VTS Week 9 and 11

I have actually decided to combine week 9 and 11 due how quickly they came together.

John Henry (from the American Tall Tale)
Artist: Michael McCurdy
Children's Book American Tall Tales (via Google)

This is for BWC Group B which are 2nd-3rd Grade boys.
We have been going through a unit called "Tall Tales" and which has been covering Loch Ness, Giants, and Paul Bunyon. I remembered hearing the tale of John Henry as a kid and thinking that it would be a good subject matter. The fact that he is dual wielding 20lbs hammers drew me to this image as well as the drill behind him. I think image will support what we are doing because it will not only follow the theme of "Tall Tales" but should also help the boys add on to their writing about their giants or the "creating their own object" activity. I think it will challenge the students because it is not realistically drawn. A second aspect could be that the "drill" might not be completely obvious and that John Henry and the drill are competing. I think most (if not all) of the boys won't know/recognize this imagery so it should provide some fantastic results. I think they will notice the hammers and probably the drill to an extent. I think the positioning of John Henry's body might cause some intrigue as well as the man in the background. The location also might help to draw the boys to question what is going on and why they are down there