The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapo · Copyright © Junior Library Guild/Media Source, Inc. 1 About JLG Guides Junior Library Guild selects the best new hardcover children’s and YA

Copyright © Junior Library Guild/Media Source, Inc. 0

The Big Fat CowThat Goes Kapow

By Andy GriffithsIllustrated by Terry Denton

JLG Activity GuideAvailable only from

Junior Library Guild7858 Industrial Parkway

Plain City, OH 43064www.juniorlibraryguild.com

ISBN: 978-1-93612-903-4

The Big Fat Cow That Goes KapowBy Andy GriffithsIllustrated by Terry DentonFeiwel and Friends, an imprint of MacmillanText © 2008 by Backyard Stories Pty Ltd.Illustrations copyright © 2009 by Terry DentonISBN: 978-0-312-36788-6


About JLG GuidesJunior Library Guild selects the best new hardcover children’s and YA

books being published in the U.S. and makes them available to libraries andschools, often before the books are available from anyone else. Timeliness andvalue mark the mission of JLG: to be the librarian’s partner. But how canJLG help librarians be partners with classroom teachers?

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The Big Fat Cow That Goes KapowBy Andy Griffiths

Illustrated by Terry Denton

Table of Contents

About the Book.....................................................................................................3Library Applications............................................................................................4Prereading Strategies and Activities ..................................................................5Concepts about Print ...........................................................................................7Print Awareness/Alphabetic Awareness.............................................................8Upper or Lower? ..................................................................................................9Phonemic Awareness with “Big Fat Cows”.......................................................10Rhyme Time .......................................................................................................11Phonemic Awareness with “Noel the Mole”......................................................12Fun with Names with “Klaus the Mouse” ........................................................13Understanding “Willy the Worm” .....................................................................14Alike and Different with “Keith, Ed, and Daisy” .............................................15Thinking about Art with “Lumpy-head Fred” ..................................................16Read Aloud: “Brave Dave”.................................................................................17Phonemic Awareness with “Ruth’s Super Scooter” ..........................................18Phonemic Awareness with “Mike’s Bike” .........................................................19Let’s Talk about “Somewhere Less Spiky” .......................................................20“My Silly Story” Reproducible Page..................................................................21Correlation to National Standards ...................................................................22Answer Key ........................................................................................................23

A school may reproduce copies of the pages in this book for use in its classroom or library.Any other reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Copyright © 2009 by Junior Library Guild/Media Source, Inc. All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be transmitted, stored, or recorded in any form without writtenpermission from the publisher. For permission questions, contact Junior Library Guild.


About the Book

In these ten easy-to-read stories, there is a mixed-up cow that says “miaow,”a mole called Noel who plays rock ’n’ roll in a hole, and a boy named Mikewho rides a bike with a very big spike! Black-and-white illustrations.

JLG Reviewers say:

Has lots of kid appeal. It’s easy to read, and the humor is simpleand memorable.

The rhymes are good, and the stories are quite funny. The amusing line drawings support the text well. The book will engage even the most reluctant reader. Completing

the short stories within a larger work will feel like anaccomplishment for beginning readers.

Pre-readers will be eager to share the stories.

Andy Griffiths believes that his childhood love of the nonsense of LewisCarroll and the wordplay of Dr. Seuss influenced the elements of The Big FatCow That Goes Kapow, which was written specifically for his youngerdaughter when she was learning to read. He says, “Terry [Denton] and Iwanted the rhyming text to be simple enough for a child to read by himself,but the ideas and illustrations to be funny and interesting enough to inspireand reward repeat readings.” Mr. Griffiths lives in Australia.

www.andygriffiths.com.au

Terry Denton is known for his humorous illustration style. He lives inAustralia and has worked with Andy Griffiths on a number of children’sbooks.


Library Applications

Silly Stories That Make Reading FunSet up a special area in your library—a shelf or a table—and place there

as many books like The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapow as you can find. Somewell-known authors who are beloved for their fun stories include:

/ Dr. Seuss/ Shel Silverstein/ Jack Prelutsky/ Maurice Sendak/ Judith Viorst/ Bruce Lansky/ Jon Scieszka/ David Shannon/ Trinka Hakes Noble (The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash)/ Judi Barrett (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs)/ Crocket Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon)

Biographies: For Older StudentsEncourage older students to choose one of the authors

above, or another of their choice, to research. Help themfind resources in the library or on the Internet. Worktogether with their language arts teachers to teachstudents the steps to writing a biography, including takingnotes, creating an outline, writing, revising, making abibliography, and proofreading.

