What the Ladybird Heard

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Draw a map of the farm on the coordinate grid (see Resources below) and use the coordinates / compass directions to show somebody how to move from one place to another.

Why not have a red lunch – what foods can the children think of which are red in colour? They may want to have strawberries, watermelon, jelly or even a jam sandwich! It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Read the story of ‘What the Ladybird Heard’ by Julia Donaldson – or listen to it being read here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu9mPX7DuLA For P1 (and older siblings) - Learn how to draw a ladybird with illustrator, Lydia Monks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpleGh5-6zU There are follow on videos from which the children can learn to draw all the characters in the book. For P1 (and older children) – the children might want to design a red lunch menu and invite their family to their red lunch!P1 children (and older siblings) might be interested to hear the story being told by Julia Donaldson. Julia explains how she came to write this story and some of her other songs and books. There is even a guest appearance by one of her favourite characters - https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/authors-live-on-demand/julia-donaldson Have fun with this interactive ladybird counting game - https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/ladybird-spots

Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. Build a Bug Hotel and see who comes to visit. You can keep a guest log and see if the visitors change, over the different seasons - https://www.yocom/watch?v=OexxoXo9uFk Look at the illustrations of the farm in the book. Look at the different textures used on the tree / grass / buildings. Can you try to recreate these textures using different art materials?

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

Think about what stealing means and why it is wrong. How would you feel if someone stole from you? What happens to people who steal things from others? Identify the rhyming words used throughout the book. Can you make your own rhyming dictionary, adding other rhyming words for the ones found? The thieves ‘crept’ into the farm. Think of synonyms which describe how people can move. Can you demonstrate each one (e.g. sprint, crawled, paced).

Ladybird writing sheets - we often use sheets like these in class to help encourage children to have a go at writing. Your child could use these sheets to have a go at writing a few words linked to the story (animal names for example) or to write a sentence about something that happened in the book.We have another wonderful set to share with you today, this time we are sharingPrintable What the Ladybird Heard activities. Try to find where different farms are in your local area. What crops do they grow? What animals do they look after? All the Gruffalo fans have many more things to be super excited about as Discover Children’s story centre has an Axel SchefflerandJulia Donaldsonexhibition that brings12 of their enchanting picture books bursting to life (Gruffalo included). Think about the different sounds that animals make. How do we write these (e.g. miaow, purr)? Can you think of any other examples of onomatopoeia? Are there any other examples in the story? Create a simple model of the farm and use some programmable robots (e.g. roamer, remote control vehicles) to move around it. Could you decorate the roamer so that it looks like the ladybird?