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The Apple Seed Storytelling: Why Dogs Chase Cats

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The Apple Seed Storytelling: Why Dogs Chase Cats

Edited Dog and Cat Banner

Lesson Summary

  • Listen to Why Dogs Chase Cats by Charlotte Blake Alston.  
  • Retell the story together.
  • Act out the story.  
  • Tell personal stories.  
  • Learn and practice repairing relationships.  

Lesson Key Facts

  • Grade(s): K-3
  • Subject(s): Drama, English Language Arts
  • Duration of lesson: 5 sessions, 20 minutes each
  • Author(s): Wendy Folsom, Kelly Wehrmeister, Yvette Ward May 

Lesson Plan and Procedure

Media Image

The Apple Seed Storytelling lessons originate from BYU Radio and teach specific core standards through the stories found on The Apple Seed podcast. For additional stories for classroom use, see The Apple Seed Story Catalog, a searchable database organized by grade-level, duration, and theme.

Storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston standing in front of a microphone

Session One

Teacher Preparation: Listen to the whole story Why Dogs Chase Cats by Charlotte Blake Alston. If desired, add actions for the children to do during the story.

Lesson:

Prepare students for a listening story experience. Introduce the name of the story Why Dogs Chase Cats and display this picture of the storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston. If desired, share some background information about Charlotte Alston. See: https://www.charlotteblakealston.com 

Teacher: This story was recorded in a radio studio. So, you won’t be seeing any pictures, only listening to the storyteller. Listen well and use your imaginations to create the pictures as the story unfolds in your minds. We will talk about the story afterwards. 
 

If including actions, invite the children to follow and participate with you.

  • Listen to Why Dogs Chase Cats by Charlotte Blake Alston (Season 2, Episode 36, 41:30) on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or BYUradio.  
    • Before playing, remind students to listen for the main characters.  
    • After listening, work as a class to retell the story from beginning to end.  
    • Write or draw it on chart paper, a google slide, or document so you can have it to reference in later sessions. The story is in a simple story chain-pattern.  

Session Two

Prior to teaching, print out the Cat and Dog pdf. Cut the paper in half to create a story stick with Cat on it, and another story stick with Dog.  

  1. Relisten to the story Why Dogs Chase Cats by Charlotte Blake Alston (Season 2, Episode 36)  
    1. Split the class in half. One group will be dogs, one will be cats.  
    2. The students will now get to act out, sing, and interpret the different roles of the main characters of the story.  
  2. Following the story, have a discussion about the following:  
    1. Sometimes, like Cat, we choose getting something we want over treating our friends or family with kindness and respect. Pass around the Cat story stick, inviting students to volunteer and share some personal stories of a time when they acted like Cat.  
    2. Sometimes, like Dog, we choose to stay angry at someone who has hurt our feelings. Pass around the Dog story stick, inviting students to volunteer and share some personal stories of a time when they acted like Dog.  
    3. Encourage students to say anything related to the prompt, even if it is not a full story. Make the point that relationships take work and just like Cat and Dog, we all make mistakes. When we do, it’s worth the effort to repair our relationships.  

Session Three 

Help students learn how to repair relationships.  

For Younger Students

Upload slide: Making Relationships Better, for younger students  

Media Image

The slide is for you as the teacher, and for your reading students. Otherwise, you can use sign language for teaching each bold term in the sequence. See links below for ASL actions:

For Older Students

Upload slide: 5 Steps in Repairing Relationships  

Teacher: There are 5 steps when repairing a relationship:  

Repairing a Relationship

  1. Acknowledge. To acknowledge means to recognize that you made a mistake or that you are sorry for choosing to be angry because of someone else’s actions. It is also an opportunity for understanding that the relationship is important and worth repairing.

     

  2. Listen. When we deeply listen, each individual has a turn to talk and be heard, and to tell how they felt when the problem happened. Please don’t talk when it’s your turn to listen.

     

  3. Apologize. Gently express care and regret for making a mistake that caused negative feelings. Even if you didn’t make a mistake, you can feel regret that the relationship is hurt or other’s feelings are hurt.

      

  4. Learn. What can be learned from this experience? How can we both do better in the future? What does the relationship need to be successful?

      

  5. Repair. This is the sincere effort of mending and healing with kindness and forgiveness. It takes work and time to build strong relationships.

     

Talk with the students about what each of the steps mean, and invite them to share personal experiences associated with each step.  

Activity: Role Play

Invite volunteer students to act out the relationship-repair steps as Cat and Dog. How could these characters repair their friendship?  

