These book activities are an engaging way to review several reading skills at once.

Sometimes we look at the job another person has and think, “That’s the job I want. That looks so easy.”

When I was teaching kindergarten, a maintenance worker came into my room to change a light bulb. I had just settled everyone back into their seats and all was calm at the moment. He looked at me and said, “You’ve got the easiest job in the world.” I wanted so badly to say, “Changing that light bulb didn’t look very difficult.”

In Three Hens and a Peacock, something very similar happened. But in this story, the hens on Tuckers’ Farm thought they did all the hard work and the lazy old peacock just strutted around all day. After trading jobs with each other, the hens and the peacock have a new appreciation for each other. I’m sure if the maintenance guy and I traded jobs, we’d have the same reaction…”YOU CAN HAVE THIS JOB! IT’S TOO HARD FOR ME!”

Here are some fun book activities you can use with this story.

Three hens and a peacock vocabulary

 I chose eight tier 2 words from this story and made a vocabulary card for each one. Each card has a word, a kid-friendly definition, an example sentence, and a photo representing the word. These can be printed or projected from the PDF. There is also a narrated video presentation.

Three Hens and a Peacock book activities

I call these activities “picture book challenges.” The goal is for students to solve the challenges (activities), discover mystery words, and crack a final code word. Why? To discover the answer to a joke! What do you get when you cross a peacock with a porcupine? They will actually want to complete their work because it feels like a game! Use the digital or the printable version. The digital version is ready to assign in Google and Seesaw.

How does a picture book challenge work?

After being taught the vocabulary words and hearing the book read aloud (a link to the story video is provided), students will:

1. Complete six book activities

2. Discover a mystery word for each challenge

3. Write the mystery words on a recording sheet

4. Crack a final code word that reveals the answer to the joke

Let’s take a look at these reading activities.

First, for challenge #1, students match the vocabulary words and definitions with a cut-and-glue activity. Each puzzle piece has a letter below the word. When the pieces are in the right place on the puzzle mat, these letters make a word. This is the “mystery word” for challenge #1.

The activities for challenges 2 – 6 include:

✔️A nonfiction passage about peacocks. Students answer 5 multiple-choice questions and underline the evidence in the passage.

✔️A point of view cut and glue activity

✔️Subject Verb Agreement

✔️Determining if a sentence is complete or run-on

✔️Answering multiple choice comprehension questions about the story

Digital Book activities

A digital option is included in this resource. This picture book challenge can be assigned in Google and in Seesaw.

Writing ideas

⭐The illustration on the last page of this book shows something falling out of a truck, just like the peacock did. This leads the reader to think the story will start all over again!

Circle stories like this one can really help students with making inferences and drawing conclusions.

Your students could write about what they think fell out of the truck at the end of the story.

Prompt them with questions like:

Do you think the peacock will be jealous of whatever it is?

Do you think the peacock and the new farm friend will trade jobs?

What might this new animal be good at?

Will the hens be involved this time?

Pin this image to your favorite classroom or book activities Pinterest board so you can find it when you need it.