4 Literacy Activities for I Just Ate My Friend
/He was my best friend . . . and now he’s gone!
If you haven’t read I Just Ate My Friend by Heidi McKinnon, I highly recommend getting your hand on a copy. This lovely picture book, which follows the monster’s search for a new friend - after they ate their old friend, is a brilliant book to read with early primary students, and a great one to take a closer look at in the classroom.
Here’s a few ways you can explore this very funny picture book in your classroom.
1. Create Your Own Monster
The monsters in I Just Ate My Friend all look very different. Students can choose a monster and work in pairs or in small groups to describe these monsters. Alternately, students can explore creating their own monster.
One way to create a monster is to combine it with mathematics and use chance - and a dice - to create a monster. Each number of the dice can correspond with a particular monster feature and students can roll the dice, then draw the piece of monster they get. If students are in the pre-reading stage, this can be done in literacy rotation groups with a teacher or assistant or even as a whole class activity. Once students have drawn their monster, they can write descriptions for their new creation.
2. Engage in Readers Theatre . . . And Create Their Own
Because the main character in I Just Ate My Friend meets a lot of other characters, it’s a great opportunity to introduce and explore reader’s theatre with your students. Students can discuss how they think different lines in the book should be read (exploring fluency and expression) and take turns being the main character and the monsters they meet.
Once students are comfortable with the text, they might also like to think about how they could expand it. Students can brainstorm other monsters the main character might meet and act out what those monsters might say. They could challenge themselves to have enough monsters for the whole class to participate!
3. Exploring What a Friend Is
This is a great book for exploring the qualities of friends. Students can brainstorm words which describe friends and create images or descriptions of friendships.
Students can also explore what friendships look like in other media. They might like to talk about television shows or movies or other books which feature friendships and talk about the qualities of friends shown there.
4. Exploring Surprising Endings
I Just Ate My Friend has a surprise ending which completely changes the book. This is a great opportunity for students to talk about surprise endings and why the author might have chosen to write it. They can also connect this book to other books with surprise endings and discuss what makes an ending surprising.
Once they’ve discussed surprise endings, students might like to try creating their own surprise endings. They can create stories in small groups or pairs, write them, record them or have them scribed and create their own books.
Have you read I Just Ate My Friend in Your Classroom? Share your experience in the comments.
