Lesson Plan
CAPS FOR SALE
Lesson Plan
Background
Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina, is a folktale that has been retold around the world in many different cultures. The PuppeTree presentation of this story takes the audience to several of these cultures. So, the lesson plans here give you the opportunity to test your students about cultural diversity, geography, vocabulary and even math.
DEFINITION OF DIVERSITY
The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Note: If you have any suggestions or comments on additions, deletions or improvements to these lesson plans, please email them to us and we will incorporate them into the text giving credit to you.
BEFORE THE PERFORMANCE
Find a book of the story and do a read-aloud.
AFTER THE PERFORMANCE
Have students write a written response to the performance and the story. Compare the written story to the play. Have them do an essay on similarities and differences
VOCABULARY FOR CAPS FOR SALE
1. Assign sections of the list below to several different groups in your class, and have each group share the definitions with the whole class.
2. After reading the story yourself, select 10 words that you think would be most appropriate for your classes to learn.
Sombrero
International
Diversity
Culture
Siesta
Hollywood
Granddaughter
Depart
Rupee
Shadow
Grandfather
Bazaar
Sale
Hat
Cap
Give
Back
Open
Yen
Peso
Puppet
Performance
Salesman
India
Middle East
Africa
South America
Indonesia
Globe
Closed
Shop
Trap
Buy
Puppet
GEOGRAPHY
Have the students match the location on the map with the correct name on the list.
Put the number on the list next to the word that best matches the location on the map.
___Hollywood, USA
___India
___Africa
___Indonesia
___South America
___Siberia
___Mali
___Europe
___Australia
For extra credit:
1. Are these regions continents, or countries? Discuss the difference.
2. Have the students draw the borders of the countries on these continents and name the different countries.
3. Have the students identify the monkeys that are native to these regions.
4. Have the students select a monkey, and write a report describing the habitat and behaviors of the monkey—e.g., shelter, eating habits/diet, social interactions, are they endangered, etc.
RECALL OF THE PLAY
Have the students fill in the blanks in the paragraphs below to test their recall and understanding of the play. Encourage them to give answers that would be appropriate for the different place referred to in these paragraphs.
Once there was a man named ___ who sold hats in the Middle East, in the country of ___. His hats were called fez. Draw a picture of the stack of hats that he sold.
The weather in his country is usually ___.
On Fridays, he worshipped in a mosque; his religion was ___.
His best friend’s name was ___. They liked to ___ together.
One day, a ____-colored monkey stole the fez from ___.
Write a sentence or draw a picture of how he got the hats back.
Cap Math
Once there was a woman named ___ in North Africa, in the country of ___, who sold beautiful hats.
When she sold the hats, she took half of the money she earned to make more hats, and half of the money to buy food for her family.
One day, an American Tourist from the state of ___ gave her ten dollars for a hat. She used ___ of those to feed her children. How much was left to make new hats?
The next day, a monkey stole two hats. If each hat was worth ten dollars, how much money’s worth of hats did he steal?
There was a man in Indonesia named ___ who sold hats to be used in the rice fields. The hats were large and light, to keep the sun off your head while working. He lived on an island with a rainforest, and a sunny beach.
One day, in the marketplace, where he sold his hats between the fish-seller and the rice-seller, some monkeys came down and stole his hats. How many monkeys were there, and where did they hide? How did the salesman get the hats back?
Other Resources
Lesson Plan links and background material on Southeast Asia for class room teachers here.