Student-Created Silly StoriesMake some blank books for students to use to create their own silly

stories. A reproducible sample page with write-on lines is found on page 21 ofthis guide. Provide cardstock, manila, or construction paper for the cover.

When students have completed their stories, put them on display for therest of the school to enjoy.

Plan a Read Aloud Day in which you, other teachers, parents, andstudents choose a silly story to read aloud to younger readers and/or siblingsof students.

My Silly Story


Prereading Strategies and Activities

Set a Purpose for ReadingStudents are better prepared to read something when

you help them set a purpose for reading. Some commonpurposes include: reading for information, for enjoyment,for practicing a specific skill such as finding the mainidea, or for learning how to do something.

Set a purpose for reading The Big Fat Cow That GoesKapow. Two purposes may be reading for enjoyment—thisis a fun book!—and finding rhyming words. You maydetermine other purposes for reading this to your class orhaving an individual student read the book.

Make PredictionsActivate students’ prior knowledge and generate interest in the book by

having students make predictions about each of the stories before they readit. Make predictions one story at a time, not for the whole book at once.

Below are some questions you can ask for each story that will get studentsthinking about the story and ready to make predictions.

ｷ What do you expect a story about big fat cows will be about?

ｷ Where do you think Noel the Mole will live?

ｷ What problem do you think Klaus the Mouse will have?

ｷ Who do you think Keith, Ed, and Daisy might be?

ｷ Why do you think Fred has a lumpy head?

ｷ What surprising thing do you think we will discover about BraveDave?

ｷ What will be so super about Ruth and her scooter?

ｷ What do you think Mike will do with his bike?

ｷ Why do you think the author wrote a story about somewhere lessspiky?


Activate Prior KnowledgeBefore reading the book aloud to the children, allow them to share some priorknowledge they have gained from their own experiences. Ask them:

What do you know about . . .

. . . cows?

. . . moles?

. . . mice?

. . . worms?

. . . being brave?

. . . riding a scooter?

. . . kids who are mean?

. . . using your imagination?


Concepts about Print

Parts of a BookIdentifying and Analyzing Visual Arts

Show the students the book cover, front and back. Ask:

/ What is on the front cover?/ What is on the back cover?/ What do we call the big words on the cover?/ Who are the people named on the cover?/ What do you call the flat edge of the book?

Next, show students the title page. Ask:

/ What is this page called?

Next, show students the Contents page. Ask:

/ What does this page tell us about the book?

Point out the illustrations and colors used on the cover. Ask:

/ How does the cover make you feel?/ What do you like about the cover?/ What don’t you like?

Inside the BookThis book is made up of ten separate rhyming stories. Show student how

the Contents page tells them where each story begins in the book. Then, asyou show them several of the story opening pages, ask:

/ How are these pages alike?/ How are they different from the other pages in the book?/ What other books have you read that are like this book?/ What do you like about books that have several stories?


Print AwarenessAlphabetic Awareness

Print AwarenessAs you get ready to read the book aloud, explain that this book is a collectionof ten stories. Show students how different the pages look, some with littlewords, some with big words, and some with no words at all. As you go frompage to page, model how to read the small and large words differently fromthe normal-sized words—softly or loudly. Then invite the students to readthose pages aloud with you (especially the LOUD words).

Alphabetic Awareness: Uppercase and LowercaseAs you do reading sweeps with your finger or a pointer, encourage students tolook for uppercase and lowercase letters. Explain that uppercase letters aremostly used:

ｷ at the beginning of a sentenceｷ for words that name a certain or special person, group of people,

place, or thingｷ for words that are being emphasized, such as words that stand for a

big sound: CRASH!

For practice in identifying uppercase and lowercase letters, give each studenta copy of the handout, “Upper or Lower?” on the following page. Discuss howuppercase letters differ from their lowercase partners, even if the differenceis just in size (Z, z). If students struggle with a letter pair, reteach using oneof the following techniques:

ｷ Have students draw an uppercase letter in sand and then draw itslowercase partner beside it.

ｷ Make sets of flashcards on which the uppercase letter is on one sideand the lowercase is on the other. Practice by holding up aflashcard and having the students identify it by saying the name ofthe letter, as in “uppercase g” or “lowercase r.”

ｷ Give each student a card with an uppercase or lowercase letter onit. Have the students group themselves by standing in two groups:the uppercase group and the lowercase group. Then have eachstudent name his or her letter aloud for the class.


My Name _____________________________

Upper or Lower?

Look at each letter in the boxes below. If the letter isuppercase, color the box blue. If the letter is lowercase, colorthe box yellow.

