Resources for Reception

Phonics
• Look at a page with lots of animals, such as the one where lion
shows off how strong he is. Make the sounds of some of the animals
and ask children to match those sounds to animals in the book:
lion (roar); mouse (squeak); bird (tweet); trumpet (elephant).

• Sing favourite animal-themed nursery rhymes and songs e.g. Hey

Diddle Diddle, Three Blind Mice, Hickory Dickory Dock, Pussy Cat
Pussy Cat, An Elephant Goes like This and That, The Animal Fair.

• Use instruments with the children to make LOUD and quiet sounds
to accompany different moments as you read the book. Then
think about different instruments you could use to represent each
animal e.g. a tiny bell for the mouse, a big drum for the lion, a horn
for the elephant, castanets for the impala trotting.

• Find and talk about the rhyming words in the story e.g. house/
mouse; rock/o’clock; tough/stuff; squeak/meek; all/small; toes/
nose; nice/mice. What other words can you think of that rhyme?

• Ask the children to imagine they are the little mouse. Ask the
children to listen to the action words you are going to sound out.
They must respond by doing the actions e.g. sit, hop, nod, nip, chat,
squeak, hush, nap.

Resources based on the The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Reception

comprehension
• Where do you think this story is set? What clues can you find in the
book? In the images, we can get information from the landscape
and the animals. The book sets the scene with phrases such as “dry
dusty place where the sand sparkled”. (It is the African savannah)

• Talk about how the little mouse’s feelings change throughout the
story e.g. frightened, sad, inquisitive, motivated, hopeful, worried,
scared, tired, awestruck, nervous, timid, happy, confident, loved.

• Do any of the children know the famous story of The Lion and the
Mouse, one of Aesop’s fables? (This would be a useful traditional
tale to read to the children alongside this book.) Do you think the
author got the idea of this animal duo from that story or is it a
coincidence?

• Explore the meaning of the carefully crafted sentence on page

22-23, where there’s a close up of lion’s face, “ A silence befell that
twinkling plain.”

Resources based on the The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Reception

VOCABULARY
• This book is full of rich wonderful words: craggy, meekest, toothsome,
impressed, slumbering, reclining. Find the words in the book. What
do they mean?

• The author Rachel Bright is playful with words. Sometimes she

creates new words to enhance the text. Explore and talk about
the following words in the story: tinyful, weeniest, a-fumble. What
do they mean? What words could you use instead?

• Have fun talking about collective nouns for the different animals
– some of them are extraordinary! e.g. a pride of lions, a herd of
elephants, a nest of mice, a flock of birds, a dazzle of zebras, a
crash of rhinoceroses, an implausibility of wildebeest etc.

Resources based on the The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Activity Sheet for Reception

1. Phonics: Initial letter sounds

Match the letters to the pictures.

Z
Illustrations © Jim Field, 2015

Resources based on the The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Activity Sheet for Reception

2. Comprehension: Sequencing events

Put the pictures in the correct order to retell the story.

Illustrations © Jim Field, 2015

Resources based on the The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Key Stage 1

Phonics
Phase 4: Reading words blending adjacent
consonants
• Make cards with the words: must, press, clever, jump, strong, gulp,
slumber, plain, fright. With each card:

• Sound out the word e.g. g-u-l-p

• Ask the children to repeat the sounds and blend them in

to the word: g-u-l-p gulp

• Show the children the card. Get the children to help you
put a dot under each sound/ phoneme.

• Ask the children to read the word.

• With the words with long vowel sounds: ask the children
to find the long vowel sound. Underline it. Dot under each
phoneme/sound.

Phase 5: Alternate spelling of the long /igh/

sound
• Write these words on cards: lion, inside, night, mice, life, nice, find,
climbed, reclining.

• Show the children the card. Ask the children to find the long /igh/
sound. Underline it. Ensure the children link this new grapheme with
the sound /igh/.

• Dot each phoneme/sound.

• Ask the children to read the word.

Resources based on the The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Key Stage 1

comprehension
The mouse realises: If you want things to change you first have to
change you!

• Ask the children to think out loud about finding the lion inside
themselves, so that they can then make a change – about
themselves or something wider. Take feedback.

• Model thinking out loud about finding the Lion Inside so that you
could make a change. I am a bit scared of the dark and I would
like to sleep without a night light. So, I am going to find the lion
inside and sleep with the door open and my night light off! Maybe
I can sleep without a night light and the door closed one day!

• Give the children the activity sheet and ask them to fill out the
thought bubble. Ask them to think about: What do they want to
do? What will they need to do it?

Resources based on the The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Key Stage 1

vocabulary
How do you speak?

• Tell the children that the lion and the mouse speak in different ways.

• Act out each of these words and then ask the children to act them
out: squeak, roar, eek, whimper, peeped, shout, gulp.

• Ask the children to think of other ways the lion and mouse could
speak. Take feedback.

• Say each word and ask the children to shout if it belongs to the
lion, the mouse or both of them!

Resources based on the The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Reception

Phonics
• Imagine you are one of the animals sitting and singing around
the campfire. What noises do you think you could hear? e.g.
fire crackling, guitar and digeridoo playing, dingos howling,
emus grunting, feet thumping, paws clapping, nocturnal insects
chirruping, rustling leaves etc. Use different instruments to try to
recreate the sounds.

• Sing the song “If you’re happy and you know it” but swap the
actions for animal sounds and movements e.g. fly like a bird, snap
like a crocodile, bounce like a kangaroo, run like an emu, wiggle
like a wombat, scratch like a dingo, swim like a fish etc.

• Find and talk about the rhyming words in the story e.g. free/tree;
meet/feet; sun/bun; pace/place; day/play; plant/can’t; late/
wait; blow/no; pinging/clinging; pass/class; paw/more; plan/can.

• The author uses a variety of alliterative phrases throughout the

book to assist with the rhythm and rhyme of the story e.g. “koala
called Kevin”; “these three things”; “Kevin was King”; “thanks for
the thought”. Create your own alliterative phrases with the children
e.g. “wombat worried and wished”; “crocodile crept cautiously”;
“dingo dug deeply”; “sun set slowly”; “koala clung cleverly”.

• Write simple words on the board found from the words and pictures
in the book e.g. sun, sit, nap, tap, big, hat, mug, wombat. Can the
children find these things in the book?

Resources based on the The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Reception

Comprehension
• Where do you think this story is set? What clues can you find in
the book? The words and pictures give us information about the
landscape and the animals. (It is the Australian outback.)

• Talk about how Kevin the koala’s feelings change throughout the
story e.g. tired, relaxed, hungry, reluctant, frightened, risk-averse,
wishful, worried, sad, scared, terrified, unconfident, relieved, joyous,
happy, confident, jubilant, ecstatic.

• How do the animals try to coax Kevin the koala down from the
tree at the beginning of the story? (Wombat asks him to come
down and play. The dingos try to reassure him that he has nothing
to fear.)

• How do the animals try to encourage Kevin the koala down after
the bird has tapped at it? (The crowd of animals gathered and
called “Un-cling!”. They asked him to leap and got some soft leaves
for him to try to catch him safely.)

• Now Kevin the koala has experienced how great it is to try

something new, do you think he will ever be frightened again?

Resources based on the The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Reception

Vocabulary
• Look at the page where the author emphasises how frightening
the ground down below seems to Kevin the koala: “too fast”,
“too loud”, “too big”, “too strange”. Try changing the words so the
meaning stays the same e.g. “too quick”, “too noisy”, “too large”,
“too peculiar”.

• Look at the phrase that describes Kevin the koala: “A nicer grey
fellow you never would meet”. Try to use this line as a template for
creating new phrases about the animals in the story e.g. wombat
(a friendlier furry creature you never would find); crocodile (a more
frightening green creature you never would meet); kangaroo (a
bouncier bold creature you never would see).

Resources based on the The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Activity Sheet for Reception

1. Phonics: Segmenting and blending

Match the words to the pictures. Use the book to help you.

nap

sun

tap tap

wombat
Illustrations © Jim Field, 2016

Resources based on the The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Activity Sheet for Reception

2. Comprehension
What do you think the characters are thinking?

Illustrations © Jim Field, 2016

Resources based on the The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Key Stage 1

Phonics
Phase 4: Time challenge
• Make these words into cards: went, it’s, from, just, help, this, with,
that, then, them, yes, will, an, as, it, in, am, at, dad, can, get, up, not,
mum, him, had, dog, on, back, but, big, if, off, and, for, how, now,
down, see, look, too.

• Put on a timer and see how many high frequency words the
children can read in one minute.

Phase 5: Soft or Hard G

• Make these words into cards: change, clung, grey, good, strange,
dingos, cling, go, gathered, young, great, giant, gem, bridge,
danger.

• Tell the children that the letter ‘g’ normally makes the /g/ sound
but sometimes it can make the /j/ sound.

• Say the words (do not show the cards) and ask children to say /g/
or /j/ after each word.

• Show the cards and ask the children to help you circle the ‘g’ in
the words where it makes the /j/ sound.

• Ask the children to read the words.

Resources based on the The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Key Stage 1

Comprehension
What is Kevin thinking?
• In this story Kevin seems happy up his tree but there are some clues
to show us that he might like to join the other animals. Look through
the book with the children to see if you can find them.

• Ask the children if they have ever really wanted to try something
new but been a bit scared? Have they ever stopped themselves
from doing something?

• Show the children the pictures of Kevin on the activity sheet. Ask
them to think about how he might be feeling at each part of the
story. Make a thought bubble for Kevin together.

• Ask the children to write their own thoughts for Kevin into the
thought bubbles on the activity sheet.

• You can use these pictures as ‘retelling cards’. Cut up the pictures.
Put the cards in the correct order. Place each card down and ask
the children to tell their partner what is happening in that part of
the story.

• Children can have fun matching the pictures to the pictures within
the book.

Resources based on the The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Activity Sheet for Key Stage 1

What is Kevin thinking?

Write what you think Kevin is thinking in the thought bubbles.

Illustrations © Jim Field, 2016

Resources based on the The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Key Stage 1

Vocabulary: Sound effect words

Tell the children that some words make sound effects.
Go through the book making sound effects for each page.

For example:
SNAP! for the crocodile; pitter patter for the rain; twit-ter-woo for an owl at
night; tap tappity tap tap tap for the woodpecker; whooooompf crash
wallop for the tree falling over.

Resources based on the The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Reception

Phonics
• Look at the different animals in the book. What noises do they
make? Make an animal noise and ask the children to guess which
animal it is. e.g. squeak (mouse); twitterwoo (owl); growl (bear);
squawk (bird); ribbet (frog).

• Sing the song “If you’re happy and you know it” but swap the
actions for animal sounds and movements e.g. hop like a rabbit;
scamper like a squirrel; fly like an owl; leap like a frog; gnaw like a
beaver; sleep like a bear.

• Talk about the book’s setting. Use instruments to help recreate

the environment e.g. bells for sunshine, castanets for nuts falling,
maracas for crunchy autumn leaves, drums for rocky boulders
crashing, xylophones for the waterfall.

• Find and talk about the rhyming words in the story e.g. been/
green; red/bed; needs/seeds; look/nook; reason/season; air/
bear; fast/last; win/in; fall/all; land/hand; jiggle/giggle; pair/share;
end/friend.

• Ask the children to imagine they are one of the squirrels from the
book. Tell the children you are going to use sound talk to sound
out some action words. They must listen carefully. When they have
worked out what the word is, they must respond by doing the
correct action e.g. sit, hop, nod, nip, chat, hush, run, nap.

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Reception

• Write simple words on the board or on cards using words and

pictures from the book. Can the children read these words? e.g.
had, red, bit, got, and, fed, that, nut, at, it, win, let, end, puff.

• For children working at Letters and Sounds Phase 3, this is a useful

book to focus on the phoneme /qu/. Can children spot /qu/ in
the book title “The Squirrels Who Squabbled”? Can they read the
following words?: quit, quid, quiz, quiff, quill, quick, queen

• Focus on the phoneme /ee/. Can children hear the phoneme

/ee/ in these words from the book as you say them: green, tree,
teetered, greed, sweeping. Write the following words on labels, ask
children to read the words and write on sound buttons to highlight
the graphemes and underline the digraph “ee”: been, need, seed,
deep, see.

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Reception

Comprehension
• Where do you think this story is set? What clues can you find in
the book? We can see the following clues: mountains, boulders
and rocks, lakes, spruce trees, indigenous animals, flowers and
plants. (The setting is the Canadian Rocky Mountains or American
Rockies.)

• What season is this story set in? What words and pictures can you
find to help you?

• It is the end of the summer and the beginning of autumn.

• Words that help us: “where summer had been”; “as autumn
edged in”; “through the frosting of winter that glittered
ahead”. Pictures that help us: colourful leaves on the trees
and the ground, hibernating bear, mushrooms, toadstools,
acorns, blackberries, conkers.

• Talk about how the squirrels feel at different points in the story e.g.
happy, content, worried, sad, hungry, excited, overwhelmed, busy,
panicked, competitive, frightened, anxious, angry, argumentative,
scared, terrified, desperate, exhausted, brave, determined,
hysterical, satisfied, friendly, liked, loved. Use the activity sheet for
the children to write what they think the squirrels are saying to
each other as they realise how foolish they have been. Let the
children write or draw their ideas.

• Look at the last page of the story. Now the squirrels have learned
how important and nice it feels to share, do you think they will ever
be selfish or greedy again?

