LEVELS 30–44 N–S
“Fractured” Fable
The Ant and
Grasshopper Show
Teacher’s Guide
Objectives
Summary
Fluency
During the summer, Ant works hard to store
food away for the winter while Grasshopper
eats grass and sings songs for the other animals.
Ant warns Grasshopper to prepare for winter,
but to no avail: Grasshopper prefers having
fun and thinks that Ant should learn to take it
easy. When winter comes, hungry Grasshopper
asks Ant for food, but Ant refuses. To survive
the winter, Grasshopper takes a job as a singer
in the circus. In the spring, he returns to the
meadow. Ant and Grasshopper share what
lessons they have learned from each other. They
team up, make music, and work together as The
Grasshopper Band.
Students will:
• Build fluency through echo-reading,
choral-reading, and repeated reading
• Read with appropriate stress or
emphasis
• Read question marks
Comprehension
Students will:
• Analyze character
• Compare and contrast
• Evaluate author’s purpose and
point of view
• Identify cause and effect
• Make inferences
• Make judgments
Genre
Students will:
• Identify and analyze features of
fractured fables
Vocabulary and Word Study
Students will:
• Build vocabulary: glorious, luscious,
mournful
• Identify and use adjectives
• Sort words
Character Education
Characters
Levels
Bird
Horse
Bear
Ant
Snake
Grasshopper
Mouse
Narrator
N/30
N/30
O/34
P/38
Q/40
R/40
R/40
S/44
Students will learn about:
• Citizenship
• Respect
Reader’s Theater for Fluency and Comprehension
™
Day One
Build Background
• Write the words “Grasshopper” and
“Ant” on a T-chart. Ask students to
share what they know about each
of these insects and record their
answers on the chart. Then hold up a
nonfiction book about ants and read
a few paragraphs to enhance students’
knowledge of ants. Have students
summarize what they learned and add
this information to the “Ant” side of
the T-chart. Do the same activity to
activate and record students’ prior
knowledge of grasshoppers.
• Read or tell a traditional version
of Aesop’s fable “The Ant and the
Grasshopper.” Invite students to add
additional traits of grasshoppers and
ants in the appropriate column of the
T-chart.
• Lead a discussion with students about
the lesson that Aesop wanted to
teach in the fable “The Ant and the
Grasshopper.”
Introduce the Script
• Give students copies of the script and
read the title and back cover blurb.
Explain that the fable “The Ant and
the Grasshopper” was told by a man
named Aesop over two thousand years
ago. Explain that he was a storyteller
who made up hundreds of fables to
teach lessons to adults.
Learning About Genre:
Fractured Fables
• Modernized version of original fable
• Change in story elements, such as
character and setting, makes story
humorous
• Moral same as in original fable, but how
characters learn lesson changes
• Similar characteristics to fables, such
as animal characters with human
characteristics
• Use the Background Information on
page 3 of this teacher’s guide to help
teach characteristics of fables. Invite
students to skim the script to predict
the moral of the fable and what human
attributes the ant and grasshopper
might exhibit.
• Use the Learning About Genre
sidebar to help teach characteristics of
fractured fables. Tell students that the
story The Ant and Grasshopper Show is
a fractured fable based on the original
fable. Explain that the author rewrote
the fable to teach a lesson to the people
of today. As they read, remind students
to think about the lesson of the
fractured fable and how it compares to
the lesson in the original version.
See page 8 for English-Language Learner
and Striving Reader Support.
Copyright © 2006 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of the guide may be reproduced or
transmitted in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording,
or any information retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-4108-6207-5
2
Introduce Vocabulary
Background Information
• Ask students to point to the word
glorious in the glossary. Read the
definition together. Explain that the
word glorious is often used to describe
something wonderful or special. Read
the sentence that contains the word
glorious on page 2. Ask students to
name something they would describe as
glorious and to tell why they think that.
• Read aloud the definition of mournful
and the sentence from page 12 that
contains this word. Ask students if
they can think of another word or
phrase that might mean the same
thing as mournful. Ask: Does the word
mournful make the sentence or story
more interesting? Why?
• Introduce the word luscious, reading
the word and definition in the glossary
with students. Ask paired yes-and-no
questions to encourage students to
think about the meaning of the
word—for example: Is a smelly, weekold ham sandwich luscious? Would you
like to eat a piece of luscious apple pie?
Aesop
See page 8 for English-Language Learner
and Striving Reader Support.
Model Fluent Reading
Ask students to listen and follow along
with you as you read the script aloud to
model fluency and expression.
