I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson - Teaching Ideas

This old lady is one hungry woman, but unfortunately her eating is expanding her waistline! After eating everything from the pie to the turkey to the pot, she is so big that she ends up in the parade, as a big balloon floating overhead. In typical fashion Alison Jackson writes this story in rhyme giving the reader a fun repetitive story that ends in such an unexpected way.

Listed below are some of the reading skills and strategies that you could use to enhance your read aloud.

I have also created a rhyming game to use with this book, using the rhyming words straight from the book. This would be a great center activity!

Reading level: 1.9

Theme: Thanksgiving

Genre: humorous fiction

Suggested Vocabulary: looking quite pallid, murky

Reading skills and strategies:

• author's point of view – 3^rd person point of view. Be sure to find 3 pieces of evidence to support this.
• author's purpose – entertain {evidence} The old lady swallowed a whole turkey. The old lady kept getting fatter. The story is written in rhyme.
• cause and effect – Why did the old lady swallow some cider? because the pie was too dry. Why did the old lady say “I’m full”? because she swallowed everything and got very fat.
• character analysis - describe the old lady {looks like, feelings, thoughts, character}
• predict – What do you think will happen to the old lady at the end of the story?
• sequencing – The old lady swallowed a pie. She swallowed some cider. The old lady swallowed a roll. She then swallowed a squash. The old lady swallowed a salad and then she swallowed a turkey. After the turkey the old lady swallowed a pot. The old lady then swallowed a 10 layer cake. The old lady was finally full.
• story elements - list title, author, character's, setting, beginning, middle, end, or problem & solution. 
• strong thought – Why is she swallowing everything?

Happy Thanksgiving!