B

b

D r

e

G

E

m

P

d

R

g

p

M

t

T

y

Y

A

a

F

f

h jH

J

k

L


Phonemic Awareness with“Big Fat Cows”

Words That RhymeThis book gives you a lot of practice with rhyming

words. Each story will give you opportunities to work withdifferent word families.

The story “Big Fat Cows” is a lot like Dr. Seuss’s booksin its rhyming patterns. After reading the story, ask thestudents if it reminded them of any other stories theyhave read. Then start the following whole-class activity.

Write the following word endings on the board and say the sound as youfinish writing each one. (Note: the –ow ending has other sounds, but for thisexercise, use the sound found in the word cow.)

Invite students to give you a beginning sound that will form a word whenadded to the endings. You could also go one by one through the consonants tosee how many words the class identifies as real words.

__ow __ay __ig __oat

Just for FunInvite students to write and draw their own story about a cow or cows. Theycan be serious or silly. If you want to show them an easy way to draw a cow,follow these steps:

Now you and your class candraw cows! Change the eyesto show different expressionsor add eyelashes to make“girl” cows. (You can alsoadd udders if you want.) Havefun with your cow stories!


Rhyme TimeUse this activity to help students practice grouping words that rhyme witheach other.

Name _________________________________________________________

Draw a line from the picture on the left to the picture onthe right that rhymes with it.


Phonemic Awareness with“Noel the Mole”

Beginning and Ending SoundsUse the following pairs of words to practice identifying words with the same

beginning sound and words with the same ending sound. All of the words inthese sets come from the story “Noel the Mole.”

First, say: I am going to say some word pairs. Listen closely as I say each pair.Then decide if both words have the same beginning sound or if theyhave the same ending sound.

Next, write on the board two column headings: Beginning EndingNext, tell the students that you will read the pairs again. They should

raise one hand if the beginning sounds are they same. They should raiseboth hands if the ending sounds are the same.

Finally, list the pairs under the correct column on the board.

Noel mole

here hole

deep dark

hole coal

called coal

rock roll

roll mole

What is a mole?Many students may be unfamiliar with the mole, a small rodent that lives

underground. You may want to do a short video or digital presentation toshow students what different moles look like and how they live. Some goodsources are:

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/wild/pdf/wildlife/MOLES.PDF

(Note: Some students will be familiar with moles as pests. Be prepared todiscuss this aspect of “mole control.”


Fun with Names with“Klaus the Mouse”

Names That RhymeYou will need to read aloud the title of this story and pronounce the name

“Klaus” for the students. They may think the word should be pronounced/klahz/, as in Santa Claus. Explain that Klaus is a German name, and that asa first name it is pronounced so that it rhymes with “mouse”.

Now tell the students that they get to have fun naming other animals bycoming up with names that rhyme, just like Klaus the Mouse. You mayreproduce the next section of this page and use it as a handout, or you maywant to write the animals and their names on a board.

____________ the Cat

____________ the Crow

____________ the Snake

____________ the Bunny

____________ the Bear

____________ the Bee

____________ the Clam

____________ the Shark

____________ the Moose


Understanding “Willy the Worm”

Comprehension SkillsAfter you read the story or the students have read the story “Willy the

Worm,” have them answer the following comprehension questions.

1. What is Willy?

2. Why does Willy go to school?

3. What kind of learner is Willy?

4. Willy goes wiggly when he should go _________________.

5. Willy is a terrible ____________________.

6. Willy _________________ pays attention.

7. What does Willy do a lot?

8. How does Willy always end up?

Fun Discussions

1. Do you every feel squirmy?

2. What would it be like to be a worm?

3. What advice would you give Willy?

4. Do you ever feel like you are tied in a great, big knot?

Drawing FunGive students drawing supplies and have them draw a picture showing a

worm or worms in one of the following scenes: at a circus on the playground jumping on a bed making mud pies on a picnic playing a sport other ideas you or the students may have


Alike and Different with“Keith, Ed, and Daisy”

Comprehension SkillsAfter you read the story or the students have read the story “Keith, Ed,

and Daisy,” have them answer the following comprehension questions.

1. How many coats does Keith wear?

2. Is Keith a man or a boy?

3. What is Keith’s brother’s name?

4. What does he wear?

5. How is Daisy related to Keith and Ed?

6. What does Daisy wear?

7. Who is Daisy’s best friend?

8. Which of them do you think has the weirdest outfit? Why?

9. What other two characters do you see in the art that are not mentioned inthe story?

Compare and ContrastAs you read the story, prompt students to pay attention to how thecharacters are alike and different. Then make a chart like the one belowand complete it as the students compare and contrast the characters.Possible answers can be found in the Answer Key on pages 23–24.

