Pistes d'exploration

Each word in a story has a specific job. Start an anchor chart and sort words from the text under the following headings: rhyming words, adjectives, nouns, verbs, contractions, articles, adverbs and pronouns. 

Identify the characteristics that make this book funny. Using sticky notes, write speech bubble comments for each of the animals and items that are swallowed.

As a class, vote on a setting for a new version of the story. Brainstorm for suitable vocabulary words. Create a class big book using the same structures and features.

Share prior knowledge about the seashore. Have you ever been to the beach on vacation? What did you see and do? Start a seashore vocabulary list, perhaps on chart paper cut into a shell shape.

Choral read or sing the text to the traditional tune.

Create a personalized version or mini-book using vocabulary elements from the vocabulary chart (see above).

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat!, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, There Was an Old Sailor

Mots-clés

Humour , Picture book , Songs , cumulative stories , recurrent patterns , seashore , stories in rhyme

Commentaire descriptif

Another installment in the humorous series inspired by the classic song “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,” this beach-themed version begins with an old lady who swallows a shell (“I don’t know why she swallowed the shell.She didn’t tell”) before moving on to a crab (“Why did she grab that crawling crab?”), a swimming fish (“What a tickly dish”), and ultimately, to a hilariously unexpected conclusion. The book’s structurally simple text (built on strong rhyme, rhythm and repetition) makes it easy to memorize, thereby empowering emergent readers. Illustrations rendered in watercolour and ink depict the funny facial expressions of the old lady and her sea creatures, and will appeal to both beginning readers and a read-aloud audience. Teachers could use this book as a model for a “write-your-own” activity focused on rhyme and patterns. For younger children, the repetitive textual elements might be tied in to a lesson on sequencing.