Cluck-cluck! What luck! Today I have the privilege of giving you a sneak preview of Tammi Sauer’s latest punny picture book, A Little Chicken, which will show up on shelves on March 12! (Thanks for the opportunity, Tammi!)
First things first…
I love Tammi’s work. (Check it out here!) Her stories are so clever and her quirky characters always make me smile. If you know me and my husband, you know that the pun never stops in our house, and so Tammi’s stories are more than welcome here! A Little Chicken is no exception. In this latest story, Dot, a little chicken who is a little chicken (by which, I mean, she’s afraid!), goes on a hero’s quest and overcomes her fears of wolves, bears, and lawn ornaments to save her soon-to-hatch sibling.
In addition to the puns and great opportunities for exploring idioms with your students (see below!), you’ll love how illustrator Dan Taylor has captured this cute, clucky character.
Young children will enjoy watching Dot face her fears, and A Little Chicken can provide a great springboard for conversations about our own fears and how we deal with them.
You won’t find A Little Chicken on local bookshelves quite yet, but you can pre-order it from Amazon or Indiebound!
Use it in the classroom…
L.3.5.A, L.4.5.B, L.5.5.B
- Explore Idioms + Practice Making Predictions: If you teach third, fourth, or fifth grade (or if your middle schoolers and high schoolers claim they’ve never learned a thing about idioms…), you’ll want to pick up this book.
- Step 1: Hold up the book and read the title. Ask: What do you notice about the character’s expression? How do you think she feels? Based on the cover, what do you think the character in this book will be like?
- Step 2: Open to the Title Page. Have students make predictions.Ask: What do you think might happen in this story?
- Step 3: Read the first page: “Dot was a little chicken…who, let’s face it, was a little chicken.” Ask: If I said someone was “a little chicken,” what do you think I might mean? What might I be saying about that person?
- Step 4: Read the next page: “Dot was scared of lots of things…” Ask: Based on what we just read, was your guess correct? What can the phrase “a little chicken” mean?
- Step 5: Read the story! When you finish, go back to the predictions students made at the beginning. Ask: Were your predictions right? What happened that you expected? What happened that you didn’t expect?
- Step 6: Ask: Why did the author describe Dot as “a little chicken”? Why is it funny that she used this description for Dot? (Dot is an ACTUAL chicken, but she is also afraid of a lot of things. People often use the expression “a little chicken” to describe someone who is afraid of something.)
- Step 7: Explain that phrases like “a little chicken” are called idioms. Tell students that idioms are phrases that don’t mean exactly what the words say. Ask students if they know any other idioms. (Provide additional examples with their meanings to get them thinking. She spilled the beans. It’s raining cats and dogs.)
- Step 8: Take this as far as you want! Have students explore other idioms using the Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms or online (The Idioms). Tell them to write a story using an idiom of their choice as their starting point.
- Have some pun…I won’t pun-ish you with too many of my pun-ny jokes, but I will tell you that puns = fun! Tammi has thrown a few bonus puns into A Little Chicken, so have your kids look for them and explain why they are “punny”! Then swap your best puns. Or, better yet, hang up a bunch of Tearable Puns and watch your kids go wild (*Note: Check for content before posting! They have some new ones up that I haven’t fully perused.). When I taught high school, I hung these outside my door, and my students just gobbled them up (Not literally…that’s an idiom, you know!). And, for even more puns, check out Tammi’s other picture books!
- Talk about (and write about!) fears and how to deal with them: Host a small group or class discussion about fear. Ask questions like: What is something that you are afraid of? What are some things Dot was afraid of? Did Dot have a real reason to be afraid of the things she feared? What do you do when you’re afraid? What helps you to not be afraid? What are some things you could do when you feel afraid? Then, have students write letters to share advice about dealing with fears with Dot or themselves.
- Depending on your school and its policies, you may or may not want to broach this next subject, but this could be a great opportunity to talk about “true hope” and “false hope,” especially with your upper-elementary students! For example, if my solution for not being afraid of getting hurt is believing that I’m too strong to get hurt, that isn’t a “true hope.” There are things that are bigger than me that could hurt me, and I can’t always control what happens around me. But, if I know that God is stronger than anyone or anything else and that he loves me and cares about me, I can use that truth to challenge my fears about getting hurt. I might still get hurt, but I can trust that God will take care of me and that even if I am hurt that he is with me and the hurt is only temporary.
Use it at home…
- Share your fears with each other. Encourage each other. Pray for each other. Everybody has fears, and sometimes just sharing them can help us to not feel so afraid.
- Raid your local library… And check out as many of Tammi’s books as you can! Really…you won’t be disappointed!
Before you head out, check out more of Tammi’s work here: https://www.tammisauer.com/
Then, find her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SauerTammi
Finally, go pre-order your own copy of A Little Chicken or make yourself a note to go pick it up when it hits the stores on March 12.
Your turn! How would you use “A Little Chicken” in the classroom or at home? What are some of your favorite idioms?
P.S. Celebrate life!