Little Red Riding Hood

An absolute classic of a fariytale. It's got more than one version but it's likely your children will know it already. I'm using the ladybird book. The pages are small, but the pictures are nice and clear.

 

Topic: Little Red Riding hood goes to granny's house via the forest, but stops to talk to a big bad wolf.

Age: I've been doing it with 3-7 without too much trouble (although the smaller ones couldn't quite get their tongues around Little Red Riding Hood).

Vocabulary: mummy, daddy - I swapped the hunter for daddy - granny, little red riding hood, forest, bed, cake, house, flowers, the big bad wolf. Also 'What big eyes you have' 'What big ears you have' and 'What big teeth you have' along with  'All the better to see/hear/eat you with!

Procedure:

• Sing your hello song like a little girl and a big bad wolf!
• Drill the character flashcards. In subsequent lessons you can drill the other important words). I like to accompany the characters with their own action so I can use it to elicit them while I tell the story. Little Red Riding Hood takes a lot of drilling so try drilling it backwards. (Hood. Riding Hood. Red Riding Hood. Little Red Riding Hood). The littlest students are probably not going to manage the whole phrase.
• Now start telling the story, pointing to the pictures and miming all mimable words. I changed the words to make it simpler, you can find them below... 
• "Once upon a time, there was a small girl and her name was Little Red Riding Hood. She lived in a house next to a big forest. On the other side of the forest in a small house lived Granny. But in the big big forest lived a big bad wolf. One day Mummy says 'Little Red Riding Hood will you take some cake to granny?' 'OK' says Little Red Riding Hood. 'But remember' says mummy, PLEASE don't stop in the forest and PLEASE don't talk to the Big Bad Wolf (BBW).' 'Ok says Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH)."
• "LRRH is walking in the forest when she meets the BBW. (deep voice) Hello LRRH! (high voice) Hello! How are you? - (deep) I'm fine thank you. Where are you going LRRH? -(high) I'm going to granny's house.
• The wolf has an idea. "Why don't you pick some flowers for granny?" "That's a good idea," says LRRH, so she stops and picks a big bunch of flowers, and the wolf runs really fast to granny's house.
• deep voice - "Knock knock knock. Hello!" "LRRH?" Thinks granny. "No! It's the BBW!" And granny hides under the bed. 
• The wolf comes in. 'Hello? Hello? There's nobody here! He has a plan. He puts on granny's hat. He puts on granny's coat and he gets into granny's bed and waits for LRRH. 
• "Knock knock knock! Hello Hello!" - "Come in!" - "Oh Granny! What big eyes you have!" - "All the better to see you with my dear" - "Oh granny, what big ears you have!" - "All the better to hear you with my dear" - "Oh granny! What big teeth you have!" - "All the better to EAT you with my dear!" And the wolf jumps up but the hat falls down over his eyes (I can't see any thing!) and granny says 'Quick! LRRH come under the bed!"
• Here comes daddy! He runs into the house. He sees the BBW and.... SWISH! He kills the wolf. But where's LRRH and where's granny? Here they are! Under the bed! They say 'Thank you daddy!'. And they eat the cake. Daddy says, "LRRH remember! PLEASE don't stop in the forest and PLEASE don't talk a BBW!"
• Now you've told the story you can do an activity... like colouring the characters the right colours.

This one is good as it has the letters to colour as well.

•  Then it's back to circle time for a last flashcard game like Say Yes!! when you see....and the video.

This is an absolute treasure of a video and the tune has stayed in my head for weeks. I like to sing just the chorus and encourage the kids to do the actions with me.


Extensions:

Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes is a good song for teaching parts of the face. You can sing it getting faster and faster, or you can sing it and clap in the place of a new word each time. I changed mouth for teeth, just to help with the story's vocabulary.

Word tracing here

And something like this (I made my own) for teaching the face.

Finger Puppet crafts for those of you with time and resources!

Please Don't Chat to the Bus Driver!

