The Gruffalo is full of rhythmic, predictable text! As you read, you'll want to make predictions about what will happen next. What do you think will happen when the Mouse meets the Gruffalo? Will the Mouse's plan work, or will he be in trouble?

By using clues from the story, students can make predictions about how the Mouse will outsmart the Gruffalo and what might happen to the other animals in the forest. Making predictions helps you think ahead and become more engaged in the story as you follow along.

After reading The Gruffalo, it's important to retell what happened and think about the main events. The Mouse has a big adventure in the forest, meeting scary animals and using his clever words to stay safe. But when he meets the Gruffalo, the Mouse has to use all his wit to scare him away!

Retelling the story helps students practice understanding the key events, and summarizing the story helps you remember the important parts. Try to tell the story in your own words, starting with the Mouse's journey through the forest and ending with the big surprise!

As you read The Gruffalo, you will notice how the Mouse's story keeps changing. At first, the Mouse makes up the Gruffalo to scare off the animals in the forest. But as the story goes on, you begin to see that the Mouse is actually very smart and brave, and his plan works! By the end of the story, we learn that sometimes things aren't as scary as they seem, and being clever can help you handle big problems. Students will practice synthesizing by thinking about how the story changes and what we learn from the Mouse's adventure in the forest.

This word work lesson plan and set of teaching resources use The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson as a springboard for instruction focused on rhymes.

By anchoring word study to the text, students will benefit from seeing how long "o" rhyming sounds are used inside of the text before engaging in both guided and independent practice with rhymes.

This set of vocabulary development resources for The Gruffalo highlights the words that are most important for students to know and understand while reading the book. Through engaging in fun word games, matching words to definitions and pictures, and practicing how to categorize words, students will develop the vocabulary necessary to comprehend this story and many others.

Read The Gruffalo then have some fun matching cause and effect sentences from the book. By using these cause and effect cards, students will demonstrate both their comprehension of the text and their understanding of cause and effect relationships in a hands-on and interactive way.

This resource includes matching/sorting cards and a sorting mat for four cause and effect sentences in The Gruffalo. Each cause card is marked with a square and each effect card is marked with a circle, making it easy to support students who struggle with matching cause and effect relationships.

Understanding cause and effect is a key comprehension and language skill. The text structure of The Gruffalo includes several examples of cause and effect relationships, making it easy to use as a springboard for modeling or independent practice.

This simple resource includes four sentence stems. Each sentence stem presents an effect. Students will use what they know about the book to fill in the cause of the effect.

This imaginative activity encourages students to stretch their descriptive writing and artistic skills as they design their very own Gruffalo-inspired character. After drawing a brand new Gruffalo students will brainstorm unique physical traits, habitats, and special abilities for their new creature.

Whether your students work independently or in small groups, they'll love bringing their one-of-a-kind Gruffalos to life!