One of the most fascinating things about allowing students to "play things out" is being surprised by what they come up with! We read Marcus Pfister's The Rainbow Fish last week as our read aloud. My kids love this story! After we read it, I color copied the characters from the book, laminated them and put them on popsicle sticks. I put the homemade puppets and book on a table during centers and just let my kiddos play. For anyone who isn't familar with the original story, the Rainbow Fish is the only fish in the ocean that has beautiful shiny scales, all of the other fish want just one of his beautiful scales but the Rainbow Fish is too proud to share. Left lonely and with no friends, he seeks the advice of a wise octopus. The octopus tells him to share his scales with the other fish, he won't be the most beautiful in the ocean anymore but he'll truly be happy. After giving my students a space to create their own story and ending to a familar text, they independently created a new version of the Rainbow Fish. I sat down and observed, this is how they re-told the story:
The octopus was secretly evil. He told the Rainbow Fish, he shouldn't share his shiny scales because they were magic and he should keep the magic for himself. The Rainbow Fish felt bad and knew he had to take down the evil octopus and become the good king of the ocean. He gave all of his friends a shiny scale and formed the Shiny Scale Army. The Shiny Scale Army captured the evil octopus and put him somewhere where he would never bother other fish in the ocean again. The Shiny Scale Army just wants to play in peace with all fish and creatures in the ocean, even if they don't have shiny scales. They just want to have fun!
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