I was looking for a book to accompany the classic song The Wheels on the Bus and this is what I found...

Please Don't Talk to the Bus Driver!

Topic: The bus and animals.

Age: 4-7 (I did it with younger children but I'm not sure they understood it much!)

Vocabulary: Bus, bus driver, Animals: (crocodile, frog, fox, chicken, pig, rabbit) Phrases adapted from the book's original choice of words: "please don't talk to the bus driver!" "missed a stop", "crashed into a tree," "late" "loud" "spinning" "lost" "everybody out!".

Procedure: 

• Start with your hello song. I like to sing it loudly and quietly as this fits with the language of the story.
• Flashcard time: drill those animals.
• Story time: Start with a bit of interest building. Ask for a show of hands who has been on a bus. See if they can name all the animals on the front cover and translate the title of the story into L1. Show them the route of the bus and explain why it's yellow (it's an American bus!).
• As you tell the story elicit the animals as they enter the bus and make sure every animal has their own voice. I don't know why but my fox is posh and my rabbit is squeaky. The kids LOVE a chicken voice.
• Each misadventure needs an action. I like to clap for "crashed into a tree," tap my watch for "late", put my fingers in my ears for "loud", search for "lost" and spin my finger round and round for "spinning." Since 'lost a wheel' is quite complicated I tend to skip that page with the younger children. "Please don't talk to the bus driver" is very repetitive, so just do it in your best teacher voice and wag your finger along with the rythm!
• Finish by asking them in L1 why we mustn't talk to the bus driver and if they think the animals will do it again.
• Now it's worksheet time. My first lesson required the children to draw the animals in the windows of the bus.

•  Back in circle time. Practice your motions for the Wheels on the Bus. I love the Super Simple Songs version as it has all the most teachable verses: round and round, up and down, open and shut, swish swish swish, waa waa waa, and shh shh shh!
• Watch the video, sing and dance.

Extensions:

Here

• Trace the road with the animals page and get them to colour it the right colours.

Here

 Or if you're feeling adventurous... bus driver hats are pretty simple in terms of materials. You need

1 strip of card.
Staples
Square of crepe paper
Semi circle (with tabs) of card for peak
1 bus badge
Glue

Bus Driver Hats Craft

Walking in the Jungle

So this story book is rather babyish. So babyish in fact that it features a big baby as it's main protagonist. However I've got some students in my class who aren't yet 3... so I think it's pretty much spot on for my target audience.

The pages are a little small in my copy but very clear illustrations

Topic: Jungle animals.

Age: 3-6 (I say six, but there's a reason I'm using this at the beginning of the academic year).

Vocabulary: Jungle animals (snake, elephant, lion, crocodile, monkey) action verbs (walking, running, climbing, stamping, jumping - the book uses slightly different ones, but no 3 year old can read) phrases "Walking through the jungle, what can you see? Can you hear a noise? What could it be?"

Procedure:

• Sing your hello song. I'm doing mine happily and sadly as these flashcards are crucial to my classroom management routine.
• The simplified version of If you're happy and you know it (If you're happy happy happy) is a good way to add some of these verbs pre lesson and get them moving.
• Drill the flashcards with the animal actions.
• Tell the story encouraging them to say it with you for the older ones and do the actions for the little ones (for jumping/stamping etc make jumping motion with your hands only - it's best if they stay sitting down at first). I like to say the part for 'running through the jungle very quickly' and 'stamp through the jungle in a giant's voice.
• At the end of the story ask if the baby is happy or sad. Elicit 'nos' and explain he is 'afraid' (- not 'scared' because the video at the end uses afraid.)
• Your worksheet of choice. The first lesson I asked them to simply draw the animals they could remember from the story.. I got some hippos, but never mind...
• Then call them back to the circle for video time. It's a beauty.

For older children you can pre teach the animals toucan, tiger and frog.

Extensions:

Snake or animal colouring sheets.

Here

A counting song with a monkey...

