

Written By: Cheryl Savageau                                           Illustrated by: Robert Hynes

Website created by: Robin Ward

This book is appropriate for upper elementary. 

Book Summary: The kids in Jeannie's class call her a Lake Rat because she lives near a lake.  This teasing title really hurts Jeannie's feelings.  She takes her worries to Grampa.  Grampa shares how when he was younger, his classmates called him Frog because he was part  French and part Indian.  He explains that he began to find joy in his title as Frog because he learned what a frog really was: "puddle-jumpers, singers, people who always have something to say."  Grampa tells Jeannie an old Indian legend of how Muskrat was the one who brought earth up from the bottom of the water and placed it on Turtle's back which began Earth.  Jeannie finds pride in her heritage and in the title of Lake Rat.

About the Author:  "Cheryl Savageau grew up a "lake rat" on the shores of a lake in Massachusetts, where she spent a lot of time swimming, canoeing, and walking the shore-line.  She is French and Abenaki.  She lives in New Hampshire now with her husband Bill and three cats and has two grandchildren, Joe and Adam, who visit her several times a week.  She is a poet, quilter, and storyteller, and teaches part-time at the University in Durham" (Savageau, 1996).

Stop!  Before you do anything!  Please print out the rubric so you know what you need to do to get the best grade possible!  Rubric

Pre-reading:

1. Go to this website and do this word search.  Word Search This helps you to read some words that are related to lakes. When you are finished with the word search, print it off and then turn it in to the teacher. 

2. Print out this K-W-L chart.  K-W-L Chart Fill it out with things you know (K) and what you what to know (W).  Please include at least three items under each topic.  You can't do what you learned (L) yet because you haven't read the book yet! 

During Reading:

3.  Make a list as you read of things that happen that help Jeannie to accept who she is and the name the other students at school have given her.  This can be things she did or things other people said or did.  If you prefer to type the list, please do so in a Word document and then print it.  Make sure your name is at the top of the page and then turn it in when you finish reading the book.

4.  Draw a basic outline of a lake before you begin reading.  Each time you are introduced to a new animal in the story or see an illustration of one, add it to your lake.  Draw anything else in or around your lake that you think needs to be there (this could include plant, human, or other wildlife).  Add color to your picture if you would like.  To get ideas of what a lake looks like and all the different colors that you can use visit this website and look through the pictures.  Lakes You do not need to look at all 950 pictures!  Just look at enough that you feel like you know what you want to include in your illustration.    

Post-reading:

5. Finish the K-W-L Chart!  Fill in what you learned from the story.  Be sure your name is at the top of the paper and then turn it in.

6.  Go to this website and pick one story to read.  Native American Stories You may print it if you would like.  After you have read the story, write a paragraph giving a brief summary of the story you read.  Also, write a few sentences to compare the story you read and the story in Muskrat Will Be Swimming about Muskrat.  If you prefer to type, you make make a Word document and then print it out.  Make sure you name is at the top of the paper and then turn it in to the teacher.

7.  Jeannie was bullied.  What is the proper way to deal with a bully?  Write a dialogue (a conversation between two people) of a bully and a person being bullied.  Make sure the person being bullied responds in a proper, school appropriate way.  If you need help knowing how to properly write dialogue check out this website!  Dialogue If you do not want to write your dialogue you may type it as a Word document and then print it.  Make sure your name is at the top and then turn it in to the teacher.

Once you have turned everything in, you're finished!  Congratulations! 

Resources used