Little Red Hen vs. The Little Green Witch and a Freebie

One of my favorites and also of my class is the Little Red Hen.  

But have  you heard of the Little Green Witch?  

This story is absolutely adorable and it has a cute surprise ending!

I introduced the book this week during Halloween.  

There are many extensive vocabulary words to discuss before reading the book.  

Vocabulary: cauldron, twisted, hollow, reek, amid, scattered, soot, gruesome, gremlin, damp, potions, grumbled After we discussed the words the students raise their hand when they hear the word while I'm reading.  It keeps them being focused.

Retelling:  Students loved retelling this story.  The funny twisted ending keeps them laughing!

Compare and Contrast:  Of course this book leads to great Text to Text comparison.  Before I read I tell the class that this book reminds me of another book I've read but I don't tell them which one.  It isn't long into the book and someone catches on.  Use a venn diagram to compare the two stories with each other.  

Writing Ideas: 1) Would you help the Little Green Witch?  Why or Why not?  2)Write a recipe book for pumpkin pie. 3) If I could unclean my house this is what I would do.

On youtube this book can be found being read by some fourth graders!  

Great option if your school doesn't have the book.

Another way to compare and contrast texts is to use The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza.

Grammar: I use this book to work on plural nouns.  This mini unit includes a noun sort using words from the book.  Then there are three levels of worksheets for differentiation and also include a writing option.  Click on the cover sheet to pick this up for your class.  Please leave a comment if you download.

Cooking: In the past when reading the Little Red Hen I've made bread with the class but making little pizzas is a lot more fun!  

Making Pizza in Class

Materials:
electric skillet
jar of pizza sauce
mozzarella cheese
package of pre sliced pepperoni
box of Triscuits

Place the Triscuits on the electric skillet, spoon some sauce on top, add a piece of pepperoni if desired and top with cheese.  Just warm until the cheese melts.  Quick and easy! Yum!

Writing: Cooking is a great way to lead into "How to..." writing.  If this is your first How to... writing write it on chart paper as an example.  Or you can have students write the steps in their own "How to..." booklet.  Stop over at this previous post about How to writing!  You can pick up a How to... booklet for free.  Click Here.

"Would you help me share this post? said the blogger.
"I will!" said the author.
"I will!" said the parent.
"I will!" said the teacher.
And they did!

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Main Idea Freebie

Last week we read the Laura Numeroff books.  The kiddos just love these books!

We started with If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Take a Mouse to School.  We figured out the Main Ideas together and wrote them on the following recording sheet.

As we went through the week and read more stories the students wrote the main idea independently and then we discussed it.  I was happy to see the students understanding and picking out the main idea.  Click on the main idea worksheets to get a free copy.

This was a great chance to do a compare and contrast of the two stories.  It always amazes me that the students can come up with an idea that I have never thought about yet.  I love seeing how their brain works.

If you're interested in my whole unit click above.

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Giraffes Can't Dance And Song and Dance Man Freebie

   

Giraffes Can't Dance is a cute story of Gerald the giraffe, who wants to be a good dancer. Dancing is pretty tough for him and Gerald finally learns to dance to his own tune when he gets some support from an unlikely friend.

I've owned this book for awhile and I never realized how cute the book was.  I have the CD from Scholastic and it's a great addition!  The students loved the music on the CD.  They were moving and grooving with the different types of music.

Comprehension: Visualization, Compare and Contrast
Writing:  Writing to a prompt
Vocabulary:  shoots, buckled, jungle, roar, perform, entertain, violin, beautiful, wonderful
     (Prior to reading the book aloud to the class, mark the vocabulary with highlighter tape or a post-it note.         Discuss the word in context.)

Youtube has some read alouds from the story.  Here's one:

I chose this book to compare with Giraffe's Can't Dance.  This story discusses Vaudville.  To explain this vocabulary word I first showed this video clip.

This story was a little challenging for them to come up with a problem.  I needed to guide them through it.

This T-chart was very helpful with guiding the students with specific items to compare and contrast.

This was the writing prompt that students wrote during the week.  The students worked on this during Work on Writing for Daily Five.  On Friday we made the cute giraffe and added our writing.

"I like to sleep.  It is wonderful.  Kids need to get 11 hours of sleep."

(Is this cute or what?)

To get these freebies click Here!  The giraffe comes from this link: https://www.teachingideas.co.uk/library/books/giraffes-cant-dance 
The link on my freebie is broken so use this one please!

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