Time Flies
by Eric Rohmann
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Rohmann, Eric. Time Flies. New York. Crown Publishers, 1994 |
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![[The Randolph Caldecott Medal]](image001.gif)
Time Flies by Eric Rohmann is a wordless picturebook in which a bird flies around in a dinosaur museum. The dinosaurs seem to come to life and want to eat the small bird. The bird was almost eaten but luckily realized that the dinsosaurs were only exhibits and were not real. This is just one of the many ways in which this story can be interpreted. Encourage your students to be creative and come up with their own interpretations.
The wordless picturebook provides illustrations for the birds' journey or dream. The illustrations carry the reader through time with the bird creating vivid imagery for the reader. The reader can easily understand the meaning of the book from the bird's point of view. The author creates the mood solely through the color of the illustrations. The dark pictures create a scary mood, almost even creating a deathly experience for the bird. The light or bright colored pictures evoke a feeling of life. In the beginning of the book the illustrations do not occupy the entire page. As the bird flies around the museum his imagination runs wild and the dinosaurs come alive and nearly eat him. The illustrations then become brighter and the dinosaurs come to life and the pictures take up the entire page.
Author/Illustrator study
Eric Rohmann:
Rohmann is a painter, printmaker, and a fine bookmaker. Time Flies, his first book for children was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 1995. Eric holds degrees in fine arts from Arizona State University and Illinois State University. He is a former teacher, and has exhibited his artwork at numerous galleries and museums across the country. Rohmann lives outside of Chicago, Illinois.
Classroom
connections
These ideas are general and would have to be refined to suit the grade level and the particular students:
Art -- Older students- lesson on the significance of various colors in artistic and cultural traditions. In Time Flies, dark colors may symbolize death and light colors may symbolize life.
Writing -- Write a script for the book. Write a story using only illustrations.
Compared to other books -- Find other wordless picture books. Examine how the illustrator in each creates a narrative without using words. For titles of other wordless picture books see related book list.
Creative Dramatics -- Re-enactment of the book. Create a time machine.
Social Studies -- Construct a diarama. Field Trip to the Natural History Museum.
Science -- Make a fossil. Create
a Time Machine (see web quest).
Stories without words
- Banyai, Istvan. Zoom, Puffin, 1995
- Pelleteir, David. Graphic ABC. Orchard Books, 1996
- Weisner, David. Free Fall. Mulberry Books, 1997
Other stories by Eric
Rohnmann
- The Cinder-Eyed Cat. Crown Publishers, 1997
- King Crow. A.A. Knopf, 1995
- Cohen, Daniel. Dinosaur Discovery. Puffin, 1998
- Granger, Judith. Amazing World of Dinosaurs. Troll, 1995
- Haines, Tim. Walking With Dinosaurs: A Natural History. Dorling Kindersley, 1999
- MacLeod, Elizabeth. Dinosaurs (The Fastest, the Fiercest, the Most Amazing). Puffin, 1997
- Hill, William. Chasing Time. Jove Publishers, 2000
- Sheridan, Barbara. Timeless Wish. Penguin, 1999
- Strover, Deb. Another Dawn. Kensington Publisher Corp., 1999
Books about Dinosaurs
Books about Time Travel
Webquest
You are a scientist in a history museum. Today you will make some casts for dinosaur fossils. First you need to do alittle research on dinosaur fossils. Go to www.letsfindout.com and enter dinosaurs. Read the articles about forming fossils. Suggested articles include "Fossils: How They Are Formed" and "Dinosaurs From Lab and Museum." Make sure to read at least five articles and take notes on any steps you discover and on at least two dinosaurs which would help you to visualize a dinosaur. Once finished, move onto www.clpgh.org/cmnh/discovery/dinoscience/index.html and take a look at more pictures, enabling you to see their bone structure.
After completing your research, you and several other scientist will make fossils in your classroom. Your teacher, the dinosaur expert, will supply you with directions for this activity.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/dinorama/birdlike.html
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/Dinotopics.html
Complied By: Amanda Mitchell, Jackie Rolfes, Terry Davis, Carrie Rauer,
Kristin Knode, Kara Clark
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