The Tortoise and the Hare is part of our Starts With a Story Collection, which includes more than 550 picture book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Learn more about this children’s book below! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
"The Tortoise and the Hare" by Janet Stevens is a delightful retelling of Aesop's fable that teaches the timeless lesson of perseverance and humility. The story follows a confident and boastful hare who challenges a slow and steady tortoise to a race. Despite the hare's initial speed and overconfidence, the tortoise maintains a steady pace, never giving up. As the hare becomes complacent and takes a nap, the tortoise passes him and reaches the finish line first. The book emphasizes the importance of determination, focus, and consistent effort in achieving success. Through Stevens' lively illustrations and engaging storytelling, young readers learn about the value of patience and the rewards of perseverance, while also reminding them not to underestimate others based on appearance or speed.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Our read aloud lesson plans for this picture book come with reading comprehension questions (with sample student responses), 30 writing prompts, teaching ideas for grammar skills, social emotional learning discussion ideas, and more. Check out our list below to get a sneak peek at some of the skills this resource teaches.
- Teach a lesson on making connections to enhance comprehension.
- Practice making predictions throughout the book. Encourage students to check and see if their predictions were correct.
- Identifying the theme, message, or moral is an important skill that takes a lot of practice. Use this story as an opportunity to help your students with this reading strategy.
- Cause and effect can be a difficult skill for students. This book is a perfect mentor text for teaching this skill.
- Teach a mini lesson on compound words.
- Explore prepositions and how they describe nouns or pronouns.
- Have a class discussion about peer influence.
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
This book is a must have for your school or classroom library. Your students are going to love completing these activities for the book and you will be impressed with how much they learn. You will want to read this book to your class every year.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will love the similar books listed below, which can all be found in our free picture book list.
- Goldilocks and The Three Bears by James Marshall
- Grasshopper and the Ants by Jerry Pinkney
- Hansel and Gretel by James Marshall
- John Henry by Julius Lester
- Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellogg
- Mike Fink by Steven Kellogg
- Paul Bunyan by Steven Kellogg
- Pecos Bill by Steven Kellogg
- Red Riding Hood by James Marshall
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf by B.G. Hennessy
- The Lion and The Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
- The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone
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!
