Summary

A colorful picture book that features a young, science-minded boy who goes to the beach to collect and examine anything floating that has been washed ashore and discovers an underwater camera that contains a collection of unusual pictures.

Clarion Books       

Reading Strategies ~ Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey

Question Webs to Explore Thinking
Create a web with the question “What is the importance or relevance of the camera in this book?” in the center.  Have students respond to the question as they go through the book.

Questioning
Curiosity spawns questions.  Using a t-chart, have students generate questions that come to mind as they take a quick picture walk through the book.  “Reread” the book much slower the second time and have the students investigate the pictures to answer their questions.

Merging Thinking with New Learning
Have students use their background knowledge about the pictures along with their new learning from the book to find the pattern of events in this story.  Read the story aloud and allow students to use sticky notes to write down clues and page numbers to help them.
 

Writing Strategies ~ 6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham

K-2nd Grade Writing Suggestions
Flotsam offers the children the opportunity to create their own stories based on their interpretations of the pictures.  You will need to share the book with the children and discuss the basic storyline of what is actually happening before you begin the writing activities.

1. Every Picture Tells a Story - Trait: Ideas
   The underwater camera captures some very interesting images while traveling through the oceans.  Allow the students to look at some of the snapshots from the camera and create their own story based on that picture.

   Mechanical Fish Octopus Living Room Blowfish Hot Air Balloon Sea Turtle Cities - Scroll down and click on the sea turtle image. Underwater Martians Starfish Islands Mermaid City

2. Five Senses Stories - Trait: Word Choice
   Using the graphic organizer, the student can list or write about the beach or ocean using their five senses.  Older students can then turn their graphic organizer into a story.
3. Underwater City Discovery - Trait:  Ideas
   Allow the children the opportunity to write about discovering their own underwater city.  Use the graphic organizer to help get things started, and then they can turn their thoughts into a story to share.  Younger children may even want to draw their pictures first and then start the graphic organizer.

3rd - 5th Grade Writing Suggestions
The story Flotsam offers the reader many opportunities for writing since there are no words.  The main trait I pulled from this book is Ideas, but all the traits come into play with these activities.

1. Book Trailer - Traits: Ideas, Organization, Word Choice
   Your favorite book has just hit the Best Seller’s List.  Your task is to create a “book trailer” for your book.  Hook your students with this concept by watching the "Book Trailer" for Flotsam.  The students could even turn their writing into an actual video to show the class.
2. Flotsam Webquest - Traits: Ideas, Organization, Presentation
   This webquest gives the students the task of creating an article for a children's science magazine (class magazine).  The students work with a partner to be the "reporters" assigned to a specific location (one of the images from the book).  They are to write an article about how life is in that picture.  This webquest offers a graphic organizer, Writing Process Tips, and rubrics.
3. Take a Closer Look - Trait: Ideas
   In the story, the boy takes a closer look at the photograph of the girl holding a photograph using his microscope.  Have the class bring in a photograph of their choice.  Using the microscopes from the media center, allow the students to discover and write about the new things they see in their picture.

Other Writing Suggestions:

1. Write about what the boy is thinking as he looks at each photograph.
2. Write your version of the story.  Compare and contrast your version to another student's.
3. Comic Strips - Some of the pages are set up like a comic strip (many small pictures on a page).  The students could write the caption bubbles for what the boy might be saying.
4. Compare and contrast Flotsam to other David Wiesner books - Tuesday and Hurricane are in our media center.

• Use the promotional video to introduce the book to your students.  Click on the following link:  WMV High Speed Modem.

• Listen to a 25-minute podcast interview of David Wiesner from the 2007 National Book Festival.  In the podcast, he talks about "reading" a wordless book.

• "FLOATSAM is a floating accumulation of miscellaneous stuff" according to a Flotsam website.  The author sponsored a photography contest with participating bookstores to capture "flotsam" from their areas.  Check the winning photographs out at the website.  Then challenge your team members or other grade levels in the school to have students find and photograph the best "flotsam" around the school grounds.

• The Flotsam and Jetsam Activity is a great activity if you could take your students on a field trip to the beach!  Since we are landlocked, use the information to provide background knowledge about flotsam and then use the Beach Bingo sheet to have the students search for examples on the school grounds.  This would be a great outside activity on the afternoon of a CRCT day!

• Duplicate the "picture within a picture" pages with a digital camera!  Begin the process by taking a picture of one student.  Print that photo out and then take a picture of the next student holding the original picture.  Print that picture out and continue with the remainder of the class.  Have the students compare the first photo image with the last picture taken.  Use magnifying glasses to get a closer look.  Students can be the photographers in this activity!

• Remember that our students are from the digital generation!  Some may never have seen a camera with film!  Check out these books from our media center:
  Click! :  A Book About Cameras and Taking Pictures by Gail Gibbons (771 GIB)
  Photography by Alan Buckingham (770 BUC)
  Kids Discover: Photography (PRO 770 KID)

• Take your students are a virtual deep sea exploration with the Crittercam website from National Geographic!  They will be able to see the underwater life through the eyes of a whale.  During their dive, have the students find and identify the nine creatures they will encounter.

• View the Reading Rainbow videorecording Dive to the Coral Reefs (PRO 593.6 DIV) to see scenes from an actual scuba dive.