For the past two weeks we've been reading fables. We've mostly been sticking with Aesop, but I decided to include The Little Red Hen as well. I like the moral of this story; though many these days would disagree, I think it's important for kids to understand that those who expect to eat should also expect to work.
There are dozens of versions of The Little Red Hen out there, but we decided to stick with a classic:
the Little Golden Book version, by Diane Muldrow.
After reading the book and discussing the moral, Colby used sequencing cards in his tabletop pocket chart to show the steps the Little Red Hen takes to grow wheat and bake bread.
For a free copy of these sequencing cards, keep reading!
He also completed this cut-and-paste sequencing sheet to record his work. (He insisted on coloring the scenes afterward, of course. My Colby hates a black-and-white page!)
A copy of the cut-and-paste sequencing activity is included in the free download at the end of the post!
Didn't this come out great?! We found the idea for the handprint chicken here, at ArtsyCraftsyMom.com. I love a good writing/art project.
The writing prompt we pasted at the bottom asks, "Would you help the Little Red Hen? Why or why not?" Colby's response was, "I would help the Little Red Hen because she asked." It's completely true, too; Colby is a very helpful little nugget, and a request is all it would take!
For a FREE copy of the sequencing cards, cut-and-paste sequencing activity, and writing prompt, click here!
For my older son Hunter, we skipped the sequencing activities and went straight to the meat of the lesson: discussing the moral in depth. After our conversation, I gave Hunter this worksheet:
It's a fabulous freebie from Kelly's Classroom Online!
Hunter wrote about some of his insights and opinions regarding the story. It's a great activity to extend any lesson on fables; scoot on over to Kelly's Classroom and grab a copy!
We hope some of this will be helpful!
You can find many more activities and ideas to use with The Little Red Hen on our Pinterest board: