What the Ladybird Heard - Resources for Teachers

What the Ladybird Heard can be a fantastic starting point for your pupils to direct their own learning. You may want to start using the book very simply by reading it together with your class, taking time to look at the cover, the illustrations, the end papers and the words, before discussing with your pupils what they would like to find out about from the book.

Videos

Julia Donaldson reading What the Ladybird Heard

Click here to see the short video of Julia Donaldson reading What the Ladybird Heard. The extended video of this event is also available below.

Author's Live event (from May 2010)

You can watch the whole of Julia Donaldson’s fantastic Author's Live event in which she acts out this book and others. Click here to watch the podcast.

There are also a number of teacher resources to accompany this video. Click here to download the teacher resources from Author's Live.

Activities

Our Early Years Trainer Tracy Lowe has come up with a range of What the Ladybird Heard activities for you to try with your P1 class.

You will find these suggested activities printed in every book given out to Scottish P1 pupils this year. Click here to view the contents of the page and download in PDF or see below for the text versions.

I-hear

Listen closely to the story. What does the ladybird hear? There is a ladybird hiding on each page of the book. See if you can find it and hear what the ladybird heard. Play your own game where you listen to sounds around you. Say the phrase ‘I hear, with my little ears something that …’ Can you describe what you hear?

Map

You could make a map of your house, garden, trip to school or even a local park. You could even hide a ladybird and make a map for someone to follow to find it. Will you trick them like the animals tricked Hugh and Len?

What’s your name?

Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len both have names that describe them – and start with the first letter of their name which is called alliteration. Play with alliteration and see what words you can find to describe you and your friends.

Your comments

Let us know if you enjoyed using these ideas by adding a comment below. What worked well with your P1 class?

What the Ladybird Heard has lots of possibilities for follow-up activities, so we would love to hear about your own ideas. What worked well in your classroom?

You might want to create a What the Ladybird Heard Glow group on your local authority Glow site – you could share photographs, video clips, sound clips and further stimuli for activities.

Click here to return to the main What the Ladybird Heard page.