Children's Book Press - Lakas and the Manilatown Fish

Let the Chase Begin
Students write their own narrative using a story structure similar to Lakas and the Manilatown Fish / Si Lakas at ang Isdang Manilatown.

20–30 min. a day for 4–5 days

whole class; partner; independent

CA Language Arts Standard (Writing) 2.1: Write brief narratives based on their experiences: move through a logical sequence of events; describe the setting, characters, objects, and events in detail.

paper, pencils

Plan

Tell students that they are going to write stories similar to the story of Lakas and the Manilatown Fish about a chase through their own neighborhood.

To begin, work with students to create a word bank of words related to neighborhoods. To activate their prior knowledge, recall with students the background-building discussions you had about the businesses, institutions, and people in your neighborhood. Create a separate word bank for action words related to a chase. You might tell students to look back at the story for words or phrases to add to this list, including jumped out, ran out, chased after, was heading toward (page 19); jumped in, drove off, ran after, was zooming down (page 21); drove through, drove past, jumped off (page 23); ran down, jumped into, ran right into (page 27); and did a flip, fell into (page 29).

Ask students to make a list of the characters in their stories. Then, have them create a "storyboard": a series of quick drawings that plot their stories' events. Remind them to draw the story's beginning, middle, and end.

Draft

Have students use their storyboards to write a first draft of the story. Remind them that when writing a draft they should try to get all their ideas down on paper, without worrying about spelling and punctuation. Remind them also to include details about their neighborhood to clearly establish the setting of the story.

Revise

Have students read their stories aloud to a partner, who should listen carefully and ask questions about any parts of the story that are unclear. Students should then write a second draft.

Edit

Upon completing their second drafts, ask students to review their stories carefully, correcting any errors in spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, and making any last-minute changes to improve the flow of the story.

Publish

	Have students produce a clean copy of their story and complete with any illustrations they may want to add.
	Have students share their stories by reading them aloud to the class.

Additional Writing Activities

	Dream Story: Remind the students that at the beginning of the book, Lakas has a dream that tells him something. Ask them to write a story based on one of their own dreams.
	Talking Fish Story: Have students write a story about the adventures of a talking fish. In preparation for this activity, you may want to read with them other "fish" stories you have collected. (See Resources for book ideas.)
	Neighborhood Elder: Ask students who are the manongs and manangs in their neighborhood. Encourage them to think globally about these terms, applying them to people of other ethnicities or national backgrounds.Work as a group to write a story with an elderly person from your community as the main character.
	New Ending: Have students work in small groups to write a new ending for *Lakas and the Manilatown Fish / Si Lakas at ang Isdang Manilatown*.

Our Block, Our Neighborhood, Our City
Students explore their own neighborhood and community to find out its key components and how it has changed over time.

30–40 min. a day for 2–3 days

whole class

CA Social Studies Standard 2.2: Students demonstrate map skills by describing the absolute and relative location of people, places, and environments.

map of San Francisco; maps of your city or neighborhood; poster paper; colored pencils or markers

Have students use the map of San Francisco to locate the Manilatown area (where Kearny and Jackson Streets cross). Trace the path of the chase down Kearny to Columbus Avenue, down Columbus to the area near the bay, and then into the bay. Point out that the beginning of the chase took Lakas through the heart of the Manilatown neighborhood.

Explain to students that in this activity they will explore their own neighborhood. Display a map of the neighborhood and have students locate your school. Then work with them to plan a brief walking tour of the area. If possible, include a shopping district as part of the tour.

Take the tour with your students. Help them to identify important local landmarks, including parks, the library, businesses, places of worship, and buildings of historical importance.

After the tour (or instead of the tour, if it is not possible to go on one), engage students in a discussion about your neighborhood. Ask them to name important places in your community and tell why each is important. Record their responses on the board. Then have students identify and locate these places on the map. Ask them to think in particular about places where people meet or get together with one another.

Guide students to name some of the people who work in your community, including police officers, firefighters, bus drivers, and shopkeepers. Add this list to the board.

If possible, arrange to have a long-time resident of your community visit the class to tell students what the community was like in the past and how it has changed.

Ask students to work together to create a class poster about your community, placing the information they have gathered into categories such as important places, people, and dates. Suggest that they include a simple map that outlines the area they are describing.

Neighborhood Collage
Students examine the artwork in Lakas and the Manilatown Fish / Si Lakas at ang Isdang Manilatown and then create their own mixed-media collages of their neighborhood.

40 min.

whole class; independent

CA Visual Arts Standard 2.0: Students apply artistic processes and skills, using a variety of media to communicate meaning and intent in original works of art; 2.1: Demonstrate beginning skill in the use of basic tools and art-making processes, such as printing, crayon rubbing, collages, and stencils.

photocopies of family photos brought in by students; colored pencils, oil pastels, or crayons; construction paper; scissors; glue sticks

A week prior to starting this activity, ask students to bring in family photos, including photos of their ancestors. Make photocopies of the photographs and return the originals to students. If the photographs are too precious for students to bring to school, suggest that they ask their parents to reproduce them and send the photocopies in. If students fail to bring in photos, take pictures of the students themselves using a disposable or digital camera.

Review with students Carl Angel's artwork in Lakas and the Manilatown Fish / Si Lakas at ang Isdang Manilatown. Point out the use of real photographs of Filipino immigrants in the artwork on pages 2–3, 8–9, 14, 21, 22–23, and 24–25. (Note: A photo of the author's mother [with sunglasses] appears on page 2, and a photo of the author and his son Lakas appears on pages 22 and 23.) Point out also the use of words in shop signs (pages 14, 15, 21) and street signs (page 19).