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Reception

vocabulary
• The author uses alliteration in the book title “The Squirrels Who
Squabbled”. What does squabble mean? Can you think of other
words that mean squabble? Change the animals and create
your own new alliterative book titles with your new words. e.g. The
Squid Who Squabbled; The Aardvarks Who Argued; The Bears
Who Battled; The Foxes Who Fell Out; The Flamingos Who Fought;
The Rabbits Who Rowed; The Bats Who Bickered; The Dingos Who
Disagreed.

• Ask children to look at the pages where the pine-cone is being

chased by the squirrels at “the start of a wild nutty race…”. Talk
about the author’s use of language to describe how the squirrels
are speaking: “shouted Cyril”; “hollered Bruce”; “cried Cyril”. Why
does the author choose to use to these words when she could
write ‘said’? What other words could we use? e.g. called, yelled,
screamed, bellowed, screeched, shrieked, howled, called, roared.

• Talk about all the animals and foods around the table on the
penultimate pages of the story. Can you identify them? Animals:
squirrel, hedgehog, owl, mouse, frog, crow, racoon, beaver, heron,
northern cardinal bird, skunk, rabbit, weasel. Animals’ Food:
blackberries, jelly, cherry pie, honey, chestnuts (or conkers?), pine-
nuts, mushrooms, acorns and oak leaves, pie, nettles.

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Activity Sheet for Reception

Cross-curricular link
Expressive Arts and Design: Explore and play with a wide range of
media and materials

• Look at the different shapes of leaves in the book. Go on a nature

walk and find big leaves. Trace around the leaves or cover them in
paint and make leaf prints on paper.

• Look at all the colourful trees in the picture of the squirrels on their
raft as the bird flies away with their pine-cone. Try to recreate the
colourful leaves by drawing the shapes of trees using a white
crayon on black paper. Have different coloured paints on plates/
trays and encourage children to use sponges to re-create the
scene. Alternatively, encourage children to do one large tree each
and use this page as the template for a large classroom display.

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Activity Sheet for Reception

1. Phonics: Segmenting and blending

Match the words to the pictures. Use the book to help you.

run

box

rock

nut

fish
Illustrations © Jim Field, 2017

puff

moon

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Reception

2. Comprehension
What are the squirrels saying to one another? Use the book to help you.

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Key Stage 1

Phonics
Phase 4: Long or short vowel sound?
• Say the words: frost, short, fresh, teeter, sweep, drift.

• Ask the children to listen carefully and decide if the word has a
long or short vowel sound.

• After you have said each word ask the children to call out long or
short!

Phase 5: Reading multi-syllabic words

• Write these words on cards: squirrel, flighty, adventure, hungry,
shouted, exclaimed – do not show the words to the children yet.

• Ask the children to say the words with their hand under their chins.
Each time their jaw lowers it is the end of a syllable. Ask the children
to work out how many syllables in each word. Take feedback.

• Use this method to work out where each syllable ends and mark
each syllable on the cards with a line e.g. ad/ven/ture.

• Mark the sound buttons and underline the digraphs where

appropriate.

• Read each syllable in order and then blend the whole word.
Repeat for all the words.

• Ensure the children understand the meaning of each word.

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Key Stage 1

comprehension
• After you have read the book, ask the children to tell their partner
why they think the two squirrels were chasing the pine-cone. Take
feedback and establish that the two squirrels had different reasons
to want the pine-cone.

• Show the children the sequencing activity sheet. Ask the children
to look at the pictures and see if they can remember the order of
the events. Use the picture book and guide the children to get the
correct order.

• Ask the children to cut up the pictures and put them into the
correct order.

• Ask the children what happens next. Take feedback and ask the
children to draw the next picture in the story.

• You can use the pictures as ‘retelling cards’. Put the cards in the
correct order. Place each card down and ask the children to tell
their partner what is happening in that part of the story.

• Children can have fun matching the pictures to the pictures within
the book.

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Activity Sheet for Key Stage 1

1. sequencing
Cut up the pictures and put them in order. Draw what happens next
in the thought bubble.

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field
 Resources for Key Stage 1

Vocabulary
Feeling cross to feeling happy
The two squirrels really want to get the last pine-cone! They get really
cross with each other! Later on, they realise how silly they have been
and together they are happy.

• Read these words and phrases to the children. Model what

the words mean by acting them out using gesture and facial
expressions to show the feeling: squeal with delight, shaking with
rage, laughing, squabbling, giggling, in despair, in dismay, fighting
each other.

• Help the children order the words and phrases from full of delight
to cross as can be.

Resources based on the The Squirrels Who Squabbled by Rachel Bright and Jim Field