Alike

They wear silly clothes.

Different

One is a girl.


Thinking about Art with“Lumpy-head Fred”

Interpreting Visual ArtsAfter you read the story, have the students look at the illustrations and

make comments about what they see. Remind them that the illustrations to astory often add information that is not included in the writing itself. To helpthem, you may want to use the following questions as discussion starters:

On pages 56–57:

1. Who is looking through the window on page 56?Where have you seen them before?

2. Besides Fred, what else is lumpy?

3. What toys does Fred like to play with?

4. What time of day is it?

5. What is Fred doing?

On pages 58–59:

6. Do you think there are actually 100 beds in this illustration?

7. How does Fred keep his beds and other things held up?

8. Does this look safe to you?

9. What do you think is going to happen to Fred?

On pages 60–63:

10. Were you right about what happens?

11. Who else fell out of bed with Fred?

12. How does the illustrator show us that Fred is hurt?

Answers appear in the Answer Key on pages 23–24.


Read Aloud:“Brave Dave”

Note: In Australia, people use the word “mum” as we use the word “mom.”Explain this to the students before reading “Brave Dave.”

Practicing InflectionAfter you read the story to the students, explain that the next time

through, they will be reading aloud with you. They will need to think abouthow to say the words as they read them aloud. Some words appear largerthan others on the page, and those words will be spoken louder.

Have fun reading the story together—as many times as you want!Encourage students to think about this exercise when they are reading

other books, too. Use the story “Mike’s Bike” on pages 81–96 to practiceagain.

Making Word FamiliesHave students make word families by changing the beginning sounds to

the following word-ending chunks.

__ave __ay

__ight __ite

__ear __um

__ump __ake

__all __ait


Phonemic Awareness with“Ruth’s Super Scooter”

The /oo/ SoundLots of words have the /oo/ sound. Most of the time, the sound is

represented by the letters oo, as in “moon,” but sometimes the letter u alsostands for the /oo/ sound, as in “Ruth.” Other letter combinations, as found in“shoe,” “you,” “shoe,” “June,” and “fruit,” also occur. For this exercise, thefocus is on the sound, not the spelling.

Read the following word pairs to your students. Have them raise theirhands when you say a word that has the /oo/ sound.

choose choseheater scooterrub Ruthhunt hootsupper superhoop hopeblow blueloud loopmoon moanboot batshare schooltool tookroll roomteeth tooth


Phonemic Awareness with“Mike’s Bike”

Distinguishing –ike Words from –ite WordsSome students have trouble distinguising the two ending sounds

represented by the letters –ike and –ite. Copy this page as a handout andhave the students color the images as follows: if the word for the image endsin –ike, color the picture green; if the word for the image ends in –ite, colorthe picture red.


Let’s Talk about“Somewhere Less Spiky”

Vocabulary SkillsBefore reading the story, go over the following words or

phrases that may be unfamiliar to many of your students:

incredible edible

breathe an hour and a quarter

planet trampoline

Comprehension SkillsAfter reading the story “Somewhere Less Spiky,” have the students

answer the following questions.

1. What is special about the town?

2. How long can you stay underwater in their sea? Why?

3. What are the boy and his dog doing under the sea?

4. What can people do on the planet on pages 102–103?

5. Would you like to jump on clouds like they do?

6. What is happening next in the story that reminds you of the first story inthis book?

7. What is the countdown for? What is going to happen?

8. Did you like the ending? Why or why not?


My Silly Story


Correlations to National StandardsFor Grades K–4

Content Area Standard Number Standard ObjectiveVisual Arts NA–VA.K–4.3 Choosing and

Evaluating a Range ofSubject Matter,Symbols, and Ideas

Language Arts:English

NL-ENG.K-12.1 Reading forPerspective


NL-ENG.K-12.2 Reading forUnderstanding


NL-ENG.K-12.3 Evaluation Strategies


NL-ENG.K-12.4 Communication Skills


NL-ENG.K-12.5 CommunicationStrategies


NL-ENG.K-12.6 Applying Knowledge


NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying LanguageSkills

Science NS-K-4.3 Life Science


Answer Key

Page 7: Concepts about Print: Parts of a Bookｷ What is on the front cover? (a cow, words, star burst, colors)ｷ What is on the back cover? (words, mouse, cow, other drawings, another

book, price, numbers)ｷ What do we call the big words on the cover? (title)ｷ What do you call the flat edge of the book? (the spine)ｷ What is this page called? (title page)ｷ What is this page called? (title page)ｷ What does this page tell us about the book? (where you can find each

story)ｷ How does the cover make you feel? (Answers will vary.)ｷ What do you like about the cover? (Answers will vary.)ｷ What don’t you like? (Answers will vary.)

