'Noisy Nora': Preschool Lesson Plan & Marbles Game

Rosemary Wells is a popular author/illustrator of many picture books for children. She typically focuses on emotions of the main

character. One common theme in Rosemary Wells books is a feeling of not belonging, which is the focus of her book, Noisy Nora. Nora is the middle child whose parents are busy caring for a baby and doing schoolwork with the oldest child. Nora feels ignored and acts out by making lots of noise to get attention.

Begin the Book

Let’s look at the cover of the book first. It shows Rosie, with a mischievous smile, kicking a chair, which sends a pot and lid flying. Ask the children if they can guess what the book title and the illustration could mean. (Reading skill: Predicting outcome)

Read the book and follow up with a discussion:

1. Why was Nora making noise?

2. What else could she do to get attention from her parents?

3. Can anyone tell us about a time at home, at school or somewhere else when he or she has felt like Nora?

4. Stress the fact that it is not safe to run away, like Nora did. Name a safe place to go if you want to be alone.

Rhyme Time

There are some special rhyming words in this book. Read the book again and ask the children to supply the word that rhymes: door-floor; mum-dumb(I don’t like that word, but I guess a sibling might talk like that.) ; Kate-wait; chairs-stairs; back-Jack; song wrong; tub-shrug; trash- crash

Use a white board, chalkboard or flip chart on which to write word families. Help children sound them out.

ack: Jack, back, rack, tack, black, pack, track, snack, smack, quack

ub: rub, shrub, club, cub, sub, tub, grub

ong: long, song, wrong, strong, gong

ash: cash, bash, crash, trash, dash, flash, smash, splash

Role Playing

You can use the premise of the book in two ways for role playing.

1. Make copies of the characters from the book, cut them out and glue them on fabric that will adhere to a felt board. Allow children to play with these while verbalizing the story.

2. Assign character parts to a few students to act out as you read the story.

Marble Game

As part of her noisy actions to get attention, Nora drops her sister’s marbles on the kitchen floor. What a mess! You can use marbles in a better way. Here’s an indoor game.

Preparation:

Use a large piece of cardboard. Cut out archways in the cardboard to form tunnels. Decorate the front if you want to add to the fun. Lean it up against a table so that the marbles can completely roll through the tunnels. Children can sit or lie on the floor and try to roll the marbles into a tunnel. To add to the game, write number values above each tunnel and keep score.

Noisy Nora might be one of the favorite Rosemary Wells books. Use it to practice rhyming skills and to discuss appropriate ways to get attention.