9-1-1 Quack!

We read a wonderful story called "9-1-1 Quack" with the children. This text tells the real story of a mother duck whose 8 ducklings fall into a sewer grate. The duck's frantic quacking leads a police officer to discover the fallen ducklings and help get them out of the grate.  Our children have been fascinated with the text and we decided to encourage them to engage in a dramatic retell using props from around the classroom.

These girls are consulting the text to see what characters and materials are needed to recreate the setting and plot from the story at the retell center.

We weren't sure what to use in the classroom to make a grate. This child decided to try and use the unifix cubes. He used mathematical reasoning to determine what size to make the space in the grate - it had to be small enough for the mother to cross over, but too big for the ducklings.

These girls are setting up the road that the ducks walked down. The blue basket represents the pond they were headed towards before falling in the grate.

Characters from the story are gathered from around the classroom.

The grate is put into place. The mother duck is represented by the large yellow triangular prism and all 8 of the ducklings are the small cubes.

The girls decide that the park is where the ducks start their adventure. They create a swing using the straws and balls, the loose green straws placed horizontally represent the grass, plastic trees and a park structure also enhance the setting.

The grate with the ramp the police officer used is ready and in place. The tow trucks are also on stand by.

Retelling the story together.

Here is the retell:

Later on the materials were used by other children who enhanced their understanding of the text by extending the story. Here the boys pretend that instead of following their mother the ducklings play on the swing, preventing them from falling into the grate.