Session Four (Optional, for older students)

  1. Pass out the Relationship Repair Worksheet for students to complete in partnerships. Together they will create a story about repairing a relationship using words and/or pictures.  
    1. Students will need to be detailed enough that someone could tell the who, what, and where of their story through their pictures and descriptions.  
    2. Encourage students to cooperate as they decide how to make the story and answer the questions.  
  2. Student partnerships should turn them in for assessment.  

Session Five (Optional, for older students)

  1. Students may write letters from Dog to Cat, or from Cat to Dog, to repair their friendship.  
  2. In this writing assignment, students will write a letter of apology at the end of the story. Take either the viewpoint of Cat or Dog.    
    1. Encourage them to be creative in their problem-solving ideas.  
    2. Students can think through the steps of repair to get ideas of what to say in the letter. They should sound sincere, but can have lots of personality.  

Learning Objectives

  • Listen to an audio storyteller.
  • Retell the story of Why Dogs Chase Cats with classmates.
  • Act out a story.  
  • Tell personal stories.  
  • Practice and learn about relationship repairing.  
  • Participate effectively in a range of conversations with various partners, using age-appropriate vocabulary on topics and texts.
  • Speak clearly and audibly while asking and answering questions about a topic and key details.
  • Use age-appropriate language, grammar, volume, and clear pronunciation when speaking or presenting.
  • Present information, stories, or opinions, sequencing ideas logically and use descriptions, facts, and details.
  • Participate in shared research and writing projects on a topic.
  • Recall and gather information from provided sources to answer a question about the topic.
  • Interact and collaborate with others throughout the writing process.
  • Develop imagination to create artistic ideas and work.
  • Create a scene, story, or play with a beginning, middle, and end.
  • Define roles and responsibilities and participate in group decision making.
  • Create character through physical movement, gesture, sound and/or speech and facial expression based on stories or through improvisation.
  • Demonstrate the ability to work effectively alone and cooperatively, with a partner or in an ensemble.
  • Observe, listen, and respond in character to other actors.
  • Use imagination to support artistic choices.
  • Identify similarities between story elements and personal experiences in dramatic play or guided drama experiences. 

Utah State Board of Education Standards

This lesson can be used to meet standards in many grades and subject areas. We will highlight one grade’s standards to give an example of application.

English Language Arts: Grade 2

  • Standard 2.SL.1: Participate effectively in a range of conversations with various partners, using age-appropriate vocabulary on topics and texts.
  • Standard 2.SL.2: Speak clearly and audibly while asking and answering questions about a topic and key details.
  • Standard 2.SL.3: Use age-appropriate language, grammar, volume, and clear pronunciation when speaking or presenting.
    • Present information, stories, or opinions, sequencing ideas logically and use descriptions, facts, and details.
  • Standard 2.W.3: Write narrative pieces, or a letter,  in which they retell an elaborated event or short sequence of events; include details to describe actions, thoughts, and emotions using temporal words in sequential order; and provide a concluding statement.
    • Write, produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple and compound sentences.
    • Use appropriate conventions when writing.
  • Standard 2.W.4: Participate in shared research and writing projects on a topic.
    • Recall and gather information from provided sources to answer a question about the topic.
    • Interact and collaborate with others throughout the writing process.

Drama: Grade 2

  • Standard 2.T.CR.1: Develop imagination to create artistic ideas and work.
  • Standard 2.T.CR.3: Create a scene, story, or play with a beginning, middle, and end.
  • Standard 2.T.CR.4: Define roles and responsibilities and participate in group decision making.
  • Standard 2.T.CR.5: Create character through physical movement, gesture, sound and/or speech and facial expression based on stories or through improvisation.
  • Standard 2.T.P.2: Demonstrate the ability to work effectively alone and cooperatively, with a partner or in an ensemble.
  • Standard 2.T.P.3: Observe, listen, and respond in character to other actors.
  • Standard 2.T.P.6: Use imagination to support artistic choices.
  • Standard 2.T.CO.1: Identify similarities between story elements and personal experiences in dramatic play or guided drama experiences.

Equipment and Materials Needed

For Session 1:

For Session 2:

  • Cat and Dog pdf. Print and cut paper in half. Attach the image of Cat to a ruler or tongue depressor. Attach the image of Dog to a ruler or tongue depressor. These story-sticks (stick-puppets) will be passed among students during

For Session 3:

For Session 5:

Relationship Repair Worksheet - Print one copy for each set of partners.

 

Additional Resources

 

Image References

Image 1: https://attic.sh/8sw4ezq2kr6yt9k4vqzbwbcx8zqw 

Image 2: https://www.byuradio.org/the-apple-seed 

Image 3: Charlotte Blake Alston, Copyright 2021 BYUradio, may use with permission.