Little Red and the Wolf Emergent Reader Activity
BEFORE READING
Share the song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” with children, and invite them to sing along. Read aloud a traditional version of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Introduce the story Little Red and the Wolf. Ask children to predict what they think will happen in the book. Help children use the cover illustration and the title to guess whether this book will be like or unlike the familiar story of “Little Red Riding Hood.”
READING
Set a purpose for reading by discussing how pictures help tell a story. Take a picture walk through the book, stopping at page 12, not revealing the ending. Have children predict how it might end. Then read the story together.
Use questions such as these to guide the reading:
• Why was Little Red Riding Hood going to Grandmother’s house?
• Who did she meet along the way?
• How do you think Little Red knew that the wolf was following her?
WORKSHEET & Sample PDF Activity
Sample PDF Activity
AFTER READING
Talk about this version of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Discuss how the pictures help tell the story. Ask children to describe what they think the pictures reveal about each character.
Response Activities
Where Do We Go From Here?
Materials: board, chalk
On the way to Grandmother’s house, Little Red Riding Hood made several stops. With children, list information in categories on the board: Where she stopped, Who she met, and What she was given.
To Grandmother’s House
Materials: art paper, crayons, small object to use as the figure
Have pairs of children draw maps of the path Little Red Riding Hood took to Grandmother’s house. When finished, tell one child to give directions while the other child moves a small figure along the path, following the directions he or she is given.
PHONICS FOCUS
Identifying Short i Sound
Read aloud the story title and ask children to identify the word that has the short i sound (Little). Display the Big Book and have children listen for the short i words as you read the story aloud (Little, visit, Big, licked, his, lips, dinner, still, this, did).
MINI LESSONS
• READING STRATEGY
Predicting Outcomes
Have children retell the outcome in this version of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Ask whether their before-reading prediction was the same or different as the actual outcome. Have them share clues that helped them think about what might happen. When did they know the wolf would become friendly? How might the ending be different if the food in the basket was not appealing to the wolf?
• LANGUAGE PATTERN
Demonstrating Use of Dialog
Point out the use of quotation marks in the story. Tell children that these marks tell when a character is talking. Also point to the words that indicate a character is about to speak or think: asked, said, thought, yelled. Assign character roles to children and have them read aloud parts of the story. Remind them to read with the expressions they think the characters used to say these lines.
