Five Ways to Explore The Sleepy Sloth in the Classroom

The Sleepy Sloth by Rebecca Young is a funny and thoughtful look at a sloth called Spike who is determined to compete in The Great Race - even if there are many faster runners in the race. Here I share five ways you can explore this fabulous book in the classroom.

Five Ways to Explore the Sleepy Sloth in the classroom. A look at the book by Rebecca Young and different ways to use it in the classroom for literacy learning

Reflect on What It Means to Be Persistent

Throughout The Speedy Sloth, Spike is determined to race in and then complete the Great Race. She undertakes actions to prepare for the race and then persists even when it’s difficult.

Exploring what persistence looks like and how students can apply it in their own learning is an important part of developing a growth mindset. Students can explore what persistence looks like in The Speedy Sloth and discuss how they can show persistence in their own life. This can be extended by helping students set learning goals, helping them develop plans and actions to succeed in those goals and helping them brainstorm ways of acknowledging their successes - big or little.

Students can also explore how goals don’t look the same for different students - some students may have a goal to read a certain number of pages, others might focus on learning a range of learning facts, while others might be working hard to develop their handwriting skills. This is another thing which can be related back to the book, with Spike’s goals looking different from the other animals in the race.

Running Maths

The Great Race is a key element of The Speedy Sloth, and it’s a great topic for integrating maths. Students can explore measurement by measuring what a metre looks like - then 5, 10, 50 or 100 metres. They can extend this by thinking about how many steps they would take to run 100 metres. Older students can explore maps of a local area and use scale to plan a marathon or fun run course.

Students can look at time by timing themselves running a certain distance, exploring the time famous runners take to run different distances, calculate how long it would take them to run a marathon (older students could think about how they might slow down or speed up) or even create a time table for sports day races.

Students could also use races to develop their own maths problems and investigations - whether it’s calculating the total distance run at a sports carnival or how much money a fun run might raise.

Spike’s Next Challenge

Spike is revealed to be a very determined sloth in The Speedy Sloth - so what might her next challenge be?

This is a great writing challenge to put forward to your students - thinking about what Spike might challenge next. Students can collaborate to write a series of stories or shared stories. They could write a follow up picture book and examine the illustrations to create their own in the same style. Or they could try a new style of writing - a short story, a poem, a graphic novel or a script.

Explore Running

Spike is determined to be a good runner - even training at the gym for the Great Race. This is a great prompt for students to explore what running is and how you can get better at running.

Students can explore running by looking at videos or reading biographies of great runners. They can research different types of running races - including hurdles and steeple chase - and look at how other sports also use running - from the run up in a gymnastics vault, to running in a football game, to running while dribbling a ball in basketball. Older students can research how running works or what you need to do to become a better runner.

Students can plan their own running races - looking at where they can safely run within the school, different types of obstacles they could add to a running race or how they could turn a race into a relay race. They can examine training plans for runners and make their own training plans in the lead up to a sports carnival.

Move Like a Sloth

While Spike has great goals in mind for the Great Race, she is not the fastest of runners. Or movers. Exploring how sloths move is a great dance activity for the classroom.

Students can begin by looking at videos and reading descriptions of how sloths move. They can use these to explore how they can move slowly, looking at how they can manipulate different body parts in slow movement. Students can explore moving through different heights slowly, moving across a room slowly, or moving in small or bigger groups in slow motion.

You can also provide a range of different music to students and ask them to select which music would best suit their movement patterns. Students can experiment with different ways of recording their movements and develop longer dances with these movements.

Are you reading The Sleepy Sloth with your class? You can find a full range of learning resources at the Galarious Goods store or at TPT for Prep/Foundation, Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6

Related posts to read:

• 4 Learning Activities for Give Me Some Space!

• 4 Learning Activities for Thelma the Unicorn

• 4 Literacy Activities for I Just Ate My Friend

• Exploring Australian Picture Books About Weather

The Speedy Sloth Book Studies at TPT

• Prep / Year 1 / Year 2

• Year 3 and Year 4

• Year 5 and Year 6

Speedy Sloth Resources at the Galarious Goods Shop

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Four Ways to Explore Family Tree in the Classroom

Family Tree by Josh Pyke is a beautiful and lyrical look at growth, families and the role nature can play around our living environments. But how can we use it in our classrooms? Here’s four ways you can grow learning with this wonderful book with your students.

Take Family Tree Outside

Family Tree is a wonderful book to read aloud. One way to turn this into an experience is to take the book outside - especially to a place filled with trees. If you’ve got a tree-filled spot in your school or access to a local park, you can take your students there to experience the story.

Before or after reading the book, students can engage with the trees in a number of ways - from closing their eyes and reflecting on what they can hear when they sit under a tree to using observation to see what insects or birds are around the tree (or if you are particularly lucky, you may be able to find a koala). 

If you have the time and can plan it with your administration, students might like to participate in a tree planting activity. Alternatively, students could plant seeds or seedlings in small pots and take them home. 

Create Your Own Family Tree

We usually think of a family tree as a drawing or document which shows parents, grandparents and other family members. However, in the book, the family tree is shown as an actual tree, the family who live near it and the experiences and influences on the family. 

Students can create this broader type of family tree by creating a diagram or drawing which shows the people, places, events and things which are important to them and to their growth. They might like to highlight big world wide or nation wide events which are part of their lives; smaller events which impact them or their families, places which are important to them or milestones as they are growing up, as well as the people in their family or around their family who are important to them.

Take a Closer Look at Trees

The tree is a major part of Family Tree from the seed it grows from through to being a mature tree perfect for animals and birds and small children who can climb into the sky. Trees are fabulous to explore with students because there’s so many different elements you can take a closer look at. 

Students can investigate the different parts of a tree or the different types of trees which exist in their local environment. They can look at how trees grow and what makes the perfect environment for them. Students can investigate animals who use trees as their home or for food and look at what difficulties they face, or how trees benefit us. 

This is a great opportunity for older students to start with a big topic - trees - and to develop their own questioning skills around this topic. 

Examine Origin Stories

Family Tree shows us the origin story of the tree - as a seed growing into a small plant. Origin stories are common in fiction, telling us the backstory of how a character became the protagonist - or the antagonist. Understanding the origin story of a character, and the way it influences further growth of the character, allows students to gain a deeper understanding of the character and the story itself.

Students can examine and compare the origin story of the tree and the girl in Family Tree, but they can also compare these origin stories with origin stories in other books. They can brainstorm different origin stories they know from books, television or movies and find the similarities and differences between them. They can also pose questions about well known books - why did the Green Sheep need to sleep? Why is Pig the Pug the way he is? - and write their own origin stories.

Are you reading Family Tree with your class? You can find a full range of learning resources at the Galarious Goods store for Prep/Foundation, Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6

Related posts to read:

• 4 Learning Activities for Give Me Some Space!

• 4 Learning Activities for Thelma the Unicorn

• 4 Literacy Activities for I Just Ate My Friend

• Exploring Australian Picture Books About Weather

Looking for more?

• Follow the Galarious Goods TpT shop

• Follow Galarious Goods on Facebook

• Follow Galarious Goods on Pinterest

• Follow Galarious Goods on Instagram