I will huff and I will puff!!

We have had a blast with The Three Little Pigs this past week! What a fun folk tale to get kids excited about learning character, setting, and sequencing events in a story! All week long, students were enthusiastic about reading the next version of the story, writing their own stories, or acting out the dialogue.
 
As part of our Unit of Instruction required by our district's teacher evaluation system, my colleagues and I set our minds in motion to plan this action-packed unit. I'm not sure who had more fun with it.... myself or the students!
 
We launched the week by discussing our "I Can" statement of understanding characters, setting, and major events in a story." We read the traditional version or the "Golden Book" version of the Three Little Pigs, along with "Alaska's Three Pigs," "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, "The TRUE Story of the Three Little Pigs," and more!
 
On Monday, we reviewed what it meant to put a story in order and watched a Brainpop Jr. video on sequencing. (They just love that robot named Mobi.) Students worked in groups to put the story in order using story cards and then made stick puppets to retell the story to a partner. I can not even express how much they LOVED making these stick puppets and telling the story with a friend. It's always a great reminder that they are only 5 years old and have a lot of social skill development and dramatic play needed!
 

 

 

Another favorite activity of the week, was creating our 'setting' of the story with craft supplies. Students used yarn, pretzels, and paper 'bricks' to recreate the little pigs' houses. On the top line, we wrote the title of the story, "The Three Little Pigs." On the bottom three lines, we wrote straw, sticks, and bricks using our phonetic spelling.

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday, we read "Alaska's Three Pigs" to compare and contrast similarities and differences between stories. They love seeing how various authors use their creativity to change a story!  Here is our Venn diagram of comparisons/contrasts. Please excuse the crazy  handwriting.... they were getting the wiggles and needed to move on!

 

 

Another favorite of the week was having partners act as authors and create their own version of The Three Little Pigs! After reading "The TRUE Story of the Three Little Pigs," students could see how an author can take one simple part of the story and change it to make a whole new plot. Students worked together to come up with either new characters, setting, or a new ending and drew on large paper.

 

 

These little girls came up with the Three Little Pig Fairies and the Big Bad Cat!

 

 

 

This masterpiece became the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Bat! He drew quite the castle!

 

 



Lastly, we compiled our work throughout the week onto a story board to portray the beginning, middle and end of the story. We wrote the dialogue of the characters to reinforce sequencing as well as comprehension. They turned out so cute and they loved them!! They have never been so quiet while illustrating their work....especially on a week with minimal recesses due to cold weather AND another snow storm moving in.

 

 

 I downloaded the sequencing activity shown in the upper right hand corner from Mrs. P's Firsties! You can find it here on TPT!



 
Needless to say, my students were in a little pigs frenzy the entire week. They spent their time in the writing center, writing about pigs, creating their own versions and reading them to the principals or office staff. It is so rewarding and uplifting to see them light a fire about learning. On to Dr. Seuss Week next week! Can't Wait!
 

I love the expression on the wolf's face!