The Story of Ferdinand is a popular children’s book that is loved by so many children and teachers. It is most famous for the moral of the story, always be true to yourself. We think this is a great message for students and love how many different skills this book can be used to teach. After reading this book we hope students love Ferdinand as much as we do! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Ferdinand was a small bull who was different than all the other bulls. He preferred to sit quietly under a tree and smell the flowers. The other young bulls spend their days running, jumping and butting heads. Ferdinand was not interested in that. His mother worried that he was lonesome, but when she realized he was happy being alone, she let him be.
Overtime, Ferdinand grew to be big and strong. One day, Ferdinand was stung by a bee when men where at the pasture to choose a bull for the bullfights. As Ferdinand started to jump and butt around, they thought he was the fiercest bull and took him to Madrid for the fight. However, when Ferdinand entered the ring, everyone was disappointed to see that he would not fight. He only wanted to sit quietly and smell the flowers. The fighters were mad and disappointed so they took Ferdinand home.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Aside from the moral of the story, The Story of Ferdinand can be used to teach so many different lessons. Check out some of our favorite ideas in the list below!
- Practice making predictions while reading a story.
- Discuss the character traits of Ferdinand and what other characters thought of him.
- Integrate informational writing by asking students to write about bullfights.
- Teach students about writing book reviews.
- Lead a mini lesson on synonyms.
- Teach students about verb tense.
- Have a class discussion on individuality.
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
Chances are you probably already have this book in your classroom or school library. But you probably don’t have comprehension questions, writing prompts, graphic organizers, and worksheets to go with the story. If The Story of Ferdinand is a book you love sharing with your students, you are going to get so much use out of these resources!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
- The Empty Pot by Demi
- Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
- Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
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!
