Letters to the Chef...

"Some Friends to Feed: The Story of Stone Soup", by Pete Seeger and Paul Dubois Jacobs, tells the story of a hungry soldier that tricks a village into sharing their food. It has been written and re-written. Many lessons can come from this for students of all ages.

This mini lesson is focused on grades 5-7.

Mini Lesson ~ A Letter to the "Chef"

1. Read the book aloud. Again, be sure to allow the students to see all of the wonderful illustrations. This is a great picture book and they should be shared!

2. Talk to the students about the book. Ask them to think about the following: How did it make them feel? Was the soldier right or wrong in his trickery? Were the villagers right or wrong in denying him food? Should the children have responded to the soldier in the way they did? What would you have done if you were the soldier? The villagers? The children?

3. Next, put the students in pairs and allow them to discuss the "rights" and "wrongs" as they see it. They should begin to take notes on their discussion to prepare them for their writing.

4. Next, each student will write a letter to one of the characters in the book. They can choose any character they like and express their opinion through another chaaracter's voice. For example, if they choose to write to the soldier, they may be one of the villagers complaining about how he tricked their children and give supporting details as to why it was wrong. The letter is to be written in proper business form.

Extension: Students can share their letters by "mailing" them to one another. You could even separate the students into groups (i.e soldiers and villagers) and they can write to one another, justifying their side. Then, each student can respond, in writing, to another student's letter, fighting their own argument. This would be somewhat like a debate on paper.

(Ohio's Academic Content Standards: Writing Applications Standard ~ Produce letters that address audience needs, stated purpose and context in a clear and efficient manner)