Little Monster at School

Children can spend the day with Little Monster at school, where he takes care of his pet, tends his plant and learns about letter, numbers and science. The story enables children to identify with the characters and to enjoy the familiarities of a pupil's day at school. The School Edition provides learning activities spanning the curriculum.

The Classroom Activities

This Weekend I … - the weekend adventures of Little Monster and his friends introduce story sequence and invite children to create stories about their own weekend activities.

Little Monster and the Three People - re-enact the story of ‘Little Monster and the Three People’, creating additional dialogue and new endings.

A Special Place - most children have a place which is special to them. They may have their own bedroom, a favourite place in the garden or living room, or a den such as a tree house or a rug over the dining table.

Story Wall - create a hands-on resource of word cards which can be physically rearranged as children create stories to read and write.

Zoom in on the Zipperump-a-zoo - Little Monster’s pet, Zipperump-a-zoo, is hiding somewhere on every screen page of Little Monster at School. In this activity, teams zoom in on him and draw or write clues to guide other children to his hiding place.

Rewrite the Text - use the interactivity of Living Books to play with on-screen text, creating new sentences and new versions of the story.

What’s for Breakfast? - Little Monster has different things for breakfast. The children probably have different things too. This activity explores the diversity of foods available, and presents the results in graphical form.

Good Morning! - create a new song! Get the day off to a good start with music and group sharing activities.

The Shape of Things - shapes are all around us! What shapes can you find in the story? What pictures can you create using shapes?

Map It - children use their imaginations to make a map of Little Monster’s neighbourhood; then they use map skills to create a map of the classroom or school.

Plants in the Garden - children explore plant growth through hands-on activity.

Mini-beasts in the Garden - a hands-on activity demonstrates one relationship between plants and insects.

Rocky Road - take a close look at the world around you and find out how important rocks are to our every day lives.

Getting to Know You - use charts and graphs as a way of learning about the characters in Little Monster at School and the children in your class.

A Day at School - children will develop counting and story writing skills as they chronicle what Little Monster did during his day at school.

Paper Makers - Little Monster and his friends make many things from paper. This activity explores some of the items which you could make, and the ways in which you could make them.

Routines - Little Monster gets up, gets dressed, had breakfast and them washes and cleans his teeth. This activity explores morning routines and other ordered events. If you have a visit from the dental hygienist, it could be linked to this activity. Extension activity leads towards the idea of activities which are commutative.

Animal Homes - all the children in Little Monster at School, except Yally, have pets. All these creatures need homes. Starting with the animals in the story, continuing with children’s own pets, and those offered in Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell, explore the requirements which all animals have for shelter, and the specific requirements which individuals have.

Puppet Plays - many conversations take place in the story of Little Monster’s day at school. This activity uses the puppets on pages 45 and 46 to explore these and other situations.

Music, Music, Music - there is music on almost every screen of Little Monster at School. This activity explores the music, and invites the children to create movement to go with it.

How Do You Get to School? - this activity looks at transport, both to and from school, and in a wider context: how do children in other parts of the world travel?

Green Cross Code - a road safety activity involving children in making materials for a display or presentation to the rest of the school. If you have a visit from your local police to talk about safety, this could link to it.

Tree at my Window - Robert Frost’s poem, Tree at my Window, Window Tree, describes the poet’s pleasure in a tree that is special to him. Little Monster also has a tree at his window, from which the bird looks in at him. This activity looks at the different species of trees that grow locally, or which children may have in their gardens.

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