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Language Development:
Experimenting with Usage
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Many of us use more colloquial forms of English, ! The Three Billy Goats Gruff book
particularly when it comes to the part of speech
known as "the predicate nominative". When you
talk with your family, you are more likely to say,
"It's me" than the more formally correct "It is I".
The Three Billy Goats Gruff allows children a
perfect opportunity to hear and employ a formal
usage of English, while experimenting with sounding
like the characters.
1. Briefly review the story of The Three Billy
Goats Gruff, making sure that the children
understood that there were 3 different sized
goats plus the troll.
2. Allow children to experiment with character
voices. Ask how the troll would sound, then how
the great big billy goat would sound, the little
billy goat and finally, the middle-sized goat.
3. Then, ask children if they can remember what
the youngest billy goat gruff answered when
the troll asked, "Who's that tripping over my
bridge?" If they cannot remember, turn to the
page where the little billy goat gruff says, "Oh,
it is only I."
4. Choose a child to "be" the littlest billy goat and
a child to "be" the troll. Remind them of what
their characters say, making sure that children
use the "It is I" structure for their goat
responses.
5. Repeat this process, sometimes substituting
the two other goats to talk to the troll. And
remember, although we want the children to
use the correct form of English, we also want
them to have fun experimenting with character
voices.
Webbing Into Literacy; A-Book-A-Week Instruction Laura B. Smolkin, 2000
The Three Billy Goats Gruff lbs5z@[Link]
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Language Development & Acts of
Writing: Bigger than, smaller than
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The Three Billy Goats Gruff provides numerous ! The Three Billy Goats Gruff book
opportunities for language development. Today's ! Chart paper
activity combines acts of writing with enhancing ! Marker
children's concepts of size. ! A sheet of paper for each child that
1. Remind the children of the three different has been folded lengthwise to
sized goats. Then, focus on the middle-sized create 2 columns (or you can use the
billy goat, saying, "The big billy goat gruff was form at the end of this file).
bigger than he and the littlest billy goat gruff
was smaller than he."
2. Next, have a child stand. Ask all children to
look for something in the room that is bigger
than the child. Then have them look for
something that is smaller than the child.
3. Distribute the folded sheets of paper. Tell the
children that in the left-hand column, they can
draw things from the classroom that are
smaller than they are, and that in the right-
hand column they can draw things that are
bigger than they.
4. After the children have finished their
drawings, call the group back together. On
your chart paper, write "Things that are bigger
than we are". Have the children tell you some
of their ideas and record them in print. Repeat
this process for "Things that are smaller than
we are". Next to the item, record the name of
the child who suggested it. Post your chart in
the classroom so children can look for their
names.
5. Tell the children that when they get home, they
can look around their houses and add more
pictures to their two columns.
Webbing Into Literacy; A-Book-A-Week Instruction Laura B. Smolkin, 2000
The Three Billy Goats Gruff lbs5z@[Link]
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Lots of Links - Performing The Three
Billy Goats Gruff
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The Three Billy Goats Gruff is a story children love ! The Three Billy Goats book
to perform. We have included cut-out characters. ! Cut outs (at the end of this file)
We recommend that you laminate them. You may ! Flannel Board (optional)
use them for flannel board performances by ! Class constructed bridge (optional)
attaching a bit of sandpaper to the back, or you
may staple them to straws to use as puppets. If
you decide to have a puppet show, as the children
to create a bridge (they're usually quite good at
this!) for the puppets to cross.
1. Briefly review the book with the children, then
ask if they can remember how to talk like the
troll and the three different-sized goats.
2. Tell the children that we are now going to
perform The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and
select 4 students to be the puppeteers. If
you're doing the flannel board, you may want to
have individual children do the narrating while
the other children supply the voices.
3. When you have finished, put either the puppets
or the flannel board pieces at a center in your
classroom so that the children can continue
retelling this story.
Some of the ideas in this week's lessons have been adapted from
Judy Nyberg's (1995) Charts for Children. This book is available
from [Link] for $10.36. It's a great resource for filling the
classroom with meaningful, child-generated print!
Webbing Into Literacy; A-Book-A-Week Instruction Laura B. Smolkin, 2000
The Three Billy Goats Gruff lbs5z@[Link]
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Authors Craft: Listening for Sounds
and Recording Them
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In this activity, we will be encouraging children to ! The Three Billy Goats book
notice sounds in their environment. We will be
modeling how to use the English sound system to
capture the sounds we have created.
1. Tell the children that this is a story in which
sounds are very important. Ask them if they
can remember the sounds that the goats made
when they were crossing the bridge. If they
are unsure, return to any of the pages in the
book where the words "Trip trap, trip, trap
appear."
2. Using a wooden desk, demonstrate how the
goats' hooves might really have sounded if we
heard them on a wooden bridge above us.
Then, explain that authors often have to
decide how to represent a sound through our
speech, in order to write it down.
3. Take the children on a listening walk, either in
your classroom or outside. When you return,
ask the children to "make" some of the sounds
they have heard.
4. After the children have made their sounds,
use your chart paper to record their
representation of the sounds. You can use
either the Dr. Seuss alphabet card or this
month's alphabet book, but, as you write down
their sounds, show the children how you think
about a sound and the letter that has made it.
5. When you are finished, let the children know
that they have just done something that
authors often have to do.
Webbing Into Literacy; A-Book-A-Week Instruction Laura B. Smolkin, 2000
The Three Billy Goats Gruff lbs5z@[Link]
Cut Outs for The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Webbing Into Literacy; A-Book-A-Week Instruction Laura B. Smolkin, 2000
The Three Billy Goats Gruff lbs5z@[Link]
Smaller Than, Bigger Than
Smaller than I am Bigger than I am
Webbing Into Literacy; A-Book-A-Week Instruction Laura B. Smolkin, 2000
The Three Billy Goats Gruff lbs5z@[Link]