Aesop is credited with telling the original
version of “The Ant and the Grasshopper.”
Aesop is believed to have been a slave of
African descent who lived in ancient Greece
from about 620 to 560 b.c. Aesop lived the
last part of his life as a free man, supposedly
travelling and telling fables along the way to
encourage and guide people.
In some versions of “The Ant and the
Grasshopper,” the ant refuses to help the
grasshopper, and the grasshopper dies. In
other versions, the ant takes pity on the
grasshopper and gives him food. However,
in all versions, the moral is “It is best to
prepare for the days of necessity.”
Fables
Fables are a type of folktale. The primary
purpose of a fable is to provide a moral and
teach a lesson. Original fables usually have a
simple plot, succinct language, and animal
characters acting like humans. Characters
are usually impersonal and called by their
generic name, such as “Grasshopper.”
Fables often have an element of trickery,
where one character uses the weakness of
another to gain something. There is always
a turning point in the story when the
characters learn their lessons.
3
Day Two
4
Build Fluency: Echo-Read
Build Comprehension
• Read the script aloud, and ask students
to echo-read, or repeat, the lines after
you. Stop frequently to provide the
opportunity for students to explain
story events, make predictions, and
visualize the story settings.
• After the read-aloud, ask students
to turn to a partner and discuss the
changes that occur in both Ant and
Grasshopper during the story. Bring
the class back together and discuss
these changes.
• Review the script to discuss what the
animals are thinking and feeling in
each section. Model how you change
your voice and facial expressions to
communicate the characters’ thoughts
and emotions in each scene.
• Call attention to punctuation marks,
and model how to read the lines.
For example, point out the question
marks in the lines for Grasshopper
on page 2. Model how you read a
question by raising your voice slightly
at the end of the sentence. Ask
students to read the lines as if all of
them ended with periods and then
reread the lines with question marks.
Ask them to note the difference in
their voices when reading a question
and a statement.
• Invite students to locate and read
other questioning sentences in the
script to a partner.
Ensure students understand the
ideas in the story, as well as character
development, by involving them in
discussion.
• How do you know this is a fractured
fable? (analyze features of fractured
fables)
• Why didn’t Grasshopper store food for the
winter? (recall details; make inferences)
• Why wasn’t Ant interested in listening to
Grasshopper’s songs? (recall details; make
inferences)
• Should Ant have given food to
Grasshopper? Why or why not? (make
judgments)
• What caused Grasshopper and Ant to
change in the story? How did you read
Grasshopper’s and Ant’s parts differently
to show these changes? (identify cause
and effect)
• How are Grasshopper and Ant similar
and different? (compare and contrast)
• What is the moral of the story? Why
is this an important lesson to learn?
(evaluate author’s purpose and point
of view; make judgments)
See page 8 for English-Language Learner
and Striving Reader Support.
Build Vocabulary
Make sure students fully understand the
glossary terms. The Vocabulary in Action
suggestions on the inside back cover
of the script provide further ideas for
building students’ understanding.
Fluency Assessment Rubric
• The Reader’s Theater Overview
contains an assessment rubric you can
use to quickly assess each student.
Use the rubric at different times
during the lesson to assess different
skills. For example, you may want
to select students to assess their
understanding of characterization
during the comprehension discussion.
Alternatively, you may wish to use
their performance to assess how
appropriately they develop their
characters.
• Discuss the assessment rubric with
students so that they know what you
expect of them.
Assign Roles
• Use the reading levels provided on the
front of this guide to help you assign
roles that support or challenge each
student appropriately.
• The script has eight parts. If you
have more than eight students in the
group, you may want to assign some
students jobs as set directors. These
students could announce the changes
of seasons as the reading progresses.
They could also create murals that
depict the seasons in the meadow
and hold them up to signal seasonal
changes in the script.
• If you have too few students, you
could have a teaching assistant read
Mouse’s or Bear’s part during the
reader’s theater presentation. Or,
assign one student to read several
roles, provided the characters
are at the same reading
level and appear in
different scenes
in the play.
Character
Tips for Voice and Expression
Grasshopper
happy-go-lucky, lighthearted, cheerful, indignant, frustrated, upset,
hungry, relieved
Ant
snooty, tired, overworked, impatient, scolding, happy
Narrator
enthusiastic, animated
Mouse
shy, timid, careful, apprehensive, scared, unsure, squeaky
Snake
sly, crafty, sneaky
Horse
strong, self-assured, loud
Bear
cooperative, kind, friendly, sleepy
Bird
wise, quick, excitable, flighty
5
Day Three
Build Fluency Skills: Read with
Appropriate Stress or Emphasis
Repeated Reading:
Rehearse the Script
• Model: Tell students that it is
important to read a character’s lines
just as the character would say them to
show what the character thinks or feels.
Individual words or phrases that the
author wants to stress are italicized.
Read Grasshopper’s lines from page 13:
“Dancing? Hmmm . . . If there is
dancing, there has to be music! And
music is something that I can do!”
Read the third sentence one time with
emphasis on can, and one time with
emphasis on I. Say: If I stress I in this
sentence, I’m saying that I can do music
when maybe others can’t. If I stress can
instead, I’m saying that I may not be able
to do other things, but music is something
that I can do. The words are the same,
but the meaning changes.
• Guide: Point out that my is italicized
near the top of page 13. Ask students
to read Grasshopper’s lines with and
without appropriate emphasis. Discuss
how this affects meaning.
• Apply: Ask students to practice reading
different parts of the script with
appropriate emphasis. Remind students
to pay attention to punctuation.
• Discuss the expectations you have for
student behavior during the rehearsal.
Use the suggestions provided here and
in the Reader’s Theater Overview.
• Use small-group time for students to
rehearse their script. Monitor students
as they rehearse, and tell them you
will be listening to how they develop
the characters through their reading.
• Offer suggestions for expression, voice,
and characterization as you monitor
students’ work. See the chart on page 5
for tips on voice and expression. Use
specific comments, rather than general
ones, directed at the character, not the
student. For example: Snake, read your
lines slowly and with a hiss.
• Use this time to observe particular
students and assess for behavior.
Remind students of the assessment
rubric and let them know you will
be assessing them as you monitor the
rehearsal.
Choral-Read for Fluency
Involve students in a choral-reading of
the script to reinforce the fluency skill
of reading with appropriate stress or
emphasis. Remind them to use dramatic
expression to bring each character’s mood
or personality to life.
6
See page 8 for English-Language Learner
and Striving Reader Support.
Expectations for Rehearsing
When working in a group, students should:
• follow along as the script is being read;
• remain quiet while others are reading
their parts;
• wait and watch for their turn to read;
• ask for help when needed;
• read clearly, using expression and fluency.
Day Four
Repeated Reading:
Rehearse the Script
• Use small-group time for student
rehearsal. Do not interrupt this second
rehearsal, but simply observe students
as they read.
• Use the assessment rubric to monitor
students’ rehearsal behaviors and
reading fluency.
Staging and Performance
Suggestions
Decide on a stage area, how students
will be positioned, and whether props
or movements will be added. See staging
tips in the Reader’s Theater Overview.
Here are some other ideas:
Day Five
Perform the Script
Invite students to present the script to
an audience. The audience might be
members of their class, students from
other classes, school staff members,
and/or parents.
Assess Students’ Fluency
• Use the assessment rubric to
complete your assessment of
students’ fluency.
• Have students fill out a SelfAssessment Response Form.
• Take time to briefly conference with
each student to provide feedback on
his or her reading and behavior.
PLACEMENT/MOVEMENT
• Narrator stands on far right, facing
audience; other readers sit in following
order: Ant, Grasshopper, Mouse,
Snake, Horse, Bear, Bird
• Grasshopper turns slightly toward
other characters when talking to them
• Ant gives audience an exasperated look
on page 2
• Grasshopper shivers and gives audience
hungry look on page 10
PROPS/COSTUMES
• Characters wear name tags
MUSIC/SOUND EFFECTS
• Group can work together to make
tune for “Grasshopper Song”
• Grasshopper and Ant stomp their feet
in a rhythmic beat when singing on
pages 15–16
7
Support for
8
nglish
anguage
Build Background and Make
Connections (Day One)
Develop Vocabulary and
Language (Day One)
• Show students pictures of the
meadow creatures in the fable
they are about to read. Read short
passages from nonfiction texts to
help students build prior knowledge
of each creature. Help students use
descriptive language to describe each
of these creatures. Play an animal
riddle game with the students, for
example: I am thinking of a large,
furry animal. This animal sleeps all
winter. What animal am I thinking of ?
• Ask students to write the name and
draw a small sketch of each character
on a separate self-stick note. Ask
students to find the first line in the
script where each character speaks
for the first time and place the
appropriate note next to the line.
