Just So Teachers' Notes

Just So is a collection of short stories inspired by Rudyard Kipling's collection of children's stories of the same name and Kipling's story Kotick the Seal. Some of the sorties are told, then retold a few times, thus showing the writing process in progress. For example, the one subject, how the giraffe got it's long neck is both edited and embellished as part of the performance.

For younger students you may like to start this creative and editing process with a drawing.

Draw a face on the board and have the class prompt you as to how to make the face appear happier. In the series of drawings below first we focused on the eyes then the mouth and finally the shape of the face and the hair is the final touch.

Once your drawing is complete, or for older students start by translating this drawing process into a descriptive paragraph, for example start with "Pat was a happy child" and get your students to prompt you through the process until you have something like:-

Pat was the happiest most outgoing child you'd ever meet. With sparkling, bright, incredibly large eyes that were always on the look out for fun and adventure and a mouth that was always smiling, everyone wanted to be Pat's friend. Even Pat's electrically charged red hair seemed to be standing straight up with excitement.

Remember to go too far with your paragraph so you'll have plenty of words/ phrases like "incredibly" "fun and" and "ally charged" to take out of your sentence in the editing process. Keep it fun, the outrageous can be toned down or edited out in the process. The editing process can be democratic with a show of hands to make decisions.

From this and other sites and sources create first a list of things that were already in use at the time Rudyard was born (1864). Secondly create a timeline from the 1860's to 1936 thus exploring the world as it was at the time of the writer's birth and the changes that he would have seen in his lifetime.
If you wish to take it one step further a timeline of inventions from 1936 to the present will certainly bring home to students those things Rudyard never experienced.

Use this 1934 newspaper ad for Corn Flakes as a starting point for a class discussion.

Ask the class, where might the newspaper have come from? How did I (the person putting these notes together) get it? The truth is I have had it for over fifteen years. I found it when I was removing carpet from a house. Newspaper (about six pages thick) had been laid between the floor boards and the carpet as an underlay.

Possible questions that can be discussed with the class.
Why are there drawings of people having breakfast and not photos? There were photos in the newspaper but most ads had drawings not photos. Was it cost? Possibly drawings were clearer then photographs when printed.
Compare the design of the 1934 Corn Flakes packet with a current Corn Flakes Packet.
Why do you think the advertiser thought it necessary to print "MADE IN A SPOTLESS MODERN FACTORY BY KELLOGG (AUST) PTY. LTD. SYDNEY and why did they think it so important that it needed to be in capital letters?
Why are the people in the top drawing unhappy and the people in the bottom drawing happy?
Who do you think the advertisement is designed for, children or adults, men or women?
Look at all the food that is on the table in the top drawing and compare this with what is on the table in the other drawing. What is the advertisement telling us by what is on the table?
Do you think this advertisement would convince people to buy and eat Kellogg's Corn Flakes today?

Follow up writing:
The stories most explored in the show are Rudyard's 'Just So' stories, and the idea most explored is how the rabbit learnt to hop.
Workshop the ideas first:
Suggest, or ask your class for, another animal and one of that animal's characteristics. i.e. How the dog got it's bark? How the kookaburra learnt to laugh? How the platypus got to look the way it does? etc. Explore as many ideas on each theme as the class can come up with.
Perhaps categorize the ideas into Possible, Unlikely and Outrageous.
The writing:
Let each student write a Just So story using which ever storyline they wish.
Tell the students that each of the Just So stories in the show of how the Rabbit learnt to hop were less than one hundred words long.

Shadow Puppets:
Most of the puppets in the show were shadow puppets. Breakfast cereal packets are a great source of cardboard for a shadow puppet making class and our Shadow Puppet Making pages should help get you started.

While thinking about the shadow puppets get the students to think about how they could use shadow puppets to bring their Just So story to life. Shadow puppets shows are often drawn out in cartoon strip form, first. Can their Just So story be drawn as a Cartoon strip?
The Cartoon strip idea is excellent as a post show activity for younger students. Get them to draw out their favourite part of the show as a cartoon strip.