We have started reading a new story called Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T. Smith. At the end of this unit the children will be writing their own version of a traditional tale.
We used props and resources linked to the story of Little Red and the Hungry Lion to hook the children’s interest. The children from Panthers and Lions both made links between this book and the original Little Red Riding Hood tale. They noticed the differences: “The wolf changed to a lion”, “She doesn’t go to see her granny in this one she goes to see her aunty” and “The aunty has chicken pox spots like I had!!”
We looked at the conjunction ‘because’ which is used to join ideas together. We generated our own ‘because’ sentences:
I think the Lion will eat Little Red because he does not know where to do his food shop.
I think the Lion will eat Little Red because he is hungry.
I think the Lion will not eat Little Red because he does not want to break a Golden Rule.
I think the Lion will not eat Little Red because he does not want Little Red to die.
I think the Lion will not eat Little Red because he is kind.
The children then used ‘because’ to describe the characters!
How you can help at home:
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Go for a walk in the local park or woods. Talk about what Little Red Riding Hood might have seen or heard in the forest. Can your child describe sights and sounds using interesting adjectives?
- Read other traditional tales together like The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or Jack and the Beanstalk. Talk about similarities and differences in the characters and plots.
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Create a woodland scene in a shoebox or on paper. Use natural materials from outside (leaves, twigs) and craft supplies to make Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf and Grandma’s cottage.
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Make simple stick puppets or paper masks of the characters. Act out the story together or put on a puppet show for family members.
- Write a list of key words from the story with phase 3 and 5 digraphs in them (e.g. cloak, woodcutter). Ask your child to spell them using rainbow writing, magnetic letters, or by writing them in sand/flour.