• ELL students may need additional
support to understand The Ant and
Grasshopper Show. Provide a dramatic
reading of the story. Use gestures
and expressive voices while reading
to enhance the meaning. Give
students the opportunity to retell
and pantomime the story. Work with
students to illustrate the different
events of the story and then sequence
the story pictures on a long piece
of butcher paper. Guide students to
write captions under each illustration
to describe what is happening.
• Ask students to turn to page 12 and
follow along as you read Bird’s first line:
“As a songbird I have sung some mournful
tunes, but that one takes the cake.” Point
to the phrase that one takes the cake and
tell students that this is an example
of figurative language, or a figure of
speech. Explain that a figure of speech
is a group of words that has a meaning
of its own, different from the meaning
of the individual words. Explain that
the phrase that one takes the cake doesn’t
have anything to do with cake. It means
that something is the very worst or
the very best. Say: Mournful means
very sad. Bird said Grasshopper’s song is
so mournful that it takes the cake. Bird
meant that Grasshopper’s song is sadder
than any song Bird has ever sung.
• Make sure ELL students understand
the concept of animals preparing for
winter. Create a concept web with the
words “Preparing for Winter” in the
center circle. In the outer circles, list
and draw the following animals: bear,
bird, ant, squirrel. Prompt students
to share their knowledge and ideas
about how each of these animals
prepares for winter. Use the script and
nonfiction texts to provide background
information. As you read about how
each of these animals prepares for
winter, invite students to summarize
what they learned. Add the students’
new knowledge to the web.
ge
earners and Striving Readers
• Write the following verbs on the
chalkboard and read them to the
students: worked, relaxed, sung, hummed,
chirped, munched, chewed, nibbled,
gnawed, hissed, slid, hide, hibernated,
and danced. Explain that each of these
words describes an action of at least one
of the animals in the story. Read and
demonstrate each word. Then use each
word in an oral sentence to describe
what an animal did in the story. For
example, say: The mouse nibbled and
gnawed things. The bear hibernated
in a den. Provide the opportunity for
students to make up riddles using the
verbs to describe what different animals
did in the story. For example: What
animal slid in the tall grass?
Build Comprehension
(Day Two)
Engage students in discussion about
the script, starting with simple literal
questions and progressing to more
difficult ones. As students discuss the
questions, ask them to point to places in
the script that best answer the questions.
Suggested questions:
• Who are the main characters in the story?
(recall details)
• Where does the story take place?
(recall details)
• Why did Grasshopper not worry about
wintertime food? (make inferences)
• Why did Ant not listen to Grasshopper’s
song? (recall details)
• Why did the author include other
animals in the story? (evaluate author’s
purpose and point of view)
• Why did Grasshopper ask Ant to sing
with him? (draw conclusions)
• Are you more like Ant or Grasshopper?
(make connections)
Read and Perform
(Days Two–Three)
• Provide extra practice reading the
script as a group before students read
their individual parts to ensure they
are familiar and comfortable with the
language and vocabulary.
• You may want to assign two students
to a role so they can read the part
together. This will help support their
reading.
• Be sure to use the reading levels
provided on the cover of this teacher’s
guide to help you assign the roles.
9
Literacy Extensions
Word Study
Identify and Use Adjectives
• Explain that each of the glossary
words is an adjective. Remind
students that adjectives are words
that describe nouns. Direct students’
attention to the sentence on page 2
that contains the word glorious. Model
how to locate the describing words in
the sentence, and identify the noun
that the adjective glorious describes.
Use a think-aloud to demonstrate how
identifying the noun that the adjective
describes can help us understand the
meanings of unfamiliar words. For
example, read aloud Grasshopper’s
line on page 2, “It’s a glorious summer
day,” and say: The word glorious is
a describing word used to describe a
summer day. If I think about what most
summer days are like, they are warm,
sunny, and pleasant. Thinking about the
phrase that glorious describes (summer
day) helps me understand the meaning
of glorious.
• Provide an opportunity for students to
pantomime the adjectives in the story.
For example, say: Show me what you
would look like if you were mournful.
Show me what you would look like if
you were doing something mesmerizing.
SORT WORDS
• Review the three glossary words
glorious, luscious, and mournful. Ask
students to tell in their own words
what each word means.
10
• Invite students to brainstorm things
that each adjective could describe,
such as a glorious morning, luscious
cheesecake, and mournful cries. Ask
students to write examples on selfstick notes. Draw three columns on
the chalkboard, and label each column
with one of the words. Ask students
to trade self-stick notes with a partner
and then sort the notes into the correct
columns on the chalkboard.
Reader Response
Ask students to reflect on their reader’s
theater experience by writing or drawing
in their journals. Students could:
• reflect and write about the moral of the
story in The Ant and Grasshopper Show
by agreeing or disagreeing with the
following statement: Some people think
it is better to live for today rather than to
worry about the days ahead;
• retell the story from Ant’s point of view;
• write about a person they know who
has character traits similar to either
Grasshopper or Ant;
• write about how one of the characters
changed over the course of the story;
• choose their favorite part of the story
and illustrate the scene;
• reflect on their participation in
the reader’s theater rehearsal and
presentation by answering the
following questions in their journals:
What did you do well? What are your
goals for the next time you participate
in a readers’ theater experience?
Read Across Texts
• Create a large “Fables” genre matrix
chart and display it on a bulletin
board. Review and retell The Ant and
Grasshopper Show. After the retelling,
use the chart to model how to record
and illustrate key elements of a
fractured fable.
• Assign a story element to each member
of the group. Ask students to draw
pictures related to their story elements
for the original fable “The Ant and
the Grasshopper.” Invite them to write
captions for their pictures.
• Have students write a commercial
for their favorite fable. Example: Are
you tired of working day in and day
out on your homework? Do you wish it
was summer and you could relax and
enjoy the glorious weather? If so, you
should read the fable “The Ant and the
Grasshopper.” The moral will make you
glad to do your homework.
• Use a genre matrix chart to compare
and contrast “The Ant and the
Grasshopper” and The Ant and
Grasshopper Show.
• Provide additional fables for students
to read. Ask students pairs to extract
and record literary elements of these
fables on the genre matrix chart.
• When the chart is completed, use it to
identify common features of a fable.
Story Elements
The Ant
and the Grasshopper
The Ant and
Grasshopper Show
setting
meadow in the summer and winter
Grasshopper, Ant
meadow in the summer and winter,
not too long ago
Narrator, Ant, Grasshopper, Mouse,
Snake, Bear, Bird, Horse
problem
Grasshopper sings and hops
around while Ant works hard
preparing for the winter.
Grasshopper sings in the summer
while Ant works hard preparing
for the winter. In the winter,
Grasshopper has no food and Ant
won’t give him any.
solution/ending
Grasshopper learns a lesson,
but it’s too late, and he dies
from hunger.
Grasshopper gets a job writing
and singing songs for the circus.
Ant and Grasshopper become a
traveling band.
moral/lesson
There is a time to work and a
time to play.
There is a time to work and a time
to play.
characters
11
Character Education Connection
Citizenship
• Explain that a person demonstrating
citizenship is someone who works to
make the community a better place
and who is a good neighbor and friend.
People who are good citizens cooperate,
work hard, and care about the welfare
and happiness of others.
• Ask: How did Ant show that he was a
good citizen? (Ant warned Grasshopper
that he should prepare for the winter.
He worked hard to store food for
himself and the other ants in his
colony.) Lead a discussion about places
in the story where Ant did not show
good citizenship.
• Prompt students to locate places in the
script when characters showed good
and poor citizenship. For example, say:
Grasshopper made up songs that made
other creatures in the meadow happy.
Respect
• Explain that respectful people treat
others the way they would like to be
treated. They are considerate of other
people’s feelings and respect their
differences. Tell students that respectful
people deal with conflict peacefully.
• Lead a discussion with the students
about the words and actions that
Grasshopper used to show when he
did and did not respect Ant.
Benchmark
Education
• Point out that throughout the first half
of the story, Grasshopper and Ant were
sarcastic to each other, showing a lot
of disrespect. Ask: What are things that
Grasshopper did that showed he did not respect
Ant? What are things that Grasshopper said
to Ant that showed he respected him? Tell
students to turn to a partner and discuss
ways that Ant showed he respected and
disrespected Grasshopper.
• Encourage students to think of times
when they showed respect for others. Ask
students to think of problems that could
be solved if people were more respectful
of one another’s differences.
Demonstrate Citizenship/Respect
• Provide an opportunity for student pairs
to demonstrate the character traits of good
citizenship and respect by discussing what
they would do in the following situation.
Say: You find five dollars on the ground on the
way to school. You decide to use the money to
buy some candy on the way home from school.
Meanwhile, a classmate forgot to bring his
lunch to school. In the cafeteria, he is sitting
by himself and looks hungry. What would you
do? Create a skit that demonstrates citizenship.
• Invite groups to share their skits with
the class.
• If time allows, ask groups to change roles
or provide other scenarios.
Company