CHALLENGING WORDS
American
geranium
jingle
menu
northern
plant
Robin
something
spicy
won’t
SUMMARY
A hungry housecat sneaks out of an open back door to search for
something new for lunch. He encounters twelve birds in the backyard.
When he fails to catch them he has to eat feathers for lunch.
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--- Conversation Questions---
(1)Tell what this story is about.
(Answer) Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) Share your favorite part of the story.
(2) Estimate how long the cat was chasing birds.
(Answer) Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) Have you ever seen a cat chasing birds?
(3)Imagine you are the cat, how would you outsmart the birds?
(Answer) Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) Do you think birds are naturally smarter than cats?
(4)Assume you have a cat and it sneaked outside, how would you catch it?
(Answer) Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) Do you have a pet?
(5)Explain what ‘tame’ means.
(Answer) Not wild; trained.
(Follow Up) Are all cats tame?
(6)Name the noise the cats bell makes.
(Answer) Jingle jingle.
(Follow Up) How does the bell stop him from catching the birds?
(7)Find the sound the red Northern Cardinal makes.
(Answer) What cheer cheer cheer.
(Follow Up) Have you ever seen a Northern Cardinal?
(8)Recall the birds’ loud warning when they hear the jingle of the cat’s bell.
(Answer) Big cat got out early this morning.
(Follow Up) Do you think the many different birds understand each other?
(9)Find the orange and black Northern Oriole and tell what kind of bush is he sitting on.
(Answer) A lilac bush.
(Follow Up) Share with me why you think birds like flowers, trees, and bushes?
(10)Recall what the cat catches for lunch.
(Answer) Feathers.
(Follow Up) Tell me what you think he really has for lunch?
Activities
- Draw a picture of your favorite bird in the story. Write the name of the bird under the picture.
- Make a bird of pipe cleaners and glue it in your opus. Name the bird and write its name under the bird.
- Make a cat by gluing construction paper shapes in your opus. Glue a bell on the cats neck. Write a sentence explaining how the bell kept the cat from having his “wild lunch”.
- Create your own bird by gluing craft feathers in your opus. Make up a creative name for your bird and write it in your opus.
Introduction
- Have a stuffed bird and cat on the table. Ask the child if they think cats and birds could be friends. Say, “Today we are going to read about a cat who is tired of his boring canned food so he sneaks outside to look for something wild for lunch!”
- Have a stuffed cat, an empty can of cat food on the table, bird feathers in the can. Ask the child if they can guess what the cat is going to have for lunch. Say, “We are going to read about a cat who is tired of boring old canned food, so he sneaks outside to look for something wild for lunch!”
- Have a stuffed cat with a bell around its neck on the table, some stuffed birds. Move the cat around so it jingles. Ask the child if they think the cat can catch the bird. Say, “Today we are going to read about a cat who tries to catch something wild for lunch but ends up with only feathers to eat!”
Book Title: Feathers for Lunch
Author: Lois Ehlert
/ Illustrator: Lois EhlertISBN: 0-15-200986-8 / # of Text Pages: 31 AR: 1.6 LEX: AD720
Building Oral Vocabulary
6 / spicy / 8 / mild / 11 / sneaking
Prediction Questions
3 / Where do you think the cat is going?
10 / What is the “something wild” he is looking for?
15 / Do you think he will catch a bird?
This resource is provided by THE LEARNING CORPS—Barren County Board of Education, an AmeriCorps project funded in part by the Kentucky Commission on Community Volunteerism and Service and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
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