One of my favorite lessons I ever taught was using the book, The Gruffalo, which is why we are spotlighting it on the blog this week. My students and I adored this book! It was such a great way to hone in on my young readers’ visualizing skills. The first time we read it, I didn’t show them the pictures. This forced them to make a picture of the Gruffalo in their mind, which was so engaging! Some of my students had already seen the short movie about this book, making it a great opportunity to compare and contrast the two. The Gruffalo is the type of book all your students will love and remember. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson, is about a small mouse who goes for a walk through the forest. During his walk, the mouse runs into several larger animals that want to make a meal of him. The clever mouse tricks each animal by saying he is off to have lunch with a gruffalo, a made up creature that scares each animal off.
To the mouse's surprise, he encounters the gruffalo on his walk. With quick thinking, the mouse takes the gruffalo on his walk and introduces him to the other animals. In the end, the mouse scares the gruffalo off and is able to enjoy a snack.
Students will love this quick thinking mouse and his ability to trick the larger animals. The story has great rhythm, and students will enjoy listening to the rhyming words throughout.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
The Gruffalo can be used to teach many skills, in addition to visualization and comparison. Teachers can use this book to teach writing, grammar, comprehension and vocabulary. It is the type of book you and your students can keep going back to because there is so much to uncover.
- The first time you read this book to students, don’t show them the pictures. They will create their own image of the Gruffalo and then enjoy seeing how the author depicted this monster.
- Practice sequencing skills as students think back to the order of events that happened in the story.
- Get students writing by having them write letters to the different characters in the story.
- Encourage students to write book reviews, as well as convince others to read the story.
- Introduce students to new contractions and practice using them in writing.
- Discuss how the mouse in this book was a problem solver and demonstrated bravery.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
The Gruffalo is a student favorite. Thanks to our book companion, you can have ready to go lessons that students will love.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae
- The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieskza
- Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
- I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
