If you haven’t read Llama Destroys the World yet, let me introduce you!
This is one of my FAVORITE picture books. The illustrations, the story…it’s whimsical and hilarious…and there are so many different activities you can do with your kids after reading this book.
I love to incorporate several different comprehension skills when reading this story. To start, this is a great book for reinforcing the concept of cause and effect. I’ll start with a “hook”. If you watch the video, you can see how I set the stage for introducing this skill with an egg. After the hook, I’ll explain the concept of cause and effect using this mini-poster...
I’ll relate this skill back to the hook and then open up conversation and discussion for other cause and effect scenarios. Here are a set of six different cause and effect cards. Print or display on your computer or whiteboard and prompt your kids to observe the picture & listen to the cause to determine the effect. You’ll see that each scenario lends itself to a variety of different responses (results). Anything goes as long as your kids can justify their reasoning!
You can also lead a discussion with your child(ren) about the different cause & effect situations they’ve experienced. They may not realize that action = consequence equates to cause = effect, so this is a great time to help them see the real life value in this skill. Not only does understanding cause + effect increase reading comprehension, but it also helps our kids to see the connection between their actions and the consequences that result from them.
In the story, Llama makes three big mistakes that eventually result in the destruction of the world. After reading the book, encourage your kids to write about a mistake they’ve made in the past. What was the mistake? What was the result? Not only is this a great text-to-self connection opportunity, but it also encourages your child(ren) to self-reflect on their actions. You can print out this template or use a blank sheet of paper or writing journal…anything goes!
Llama Destroys the World is structured using a timeline. Different events happen each day of the week that eventually cause the imminent doom of the universe. After reading this story, encourage your child(ren) to retell the story using this timeline template (or using a self-created timeline of their own).
At the very end of the story, we see that Llama’s week starts all over on Sunday, but this time he starts by eating pie instead of cake. Encourage your kids to finish the story. Prompt them to think about what they predict will happen next. They can write a new ending to the story based on their personal predictions OR they can complete a timeline of predicted events using the printable below (writing in their journals or using a plain sheet of paper will work just as well!).
Let’s take it a step further! You can also encourage your child(ren) to create their own timeline! They can either document what they do each day OR create a fictional timeline of cause + effect events.
I’m going to circle back to the retell piece in just a minute, but here’s a fun activity your kids will love! A llama directed drawing. The idea here is process, not product, so it’s OKAY for your child’s work to look authentically their very own. This is just a good jumping off point!
Now with that picture that your child has drawn, use your smart phone to take a picture of it and upload it to the ChatterPix app. Prompt your child to record a 30 second summary of the story from the perspective of the llama! You can encourage your students to upload these to a shared platform like Google Classroom or SeeSaw and then grant access for their classmates to watch them as well. This adds more value to the lesson when they understand they’re creating for an audience.
Now, if you’re a parent, you can always encourage your child to send their ChatterPix videos to family member and friends they haven’t seen in a while. Possibly create a video as an ad that would persuade them to read the book as well.
Because I always like to tie a little non-fiction connection when I can, you can follow-up this story reading more about llamas using these fact graphics (print or display on screen).
Encourage your child to write three NEW facts about llamas that they didn’t know before. They can use this printable to record their work.
And if they’re interested in learning more about black holes just like the one llama created in the story, here are some fun YouTube videos to extend their learning!
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This looks like a wonderful resource. Thank you for sharing! My school is moving towards remote learning through teaching online. I am a first grade teacher and know that my students would love this lesson! Is this a lesson that I could use with my students via zoom? I understand that this is your lesson that you created. I don’t want to go against any copy right laws / rules, so I wanted to ask first. Thank you for providing resources that are so thorough. It is very much appreciated, especially during the uncertain times that we are experiencing.