The+Tortoise+and+the+Hare



1. **Author/Illustrator** – Author and Illustrator: Janet Stevens

2. **Title and date of publication** –__The Tortoise and the Hare__ Published: 1984

3. **Genre** – Traditional Literature

4. **Format** – Picture Book

5. **Award** – No awards listed

6. **Summary of book** – __The Tortoise and the Hare__ is about a hare who brags about everything and a humble tortoise. The Hare challenges the tortoise to a race. The tortoise agrees. During the race, the Hare acts as though Tortoise has no chance of winning and so he does not put forth his best effort. In the end, the Tortoise who stayed a steady course wins the race.

7. **Strategies to use with the book** – I would call the children to circle/story by having them hop like a rabbit or poke like a turtle. Once the children were in their seats, I would introduce our story. Because of the long length of this book, I would not actually read it. We would sing the book to hold interest. To the tune of the Farmer in the Dell, we would sing: “The hare is a pest, the hare is a pest, Hi Ho the Derry-O, the hare is a pest. The hare wants to race, the hare wants race, Hi Ho the Derry-O, the hare wants to race. The tortoise says no, the tortoise says no, Hi Ho the Derry-O, the tortoise says no. His friends say yes, his friends say yes, Hi Ho the Derry-O, his friends say yes. The hare runs real fast, the hare runs real fast, Hi Ho the Derry-O, the hare runs real fast. The tortoise jogs real slow, the tortoise jogs real slow, Hi Ho the Derry-O, the tortoise jogs real slow. The hare stops a lot, the hare stops a lot, Hi Ho the Derry-O, the hare stops a lot. The tortoise doesn’t stop, the tortoise doesn’t stop, Hi Ho the Derry-O, the tortoise doesn’t stop. The tortoise wins the race, the tortoise wins the race, Hi Ho the Derry-O, the tortoise wins the race.”

Once we sing the song, we will match some pre-selected picture vocabulary words on the felt board (If I had a smartboard like the rest of my school, we would use that, but I do not.) In order to do our vocabulary, we sing the “Surprise Bag” song and each child pulls out a vocabulary word. They then run it through the smart talk device, it reads the word to them and then they match it to the same picture on the felt board.

I would have a “Mystery Box” with a stuffed rabbit or a turtle in it. We would then chant: “There’s something hiding in the box, in the box. (then I would knock twice on the tin box.) There’s something hiding in the box, in the box. (Knock Knock) I will take a peek inside…There’s something hiding in the box, in the box. (knock, knock)

Then the children guess what is in the box. They can ask for clues if they need them. Once the children guess what is in the box, we pull it out and cheer for the child who guessed it.

After the mystery box is finished, we will move to centers where the activities take on the theme of __The Tortoise and the Hare__.