Questions to ask your children about the story;

Pages 1-2

Discuss rhyming, the different animals, can you see the ladybird? Why is the cow wearing a rosette?

Pages 3-4

Animal noises- who says what? Why do you think the text isn’t in a straight line and why are the sounds in capital letters?

Pages 5-6

Why do all of the animals seem much bigger? Why are they all staring at the ladybird?  What do you think they might be thinking about?

Pages 7-8

What time of day is it and how can you tell?  Who’s in the van and what do they have in front of them?  You may wish to discuss nocturnal animals.

Pages 9-10

Discuss the map and the directions. Which animal is asleep on the map and how can you tell?  What are the brown marks?  Where’s the ladybird and what do you think he might be doing? Why is there a big red cross above the cow?

Pages 11-12

What do you think the ladybird is doing? What are the lines around its head for?  What do you think the other animals are thinking? Why is the phrase “being careful not to wake the dog” in brackets?

Pages 13-14

Why are the animals all “talking” on this page? Again, you can discuss animal noises and who says what. Who else is in the picture? Which other animals can you spot?

Pages 15-16

What does the dotty, sparkly red line represent?  What do you notice about the animals?

Pages 17-18

What’s happening in these pictures? What has Hefty Hugh stood in on page 18? Who’s keeping watch on page 17? Where’s the ladybird? What are Lanky Len and Hefty Hugh holding?

Pages 19-20

Discuss what’s happening- how are the animals managing to trick the two men?  Where’s the ladybird? What’s Lanky Len stood in?

Pages 21-22

Oh no! What’s happened? What’s the ladybird doing? Look at the fish- how do you think they are feeling? What’s Lanky Len got on his head on page 22? How is the farmer feeling and how can you tell? How are Lanky Len and Hefty Hugh feeling and how can you tell?

Pages 23-24

What’s everyone doing? Are they happy or sad?

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Identify the rhyming words used throughout the book. Can you make your own rhyming dictionary, adding other rhyming words for the ones found?
• Look at the adjectives that are used to describe each animal. How many other adjectives can you think of to describe them? Use the animal posters (see Resources below) and write adjectives on them.
• Think about the different sounds that animals make. How do we write these (e.g. miaow, purr)? Can you think of any other examples of onomatopoeia? Are there any other examples in the story?
• Think of some speech bubbles to show what the ladybird might be thinking at each point in the story.
• Look at the vocabulary used to describe how the thieves are planning to steal the cow. What other direction words can you think of?
• The ladybird whispered into each animal's ear. Think of other words that describe how we can communicate with others (e.g. shouted, screamed, hissed, chattered).
• Write a character profile about Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len? what kind of people are they? Where do they live?
• The thieves 'crept' into the farm. Think of synonyms which describe how people can move. Can you demonstrate each one (e.g. sprint, crawled, paced).
• Create a 'Wanted Poster' to tell people about the criminals and their crimes.
• Look at the pictures of the farm at the start and end of the book. Can you describe how they are different?
• Watch this reading of the book by the author. Can you join in with the actions and sounds?

Phonics 

Below are videos of this weeks sounds. Watch one sound a day, then have a look around your house and try to find things that have that sound in when you sound them out. See if you can write some words for each sound, like we do at school. (Don't forget you can play lots of the games that you can see in the section dated 30.3.20). Have Fun!