Billy Goats Gruff

I have been studying the story, "Three Billy Goat's Gruff" with the Kindergartners this week. I have been using it as a tool to get the kids to put themselves into a story and try to feel what the characters are feeling to help them become better readers and listeners. Kids have all felt fear before and can really relate to the billy goats and their fear of the troll. We also talk about the troll and why he is so angry with the billy goats. After all, the bridge is his home and the billy goats hooves do make a lot of noise. One of the kids compared it to when her upstairs neighbors were jumping around. I asked her if she told them she was going to gobble them up. She said, "yes" and of course the whole class bust out laughing.

We talk about how the big billy goat is kinda like a bully too because he is bigger than the troll. I tell them that I am proud of the big billy goat for standing up to the troll, but that I wish he would have talked to the troll first and tried to get him to leave the younger goats alone. The troll could have talked to the goats and asked them to walk quietly across their bridge.

The goats trick the troll by telling him, "Don't eat me, I'm too little. Wait for my brother, he's much bigger." I tell the kids, "It's like if someone offered you a french fry, you would take it--unless they told you to wait a minute and you could have a hamburger--or wait even more and get a pizza!"

The kids get to act out the story after we discuss it and they have a blast. When I am casting the play, I always say that I need the ugliest, stinkiest, meanest person to play the troll. The kids put on their ugliest faces and raise their hands like crazy! It kills me, they look so crazy! We act out the play several times so that they all get a turn.

Next week we talk about the big bad wolf. Why can't they all just get along?!