Week commencing 4th May

I am introducing new books around our topic ‘In the Garden’, but I still would like you to keep reading ‘The Giant Turnip’ daily (ideally with actions that you have created with your child). By doing this, your child will learn a variety of books by heart that will allow them to create and write their own stories in the future.

Activity 1

I am introducing another book this week, ‘The Little Red Hen’. If you are not familiar, with this traditional tale, you may know ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’. Both books share the moral that ‘you get what you deserve’, which is a great theme to discuss with your child and links to P4C (philosophy for children), which is one of the learning pillars at ST. Luke’s.

Click on the image to stop the slideshow.

Activity 2

This is a different version of ‘The Little Red Hen’. There is a mouse instead of a duck and the Hen bakes a cake instead of bread, but most importantly, the end is different. In today’s version the Little Red Hen eats it all without sharing!

What is your child’s reaction?

Do they think that is the right thing to do?

Do they think that the Hen in yesterday’s story made a better choice?

What’s right and what’s wrong?

These are all big philosophical questions at this young age, and it is important to listen and respects their opinions.

Ask them what they would do if they were the Hen in the story. After that, they can draw their favourite character from either story.

Activity 3

Read the first version of ‘The Little Red Hen’ again. Encourage your child to say out loud all the repetition like ‘Not me’ and ‘Then, I will do it myself’. After that, show the picture below for them to retell the story:

Activity 4

Watch another version of ‘The Little Red Hen’ and talk again about the similarities and differences with the previous two versions.

This is an animated version of a puppet show. Today you could make your own stick puppets to retell the story or use the masks below. Encourage your child to say out loud the familiar phrases like ‘Not me’.