A game of FREEZE

The children pretend to be the animal you say and when you say FREEZE they must freeze. If they move they are eliminated if over the age of 5!

And if I had the time/resources...

No idea where the original page is... sorry creator!

Dinosaur Roar

So unlike most of the books and stories we've been doing this year, today's post is actually about a poem. The children were disappointed that there wasn't going to be a plot, but then they got very hyper... because.... well, roaring dinosaurs everywhere!

Topic: All types of dinosaurs!

Age: 4-7

Vocabulary: Adjectives mainly (fierce, meek, fast slow, slimey, clean, tiny, fat, weak, strong, short, long, sweet, grumpy, spikey, lumpy) and some misc (roar, squeek, above, below) Plus the phrase "gobble, gobble, nibble, nibble, munch, munch, scrunch".

Procedure:

• Sing your hello song, fiercely, meekly, then roar and squeek it!
• Pre teach the words of the poem, through TPR. I suggest no more than six per lesson.
• Before you start warn the students that it isn't a story, but a poem.
• Open the book. I like to start by counting the dinosaurs on the inside of the cover. We count different colours each time, 'How many blue dinosaurs are there?'. I tell the poem and we count the tiny dinos on each double page spread. If you have pre-taught some of the adjectives then make sure you elicit them with the action as you go. I like to check they have understood any not yet pre-taught words, by looking at the pictures and asking them what they think it means in L1.
• Worksheet time! Try this lovely colouring page from the Dinosaur Roar website: http://www.dinosaurroar.com/downloads/DinosaurRoar-Printable-001.pdf 
• Before you watch the video I would suggest an 'interest-gatherer'. Recite the chorus and do the actions and check the meaning. It goes like this: Oh the dinosaurs, big as trees, the dinosaurs, brains like peas, jaws and claws and teeth and bones, they used to growl and groan and moan.
• 
  

I like to pause the video, when it shows the lava and the dinosaur turning into a fossil to see if anyone can explain the video in L1. The kids are generally dying to show off their dinosaur knowledge.

Extensions:

http://www.dinosaurroar.com/downloads/DinosaurRoar-Printable-008.pdf - matching pairs

Drawing dinosaurs competition

Pattern completion worksheet can be easily made by drawing big and small, long and short and fast and slow dinosaurs like those in the book.

Then here are some other dino videos for your dinosaur fans.

A simple rhyme.

 This could be good for a game of musical statues, (now everbody, run fast/slowly/fiercely!)

Stegosaurus tells us a bit about himself - for the older children.

What's your favourite dinosaur?

Meg's Eggs

So here's a little Easter themed lesson. I haven't got the book, so I have made my own flashcards with Meg, Mog and Owl and then three big easter eggs. The easter eggs are cut in half and have hinges so that I can open them up to show the dinosaurs inside.

Topic: Easter! Meg, Mog and Owl, who my kids will remember from their Halloween lesson, are hungry, but Meg's spell to rustle up some eggs goes a little wrong...

Age: 4-9 years

Vocabulary: Meg, Mog, Owl. Egg(s) dinosaur(s) Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Diplodocus. "I'm hungry!" "Who are you?" "It's too big!" "I'm going to eat you! (optional)"

Procedure:

• Sing your hello song and say Happy Easter!
• Talk about the significance of eggs at Easter (new life) and the Easter Bunny. You will need to use some L1 here, but I think it's totally worth it, since the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunts don't exist in Italy.
• Review or pre-teach the three main characters with flashcards. It's a good idea to associate an action with each name (meg's point hat, owl can fly, mog's a cat), so that you can elicit the names as you tell the story.
• Tell the students the story of Meg's eggs, with the book or with props (as in my case). See if you can elicit the types of dinosaurs when they emerge from their eggs (there is a dinosaur expert in every class no matter the age!) When Meg says the spell, I like to make up my own simple ones that the students can join in with.

Abracadabra three eggs please!

Spiders, frogs' legs 1,2,3!

Abracadabra!

