The Three Billy Goats Gruff

• Review this lesson plan and choose what you need from the Teacher Support box.

• If necessary, pre-teach these related vocabulary words: sequence, order, events, troll, river, bridge.

• Consider the abilities and backgrounds of all your students and decide when and how to introduce and differentiate lesson content, activities, or concepts.

• If the background cards are missing or broken, you can download them from the Additional Resources section of the Teacher Support box.

• Before class, build three scenes from The Three Billy Goats Gruff and put them aside until it is time to tell the story (see the activity card below for suggested scenes; you may substitute a different story that is more relevant to your class).

• Tell the students they are going to listen to a famous story called The Three Billy Goats Gruff, which has talking goats and a troll as characters.

• As you tell the story, use the three scenes you built earlier to illustrate the story.

• After telling the story, discuss it and ask the students to recall what happened.

• Remove the bricks from the scenes you built before class.

• Give each student a stand and assign him or her one part of the story so that one student builds the beginning, one student builds the middle, and one student builds the end.

• Activity tip: If the students have difficulty recalling the story, reread or retell the part they are trying to build. They may also look at a picture book version of the story or the model photos associated with this lesson for ideas.

• When the students have finished building, retell the story as a group with each student telling the part of the story that he or she has built.

• Consider asking questions like:

  • What happened in your part of the story?
  • Which characters were involved?

• Discuss the importance of a sequence of events, or the order in which things happen in a story. Talk about the importance of the sequence of events in The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Encourage the students to talk about why the order of events matters in this story.

• Consider asking questions like:

  • Why is it important to tell the story in the correct order?
  • What would happen if we told the story in a different order?

• Tell the students that fantasy stories can be funny if they are told in a different order.

• As a group, reorder the models depicting the scenes of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Then try telling a new version of the story that fits with the new order. Students may need to adapt their scenes or even add entirely new events.

• Ask guiding questions to elicit students’ thinking and their decisions while ideating.

Observation Checklist

• Review the learning objectives and educational standards addressed in this lesson (Teacher Support box). 

• Share specific student responses and behaviors at different levels of mastery.

• Use the following checklist to observe students’ progress:

  • Students are able to retell and reenact events, including key details, from stories, songs, or rhymes.
  • Students are able to understand the fundamental narrative structure and elements.