The humour in this book really appeals to me… and the children I have read it to in the past!
It is the story of the day toes decided they were worthy of having a name each… so here come the suggestions!
The story line is very easy to understand so I have read it with little ones (KS1) as well as bigger children (KS3) but if you choose the latter be aware it will not take very long to share it: it is short and your pupils will get it straight away!
I have used this book to introduce and/or reinforce the topics of letters, numbers, musical notes, colours and fruit. It could actually keep you busy for a term! Please note however that for each one of those only 5 items are mentioned (as there are 5 toes…) so it remains very basic in the story; you could however expand on any of those topics!
The pictures and cognates make it very easy to understand the storyline and there is a lot of repetition which makes it brilliant for getting pupils to join in.
You could also choose to use it to introduce “trop” in French and work on adjectives.
I also love how we have “proper” names in French for our fingers and you can have lots of fun practising those with your class!!
Ultimately the lesson in this book is all about compromise, a notion close to my heart and I think worth reminding our little (or big!) ones about.
Nadine Chadier from Accent Languages has come up with this extra brilliant idea:
“Here is the link to the writer of this story pour vous mettre l’eau à la bouche…I have made a ppt with the images provided by the author to share with my classes and I will ask them to come up with other names themselves and I will get the book if they have come up with ideas as a reward!” Merci Nadine!
Helen Lawlor, from LiPS, used this book for revision with her Y3 at the end of term and kindly agreed for me to share the attached document which she compiled. She also recommends this video and got the children to draw round their own feet before they named their toes, which I think is a super idea! Merci Helen!
All in all, whether you are looking for a short story as a treat or something to base a whole unit of work on, I strongly recommend this book: I can guarantee you and the children you read it to will love it!
The same author, Jean Leroy, has also written Papa poule, another great book!
I have written about other books illustrated (and sometimes also written) by Matthieu Maudet as I love his work!
Any comments? Please write them below! Merci!
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