Jack and the Beanstalk Workbook + Giveaway

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My kinders and I are heading into our third week of distance learning. It's been a very busy and evolving time as a teacher because I'm having to anticipate what materials to provide and how. I haven't started any live classes yet, but have been providing a schedule and lessons with activities for parents or caregivers to use while at home. Distance learning has been difficult with such a young age group and I'm personally having to do this for the very first time in my career.

With that being said though, the hard work and stress has been worth it because I feel as though I am becoming more resilient as the weeks go on. I'm creating meaningful activities for my students and even though I can't be there with them their parents are sharing so much with me about what's working and what they'd like to see more of.

This coming week we're continuing our unit on Spring with seeds and plants and using the famous fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk! This is a great continuation of our unit and this story is a great way to introduce and practice key reading skills like sequencing, the genre of fairy tales, responding to reading, and comparing variations of the same story. It's even a great way to discuss point of view!

Here's a peek at what's included in this Jack and the Beanstalk ELA Workbook!

The OG

We are all familiar with the original fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk. It's the story of a young, poor boy who saves his livelihood by venturing up a beanstalk and steals golden items from an unfriendly giant looking to eat him. Of course when you step back and look it's a pretty grisly story, but it lends itself so much to a variety of reading skills and comprehension.

There are so many versions of this story (which also makes it a great choice as a mentor text), but I chose the one I readily had on-hand here at home.

Using Shadow Puppet for read alouds.

One app that a colleague of mine shared with me as we began having to teach from home is Seesaw's companion app, Shadow Puppet. It's been a wonderful resource to create my own, simple, read alouds for my students to listen to while at home. It's so easy to use: just snap pictures of each page then open the app and select those photos. You can choose background music (or not) and begin recording your voice as you read. Once you're finished you can share or upload it anywhere! I chose to share mine on YouTube with my students to make it accessible and easy. Feel free to grab the link to these read alouds or make your own!

Sequencing, Sequencing

our reading, even before schools closed, we've been working hard on sequencing. It's a great skill to learn because we sequence so many things in and outside of reading. In math we have ordinal numbers and positions, in science we know seasons are sequenced throughout the year, and so many other examples can be found if you look close enough. So, I love adding a few sequencing activities into my workbooks to keep this skill fresh and allow my students to practice in a variety of ways.

Story Sequencing

In our first story, an original retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, the plot develops in a predictable way. You don't need this specific book, but use one that follows the same events as the original fairy tale. I wanted to keep the sequencing simple since my students will be completing this at home. I chose 5 main events that are key to the original story and made this part a cut, sort, and paste activity.

Students simply cut out the picture cards, color them, then glue them in order from beginning, middle, and end. My students have been working on this since the beginning of our Spring theme, so it's an easy to follow activity that requires minimal assistance from parents at home.

Another great way to sneak in some sequencing is with a seed life cycle sort. My students completed a similar activity in their previous Seeds and Plants workbook from last week, so they should be already familiar with how to do this. What's more, is that this is a great way to connect their learning from science into language arts.

Point of View

 Point of view is a complex concept for my kinders to truly understand, but there's no harm in introducing the concept that characters have opinions about other characters. The story, Trust Me, Jack's Beanstalk Stinks by Eric Braun is a wonderful variation on the original story. It is a funny take of the events in Jack and the Beanstalk because it's from the perspective of the Giant!

For distance learning, I've uploaded my own read aloud of this story for my students to use during this part of their workbook. Feel free to use it for yourself or your own students! Although I can't be there in person to see my student's get a kick out his version of the story, it's a great read aloud nonetheless to discuss point of view in their reading.

Phonics Practice

Reading these stories have helped my students not only with their reading comprehension, but it's a great story to help with phonics, too! As we continue to learn the alphabet and their sounds, this unit introduces the soft sound of G. It sounds like /j/ like Jack, but words like /g/iant have a different sound! This is an optional activity and is dependent on your grade level. In kindergarten this week, I've planned for our letter of the week to be Jj (to align with our character, Jack) and the phonics practice to be the soft g sound (as seen with the character, Giant). It came together so well!

Comparing and Contrasting

Much like in our Winter unit with The Mitten, I love reading variations of the same story and having my students practice comparing the details in each. For Jack and the Beanstalk, students have details and events from the original story and the story as told by the Giant's perspective. We've worked with a Venn Diagram before, too, and it makes another appearance as they sort each event.

Creative Writing

I love giving my students the opportunity to work on their writing skills. I've placed a couple of creative writing prompts in this workbook to help kickstart those creative ideas for my students.

• What would you find at the top of the beanstalk?
• What would grow if you planted a jellybean?

These two prompts are inspired by the stories that are included in this unit and allows my students to write about anything they want. I love providing them that creative opportunity and freedom. In the first prompt, my students think about what they would find at the top of a beanstalk if they were Jack in the story. Would it be a castle like in the story or would it be something else? The second prompt not only aligns with our letter of the week (Jj), but also our science unit of plants. It gives them the chance to think creatively about what would grow if they planted a jellybean. I can't wait to see what they come up with!

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