Abracadabra make my dinosaurs small!

Their big and hungry and very tall!

Abracadabra!

• Top Tip - if you haven't got a book it's hard to get the visual laugh at the end. I ask the kids what they think Meg's second spell has done and then tell them to wait and see if they are right when we watch the video.
• Worksheet time! There are quite a few possibilities here. I've opted for an easter egg hunt worksheet.

For the Primary school students

For the nursery school students

• Finally finish the lesson with the video. You could pause and elicit some of the vocabulary if you so wished.

Extensions:

I haven't got much this week, I'm afraid as it's a one off lesson. There is an absolute multitude of Easter egg colouring worksheets and Easter cards to make online.

This and more HERE

And then there's this adorable nusery rhyme that the nursery school kids will love since it goes well with actions. I think it's the having to be still before hopping around like mad that floats their boat! Plus you will never get it out of your head again. Sorry about that.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Micheal Rosen was published in 1989 and is real classic. It's rhythmic, repetitive, chantable and full of fun noises. Some report being very scared by the book when they were very small, so maybe don't go over the top with the terror! If this story had a moral it would probably be 'Leave the bears alone!'

Just don't buy the tiny board book like I did!

Age: 3-9

Topic: A family go for a walk to look for a bear. They traverse different terrains only to discover they're actually scared of bears.

Vocabulary: forest, river, mud, grass, snowstorm, cave, bear. (The adjectives are optional) A good teaching moment for mummy, daddy, baby, brother and sister too. Repeated phrases: We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day, we're not scared, oh no! and We can't go over it, we can't go under it, we're going to have to go through it!

Procedure:

• Sing your hello song whilst being scared and very much not scared!
• Preteach the landscape vocabulary with flashcards. Play some flashcard games. For the first lesson 'say yes when you see the...' is excellent.
• Tell the story with the book. Omit the adjectives at your discretion. I think 'thick oozy mud' is quasi onomatopoeic but teaching it actively would be too much for my students.  Watch the master at work here. You cannot get better story telling instructions than this:

                               

• Worksheet time: I drew a cave, with a forest, river, grass, mud  and a snowstorm for mine, and asked the children to draw the bear in the right place.  Or you could use this:

Printable HERE

• Finish with the animated pictures from the book video.

Extensions:
Teach the family vocabulary with this song:

One printable jigsaw HERE

Printable worksheet HERE

Teach some prepositions of place by making a simple over/under worksheet.

Like this one, but bigger, and printable...

One of my favourite worksheets ever but most definitely for students who can read. Printable HERE

This story is just asking for a board game craft.

Or collage!

HERE

Pete the Cat - I Love my White Shoes

If you haven't heard of Pete the Cat, you need to know that you need him and his enigmatic little face in your lessons! Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes is a book by Eric Litwin and James Dean, published by Harper Collins. It has serious cool factor, which is why you could do it with kids up to 8 (at least).

Topic: A cat with white shoes who steps in different things and turns his shoes different colours. Pete doesn't mind. He just keeps on walking and singing his song. There are plenty of videos on youtube with the song so you can hear it and sing it as you tell it.

Age: 3-8

Vocabulary: verbs (sing, walk, cry) colours (red, blue, brown, white) fruit (strawberries, blue berries) and other: wet, water, mud "oh no!" "it's all good", "goodness no!"

Procedure:

• Sing your hello song happily and sadly (or for variety, whilst crying and laughing!)
• Pre-teach the verbs with a game of simon says, or with simple commands.
• Drill the substances with flashcards. Say yes when, is a good game to check they know which one is which. 
• Tell the story with the book. If you can clap the rhythm out. It's a tricky one to do, but the beat is very cool. Some teachers can get it others can't, but I would strongly suggest you watch the live story telling to see how it's done by the masters themselves.
• Activity time! Have the children think of another type of fruit that Pete could step in and say what colour it would make his shoes. Give them a picture of Pete with shoes on and they draw a pile of fruit under him and colour his shoes the right colour. If that seems too challenging, then you could draw different types of fruit under pete and get them to do a simple colouring exercise.