Tell the students to cut out shapes to make a city skyline (or an individual house) from construction paper or brown paper bags. Have them glue these shapes onto a larger piece of construction paper.

Provide students with the photocopies of their family photos or the photos you took of them, along with paper and other art supplies. Ask students to cut around the people in the photos and place them onto their silhouetted buildings.

Now, have students use oil pastels, crayons, or colored pencils to color over their collage. Remind them to look at the book to see how the artist worked the photographs into the buildings to create one coherent image.

Additional Art Activities

	Lakas and the Fish: Use the story's final illustration on page 31 as the starting point for a discussion about similarities in the artist's rendering of Lakas and the fish. Ask students to share their ideas on why the artist may have done this. If necessary, refer them to Lakas's dream on page 7, when a manong compares him to the talking fish.
	Motion Captured: Examine with students the artist's use of several frames on pages 26–27 to capture the movements of the characters described in the text. Then have students create their own four-panel cartoons to show characters in motion.

Measure for Measure
Students use standard and nonstandard measures to examine distances and lengths from Lakas and the Manilatown Fish / Si Lakas at ang Isdang Manilatown.

30 min.

whole class

CA Mathematics Standard (Measurement and Geometry) 1.1: Measure the length of objects by iterating (repeating) a nonstandard or standard unit.

ruler; yardstick; pencils; paper clips; blocks; shoe boxes; other common found classroom objects; paper

Recall with students the scene in the Happy Fish Market with fish everywhere (see pages 14–15 of the story). Ask students how Lakas was able to identify the Manilatown fish in among all the other fish. (It was the only fish that wasn't sad. It spoke to him.) Point out that another way to compare the various fish would be by their size, and that in order to do that, students would need to measure the fish.

Discuss with students the use of standard units (inches, feet, yards, miles) and nonstandard units (paper clips, pencils, blocks, and so on) to measure the length of an object or a distance. Have volunteers demonstrate by measuring the cover of the book with a ruler and paper clips.

Ask students which nonstandard unit of measure would be more appropriate to measure the length of a fish—a pencil or a chair? Then have students identify other objects or distances in Lakas and the Manilatown Fish / Si Lakas at ang Isdang Manilatown that they might measure. Make a list of these distances.

Ask students questions regarding which of two nonstandard units of measurement would be more appropriate for measuring each one. For example, you might ask which of the following would be better to measure the length of
Lakas's trip to the bay—a shoebox or blocks?
the length of a bus—a hand or a whole body?
a hot dog for breakfast—paper clips or a book?

After students have responded, ask them to explain their answers.

Have students make a new list of distances or objects in their classroom, school, and community. Ask them to identify appropriate units of measurements for this new list.

Additional Math Activities

Distance and Time: Provide students with a map of San Francisco or a map of your city. If you use a map of San Francisco, work with them to use the map's scale to figure out the distance from the corner of Kearny and Jackson Streets to the bay along Columbus Avenue. If you use your city's map, describe a trip to students and help them use the map scale to figure out the distance. Then help students calculate the time it would take to make such a trip if they were walking 2 miles per hour or driving 25 mph.

Tank Dimensions and Volume: Draw a diagram of a fish tank on the board. Label the height, width, and depth. Then guide students to figure out the volume of water the tank will hold.

The Real Fish Story
Students learn about fish and their life cycle.

30 min.

pairs or small groups

CA Science Standard 2: Plants and animals have predictable life cycles.

encyclopedia, science books, and websites about fish

Ask students to tell how the Manilatown fish was like a real fish and how it was not like a real fish. Record their responses on the board. Then have students work in pairs or small groups to learn about real fish and their life cycle.

After students have gathered information from reference materials (see Resources for suggestions), work as a group to create a flow chart that shows the life cycle of a fish from egg to adulthood.

You may also want to ask students to prepare brief reports about different types of fish, including carp (the fish upon which the magical fish in the story is based).

Additional Science Activities

	Class Fish Tank: Set up an aquarium for goldfish and have students take turns feeding the fish and keeping the tank clean. Use this activity as an opportunity to build students' understanding of the elements of a thriving ecosystem.
	Animal Communication: Use the talking fish as the starting point for a whole class research project on some of the different ways that animals communicate. You might want to focus your efforts on whales, dolphins, wolves, and some types of birds.
	What's for Breakfast? Remind students that Lakas's father made hot dogs and rice for breakfast. Ask students to share what they know about the different breakfast foods that people from various cultures eat. Together, examine the nutritional value of different breakfast foods. Use this information as the starting point for a discussion about the elements of a healthful breakfast as well as the reasons why breakfast is an important meal.

	Ask students who are "experts"—whose families have immigrated to the United States—if they would like to share their own experiences with people and traditions tied to their family's country of origin. Discuss the connections between your students' experiences and those of the characters in the book. Children's families' experiences in coming to the United States may vary; be sensitive to the fact that some students may not wish to share.
	If your students, or your students' families, are from the Philippines, draw on their knowledge of the country's society and culture as much as possible. Even though this knowledge may not be formal, students may bring a familiarity that can deeply enrich activities.
	Partner heritage speakers of Filipino (Tagalog) and English whenever possible, and encourage them to explore differences in reading and writing the two languages.