What on earth could the Gruffalo look like??

Have you ever heard of a Gruffalo? Join us in a walk through the forest today in reading as we find out just exactly what this creature is and see what excitement awaits along the way.

   

    The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson is an entertaining story of an imaginative mouse that is traveling through the woods. On his travels the clever mouse devises a plan in an attempt to protect himself from a mouse, fox, and a snake. These are all predators that want to eat him. He tells each of the animals that he is going to meet a Gruffalo and each time he gives a detailed description of this creature that he has made up in his mind. He succeeds in frightening away the animals, but then he meets the animal of his imagination- A GRUFFALO! The mouse must now deal with the Gruffalo that also wants to eat him. The mouse tells the Gruffalo to walk behind him through the woods and see how all the other animals fear him. The Gruffalo is skeptical that other animals would be frightened of a mouse. He walks behind the mouse, and when the animals see the Gruffalo behind the mouse they run away with fright. The Gruffalo then believes that the mouse was telling the truth and ends up running away with fear himself.

    The author of this book uses rhyme and repetition. There is a large amount of description used throughout the book. The humor is this book is age appropriate and very entertaining. The introduction of the made up creature the Gruffalo really appeals to the imagination.

    This book would be great to use when teaching kids the strategy of visualizing. This could be done by showing the kids the cover of the book that has a sticky note over the illustration of the Gruffalo. Inform students that you have the Gruffalo covered up because you want them to visualize what they think he looks like after hearing all the descriptions of him that are made throughout the book. After talking about the cover and the book read it aloud to the students. Once the story has been read to the students have them go back to their desk. Give them a worksheet that instructs them to draw and color what they think the Gruffalo looks like. Once everyone is done, then show the students what the Gruffalo on the cover looks like. If there is appropriate time it would be a good idea to read the book again to students and point out all of the descriptions the author made and also show the illustrations. Once the students have seen the cover and pictures in the book ask anyone if they would like to share the illustration they made of the Gruffalo. This is a great way to have students visualize and is also fun for them. (Book cover with sticky note and worksheet examples below)