A simpler version of this. A ton of ideas here.

• Finish the lesson with a song. I've written this song to the tune of Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. It reviews the verbs of the story and adds a couple of other common ones. Feel free to replace the days of the week with 'early in the morning' but I'm carrying on from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so for me it makes sense. With the youngest students I would definitely reduce the number of verses and stick to the crucial ones.

(Here we go round the Mulberry bush, the Mulberry bush, the Mulberry bush,

Here we go round the Mulberry bush, the Mulberry bush, the Mulberry bush,

so early in the morning.)

This is the way we walk to school, walk to school, walk to school.

This is the way we walk to school, walk to school, walk to school,

on a Monday morning.

This is the way we run and stop, run and stop, run and stop

This is the way we run and stop, run and stop, run and stop

on a Tuesday morning.

This is the way we sing a song, sing a song, sing a song,

This is the way we sing a song, sing a song, sing a song,

on a Wednesday morning.

This is the way we cry and cry, cry and cry, cry and cry,

This is the way we cry and cry, cry and cry, cry and cry,

on a Thursday morning.

This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands, wash our hands,

This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands, wash our hands,

on a Friday morning.

This is the way we jump and skip, jump and skip, jump and skip,

This is the way we jump and skip, jump and skip, jump and skip,

on a Saturday morning.

This is the way we sit in church, sit in church, sit in church,

This is the way we sit in church, sit in church, sit in church,

on a Sunday morning. (ie. quietly!)

Extensions:

The Harpercollins site has a printable worksheet here, where the kids can decorate their own pair of canvas trainers.

Colour by numbers - Here

Here's video made from the pictures in the book to reenforce the story.

You can even review Old Mac Donald Had a Farm with Pete the Cat.

And finally, for those of you with resources you could make a craft like this:

Or even this!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a much loved and much translated book, that your students may even have at home already. Students 4-6 love this book for the final transformation.

The paperback version has nice large images that the children at the back can see well and the holes in the pages just add to the magic.

Available on Amazon

Topic: The lifecycle of a butterfly (oh no, I didn't spoil the ending for you did I? You knew he turns into a butterfly, right?)

Age: 4-7years (There's a lot of good recyclable vocabulary here, so you could make it work for older students too)

Vocabulary: Fruit (apple, pears, plums, strawberries, oranges, watermelon). Older kids could also learn or review food items, sausage, salami, cake, cheese, lollypop, pickle, ice cream and pie. Numbers 1-5. Days of the week. Lifecycle stages (egg, caterpillar, cocoon/chrysalis, butterfly). Also sun and moon and the adjectives tiny, small, big, fat and hungry.

Procedure:

• Sing your hello song hungrily and thirstily, or even more fun, pretend to be very big (slowly and loudly), small and then tiny (fast and squeakily).
• Preteach the flashcards of the fruit or food depending on what your students know already. For the 4 year olds the five main fruits is really the maximum you can hope for them to learn at a time.
• Get the students settled and listening. Let them know how you will indicate when you need their help. You can tell the story using the words in the book as they are already very simple. Add gestures for hungry, tiny, big fat, stomach ache and much better. As you say the days of the week, see if they know them in L1. It's cross curricular and the chances are they will be learning them currently. I like to get the children to count out the fruit with me and tell me the colour and the name of it to get them as involved as possible.
• When the caterpillar makes a cocoon/chrysalis, it might be a good idea to use some L1, as many of the students will be convinced it is a poo! I also ask them how long they think the caterpillar stayed in there for in L1, to get them thinking and build up the suspense for the inevitable transformation.
• As a final activity I get them to tell me all the colours they can see in the butterfly's wings. 
• Then they can do this beautiful colouring sheet. From memory they have to colour all the fruits the right colour (warning this takes a long time to finish)!

Available on Eric Carle's website.

