Ninjas! Read-Aloud

Our team took a stealth approach to our last Read-Aloud with a theme of "Ninjas!" We gathered as a large group and began with the non-fiction book, "You Wouldn't Want to Be a Ninja!" to learn exactly what a ninja is and where the name comes from.  

To set the stage, we also read a bit about the historical role of ninjas in 16th century Japan. We moved on to some picture books, including: 

• Wink, the Ninja Who Wanted to be Noticed by J. C. Phillipps 
• Wink, the Ninja Who Wanted to Nap by J. C. Phillipps 
• Nighttime Ninja by Barbara DaCosta
• Ninja Cowboy Bear Presents the Way of the Ninja by David Bruins and Hilary Leung
• The Boy Who Cried Ninja by Alex Latimer

We also had a large selection of older reader books that were thematically appropriate (Stone Rabbit, Choose Your Own Adventure, etc.). However, most were graphic novels and did not lend themselves well to being read aloud in a group setting, and the kids opted to stay together this night as our group was smaller than usual.

After reading we moved to the tables to create ninja headbands. We took 3" x 44" strips of muslin fabric and used fabric markers to write our ninja names using a ninja alphabet one volunteer found online.  

While we worked the kids were able to taste a variety of Japanese snacks including green tea drinks, ginger cookies, rice cracker snack mix, and plain and wasabi dried seaweed.  

Kids who finished their headbands quickly moved back to the rug to play Sensei Says (like Simon Says with ninja moves). We said things like "Master Tsutsu [from one of the books we read] says put your hands at your heart and bow," or "Master Tsutsu says kick your leg once."

We had planned ahead and added a few ninja books to the book selection choices and those were well received during the give-away portion of the evening.



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