Parts of a Bookｷ How are these pages alike? (They have only words; the type is different.)ｷ How are they different from the other pages in the book? (They don’t have

much on them; they have no art on them; they don’t tell a story.)ｷ What other books have you read that are like this book? (Answers will

vary.)ｷ What do you like about books that have several stories? (Answers will

vary.

Page 9: Upper or Lower? All uppercase letters should be colored blue: D, T, J,G, B, F, P, R, M, E, L, Y, A, H. All lowercase letters should be colored yellow: a, r,m, e, p, t, k, y, d, b, f, g, h, j.

Page 10: Words That Rhyme–ow words: bow (bend from waist), cow, how, now, sow (pig), wow, brow, chow,

plow. –ay words: bay, day, hay, jay, lay, may, pay, say, way, clay, gray, play, pray,ray, spray, stay, tray. –ig words: big, dig, fig, jug, pig, wig, sprig, twig; –oat words:boat, coat, goat, float, throat.

Page 11: Rhyme Time tree-bee; pie-eye; star-car; log-dog; moon-spoon.

Page 12: Beginning and Ending Sounds Beginning sound pairs: here/hole;deep/dark; called/coal; rock/roll. Ending sound pairs: Noel/mole; hole/coal;roll/mole.

Page 13: Names That Rhyme Some may include: Matt the Cat; Pat the Cat; Joethe Crow; Jake the Snake; Sonny the Bunny; Claire the Bear; Lee the Bee; Samthe Clam; Mark the Shark; Bruce the Moose.


Page 14: Comprehension Skills1. Willy is a worm. 2. Willy goes to learn to squirm. 3. Willy is a very bad

learner. 4. straight. 5. turner. 6. never. 7. He fools around a lot. 8. He ends up in aknot.

Discussion questions: Answers will vary.

Page 15: Comprehension Skills1. Five. 2. A man. 3. Ed. 4. five hats. 5. She is their sister. 6. a dress. 7. Maisy.

8. Answers will vary. 9. A boy and his dog.Compare and Contrast: Alike: Some answers may include: They wear silly

clothes. They are in the same family. They are all smiling. Different: Someanswers may include: One is a girl. They wear different things. They are differentages. One has a moustache. One has a cane. One is a friend.

Page 16: Interpreting Visual Arts1. A boy and his dog. They have been in every story so far. 2. His rug, his plant,

his cabinet, his window. 3. A skateboard and a mouse. 4. Night time. 5. He isbrushing his teeth. 6. Yes, there really are. 7. He uses sticks for support. 8. No, notsafe at all. 9. I think he is going to fall. 10. Yes, most students will predict thissuccessfully. 11. His mouse. 12. He uses stars and big eyes and bumps and a funnymouth shape.

Page 17: Making Word FamiliesBrave, cave, gave, grave, save, shave, slave, wave; bay, day, hay, jay, lay, may,

pay, say, way, clay, gray, play, pray, ray, spray, stay, tray; bright, fight, flight,fright, knight, light, might, night, irght, sight, tight; bite, kite, site, quite, spite;dear, clear, fear, gear, hear, near, rear, spear, smear, tear, year; bum, chum,drum, glum, gum, hum, mum, plum, scum, slum strum, sum, yum; bump, clump,dump, grump, hump, jump, lump, pump, slump, stump, thump; bake, brake, cake,fake, flake, Jake, lake, make, quake, rake, shake, snake, take, wake; fall, ball, call,hall, mall, small, stall, tall, wall; bait, gait, wait.

Page 18: The /oo/ Sound Words: choose, scooter, Ruth, hoot, super, hoop, blue,loop, moon, boot, school, tool, toom, rooth.

Page 19: Distinguishing –ike Words from –ite Words Colored green: bike,hike, spike; Colored red: . kite, light, night, write, knight, bite.

Page 20: Comprehension Skills1. You can eat everything. 2. An hour and a quarter because you can breathe

underwater. 3. They are riding a dolphin. 4. They can fly and bounce on clouds.5. Answers will vary. 6. The cows are falling again. 7. It is counting down for thebig KAPOW! 8. Answers will vary.

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The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapo · Copyright © Junior Library Guild/Media Source, Inc. 1 About JLG Guides Junior Library Guild selects the best new hardcover children’s and YA