Extensions:

• Tell the story again, pre-teaching and then eliciting the life cycle stages. Ask volunteers to reorder the flashcards for you and then put them in the right order. There are many worksheets out there:

There are many worksheets out there...

• This video is a nice way to review that language (probably stop at 2.45mins)

• Butterfly colouring sheets are out there in abundance, or they can draw their own. Don't forget the old classroom favourite of painting half a butterfly on one half of an A4 piece of paper, folding it shut and then peeling it open again. Remember to use poster paints (or acrylics but they don't wash out) not tray paints. 
• This lullaby is a good settler for the end of the lesson.

• The days of the week chant to the Adams Family. Days of the week *clap clap* days of the week *clap clap* days of the week, days of the week, days of the week *clap clap* There's Sunday and Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and then there is Saturday. Days of the week *clap clap* days of the week *clap clap* days of the week, days of the week, days of the week *clap clap.* The key thing is to remember to start with Sunday or the rhythm doesn't work.
• This worksheet even has a caterpillar theme!

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

The Three Billy Goats Gruff is a great story for group storytelling whether with pictures or without. The range of voices and repetitive speech is perfect for VYL but also older kids. I have done this with 7-8 year olds who loved it nearly as much as the 4 year olds.

This version gets 5 stars on Amazon

Topic: Three goats want to cross a bridge but an angry, hungry troll wants to eat them.

Age: 4-8

Vocabulary: Goat, troll, bridge, big, middle/medium, small, angry, hungry (I like to add thirsty to the lesson) 'Who's that tippy tapping on my bridge?' 'I'm hungry and I'm going to eat you.' 'Please don't eat me!'

Procedure:

• Sing If You're Happy and You Know It to review/introduce the adjectives happy, angry, hungry and thirsty. Suggested lyrics: If you're happy happy happy, clap your hands. If you're hungry hungry hungry, eat a banana. If you're thristy thirsty thristy, drink some water. If you're angry angry angry, stamp you're feet. If you're happy happy happy, shhh be quiet!"
• Introduce the story using the front cover. Count the goats. Show how there was BIG goat, middle goat and small goat using gestures. Start the story. The goats are hungry and they want to eat the long green grass, BUT under the bridge there lives an angry, hungry troll who likes to eat goats.
• The small goat goes first. Get everyone to tap the noise of the goat's hooves on the floor/tables lightly. STOP roars the troll. "Who's that tippy tapping on my bridge?" I say this twice whilst clapping it encouraging the children to repeat with me. Now squeaky voice for the small goat. "It's me! Small goat." On later tellings I elicit the word small from the students. Big booming voice again and rub your tummy. "I'm hungry and I'm going to eat you!" Clap it out and repeat twice, whilst encouraging the children to say it with you. Back to small goat, who squeaks with hands praying. "Please don't eat me!" (Children must repeat this bit really well  or the troll is not satisfied ;). I finish the conversation"I'm only small. Wait for my brother, middle goat. He's much bigger than me!" "Ok go ahead" grumbles the troll.
• Repeat for middle goat. Big goat arrives and speaks with a BIG voice and on cue says! "Oh no you won't." Then with your hands gesture the horns and charge. SPLASH the troll falls into the water and is swept away. The goats are happy and eat lots of grass. The small goat becomes a BIG fat goat. If you have the Steven Carpenter version then go around and point out the the troll floating away down the river, because he's very small.

Extensions:

This makes a great worksheet for all VYL, although the four year olds will need help to complete it.

In follow up lessons I drew a bridge and photocopied it and the students added the characters for me.

Another great activity is a sorting activity with shells, buttons, bottle caps or other objects into the three categories or big, medium an small.

If a worksheet seems easier then make a photocopy with three boxes of different sizes and ask them to draw something big, small and medium sized in the right box.

I've watched a lot of 3 Billy Goats Gruff videos on Youtube and this was my favourite. The children won't understand much of the speech but the drawings and music are lovely. The students have all got very involved when watching this video.