The focus of this reading is to read the story and talk about new vocabulary. There will be opportunities in this reading to connect the information in the illustrations to the information in the text.
*Read the pages before you ask the questions.
Night Scene and 5:00:
~On the night scene, danced around the moon: the fireflies are flying around and it looks like they are flying around the moon from the picture. Did the fireflies really dance around the moon? What do you think the fireflies were doing?
Page 3 – 4:
~Mr. Carle uses two pairs of opposites on this page. What are they? (friendly/grouchy, left/right)
~What did the friendly ladybug do to show that it is friendly? (“Good morning,”offering to share, trying to do whatever the grouchy ladybug suggests, sweetly)
~On page 4, screeched: to make a harsh, shrill cry. What did the grouchy ladybug do to show that it is grouchy? (shouting, screeching, not sharing, wanting to fight)
~How does the friendly ladybug show that she is not afraid of the grouchy ladybug? (looking it straight in the eye, not afraid to fight)
~”It looked less sure of itself.”What does that mean?
~”Oh, you’re not big enough for me to fight,” it said. Why did the grouchy ladybug say this?
6:00 – 4:00:
Notice that as the pages get bigger and the new characters get bigger, the print gets bigger.
~The yellow jacket is bigger than the ladybug. Why does the ladybug say that the bee is not big enough?
~How are the friendly ladybug and the yellow jacket alike? (say the same things, don’t seem afraid of the grouchy ladybug)
~On each new page, note what each character will use to fight the grouchy ladybug. (stinger, strong jaw, long front legs, sharp beak, etc.)
~If the grouchy ladybug did fight each new character, who do you predict would win? Explain.
~At noon, insis-s-s-t: demand something forcefully. Why is this word written like this? (to sound as the snake would say it)
~What do you think that the snake is going to have for lunch?
~At one o’clock, eerily: trying to inspire fear, trying to make someone afraid. Practice talking eerily.
~At four o’clock, encountered: met. Using the clues in the text and the illustration, what does encountered mean?
5:00 – 5:45:
~Why didn’t the whale answer the ladybug’s challenge to fight?
~Why does the ladybug keep challenging different parts of the whale?
~Why is SLAP written in capital letters? (so say it with extra importance)
~Why are there two ellipses (. . .)? (To remind the reader to make an extra long pause before continuing with “that it flew across the sea and across the land.”)
6:00:
~Why isn’t the grouchy ladybug grouchy anymore?