F: Ferdinand

Welcome! The following is the 6th in a series of 24 lesson plans, Learning the ABC’s through Literature, the 1st year. It was written especially for classroom use within a homeschool co-op, and was designed to teach the alphabet, over the course of a school year, using classic childrens literature. The books are primarily taken from the Five in a Row Curriculum by Jane Lambert, with several others added as well. The plans were designed to give just a little bit more, so it could be more usable within a classroom setting. Teachers questions, printables, craft ideas, classroom handouts, etc are included within all the lessons. This is geared towards a K-1st grade class. If you are interested in something similar for older children, the Learning through Literature series is a more developed concept of this same idea, geared towards 1st-3rd, and also uses mostly Five in a Row books. You can find it here, Learning through Literature, the 2nd year.

F: Ferdinand

What do I need:

The Story of Ferdinand.
Craft Materials for
Flowers (Sliced Construction Paper for Flowers (circles and strips)
Cardstock
for Flower Background
Markers
Glue Sticks
Kids Scissors
Cork Tree Template (printable version here)
Ferdinand Sitting
Cut-out
Letter F Handwriting Sheet (printable version here)
Cork Samples
World Map with Spain clearly visible

Review

If your following along with us from A-Z, take a moment to review the books we’ve done so far. A simple … What have we read so far? A is for Apple Pie, B is for Blueberries … etc. As we’ve mentioned before, while this may seem monotonous, the kids usually love the challenge of having to remember back, plus this enforces the letter sounds and the understanding of alphabetical order.

…Today, F is for Ferdinand.

Introduce the Book

Ferdinand was a Bull who lived in Spain a long time ago.

Find Spain on the Map. Discuss culture/history of bull
fighting. (A long time ago, before there were movies or TV shows or video games … in Spain … when people wanted to be entertained, they would go watch bulls fight. This may not be the best thing to do for entertainment, but that’s what they did. But our character today doesn’t like to fight. He’s a gentle bull … and that creates a little bit of a problem.) If you have time, take a moment to talk about these guys and what they do (they are all mentioned in the book)

Banderilleros – the ones who trust the darts into the bulls shoulders to make him mad
Picadores – a horse rider who jabs the bull with a lance
Matador – the human who fights the bull, the “main guy” in the bull fight.

Read the Story of Ferdinand

This book is filled with PLENTY of works that begin with F. During a quick read through, I found:

Ferdinand, flowers, favorite, fight, funny, fastest, fierce, five, flags, flying, festive

Because there are so many great words, its a great opportunity to have the class listen for the “F” sound, and raise their hand or flap like a bumble bee, or something else when they hear one of these words. The first time I did this, I asked them to pretend they were getting stung by a bee when the heard the “f” sound. Bad idea. We had shrieking and yelling and bouncing off seats. Hmm.. yeah, I hadn’t thought that one through. But flapping like a bee, or something else you come up with is a great way to emphasize the letter F.

Craft Options

Option #1

Have you heard about Cork Oak Trees? This is the tree that Ferdinand sits under, and seriously … these are neat trees to discuss. Plus, everyone loves cork. You can poke it, squish it, float it… it’s just fun. So take a moment to discuss some of the neatest things about this real cork tree that grows in Spain. (can live for hundreds of years. Unique tree where the bark grows back. Bark is very unique. Can float, can be squished, doesn’t absorb sound or water, resists flames, etc. Bark is harvested every (-12 years. Starting at age 25, and so much more … see the printable below.)For our first craft (in our class we only had time for this one, but in case you have more time than us, I planned for a second as well), we took this simple template, below, and covered it with pieces of cork and construction paper leaves. You can purchase a piece of cork at any craft or hobby store, but most of us have something cork around our houses. An old tack board, some wine bottle tops, a worn out shoe sole… I got all the cork I needed from one round kitchen trivet. Just cut it or break it into small pieces.

Click here for printable version

I also cut out a handful of green leaves for them to add onto the tree. You don’t need a template for those, just grab some green construction paper, fold it in half a few times to speed up the process, and cut some leaves in this general shape. The kids glued the leaves and the pieces of cork down, and had a fun project to bring home and some cool things about a cork tree to tell their parents (also listed on the template)

Option #2

Sorry guys – I had a better looking copy, but it took me so long to upload these, that most of them got smushed or lost. Anyway … the thought is to create “Ferdinand sitting among the flowers”, the thing he loves to do most.There are so many ways to make flowers. These were created only from strips and circles of construction paper and glue. There are soo soo soo many ways you could do this. Flower stickers, flowers cut out from magazines, flowers cut out from garden center flyers, flat paper flowers traced and cut… and the list goes on. So, find your favorite way to encourage the kiddos to create a field of flowers, then, insert Ferdinand, from the template below.