- Creative lessons take an individual element such as a story and integrate it into all subjects.
- This Three Billy Goats Gruff lesson encompasses ELA, math, science, social studies, music, PE and health, and art.
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What is a Creative Lesson?
Creative multi-subject lessons based on one piece of material are what I refer to as creative lessons. This material could be a story, a science project, a holiday, or any other individual element. One of my favorite aspects of homeschooling is developing a way to really get kids excited and involved in their learning by integrating a single lesson into all subjects. I feel that this not only reinforces the lessons learned and encourages creativity but also drives the knowledge that everything is connected.
I would like to walk you through this 3 Billy Goats Gruff creative lesson and show you how I integrate the story into all of my subjects. The 3-day lesson plan, including a daily material list, as well as all of the corresponding worksheets are available here at my TeachersPayTeachers store. I have the creative lesson broken down into 3 age groups: preschool-preK, Kindergarten-2nd grade, and 3rd-5th grade to better serve each of those age ranges and their learning standards.
ELA
Since this lesson is based around the story of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, start off this first day by asking verbal questions based on parts of a book and story elements. This is a great opportunity to reinforce any of these concepts that you have already covered. Compliment this by asking progressive and predictive questions while reading the story. If you do not have a physical copy of the story you can use THIS PDF version instead.
Preschool – 2nd grade: Whether you read the story to your child, you help your child read it, or your child reads the story independently is up to you. Regardless, pause or have them pause as you ask questions. Make sure to point out any vocabulary and spelling words that you are currently working on. You can add in grammar by choosing sentences and asking what are the nouns/verbs/adjectives/adverbs/etc.
3rd-5th graders can mostly read the story independently but still make sure to stop them so that you can ask predictive questions. Review with them the setting, main characters, and other story elements. Ask about the main idea, the moral or the lesson of the story, or any other ela topic that you are currently covering. To get them writing, ask them to continue the story, write an alternative ending, or get them to write a few sentences about their favorite part of the story.
Science and Art
Preschool – 2nd grade: Three of the four main characters in this story are goats. Because of this, I like to tie this into my farm habitat. The farm can also be included in a food pyramid unit, a producer/consumer lesson, and a want vs need lesson. In essence, since studying the farm and its produce can be included in a variety of contexts, I particularly like to do a farm project during this creative lesson and tie it in with whatever unit or standard we are currently learning. I offer a FREE 3-day lesson plan, including a material list and printable farm cutouts HERE at my TPT store for my farm project.
3rd-5th grade: In the story of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, each of the goats must cross a bridge to get to the meadow full of food on the opposite side of the river. Therefore, I like to tie this lesson into a properties of materials lesson. Talk to your child about different bridges and what materials were used to build them. Point out to them that different materials have different strengths. Also mention that bridges built hundreds of years ago may be made of different materials because of availability. The science project for this age group will be to design their own bridge.
Social Studies/History
Preschool-PreK: For these younger kids I like to talk about bridges and what they are used for. Talk about how they connect places that would be otherwise inaccesible and connect the people in those places. Include any bridge in your neighborhood or city that they are familiar with. I also like to mention how the goats had to follow a certain set of directions to get to the new field. That is why my worksheets include both a bridge maze and a following directions page.
Kindergarten-5th grade: For this group you can do two things. Talk about how bridges were one of the first ways that ancient peoples could use to travel to otherwise inaccessible places. You can also talk about famous bridges, such as the Golden Gate Bridge or the Sydney Harbour Bridge. You can tie these lessons into studies of ancient civilizations, studies of modern cities, modes of travel, or getting goods from one place to another.
Math
To continue this lesson into math, tie the Three Billy Goats Gruff into your math class. You can make your own paper with math problems that go along with whatever math concepts that you are currently working on and just add in something related to the story such as goats. You can count by threes if you are currently working on multiplication or skip counting. Ask them to calculate perimeters and/or areas of farm space or meadows. Whatever math ideas that you are teaching at that time just add in aspects of the story into math time.
P.E. and Health
If you want to continue this lesson all day, consider giving your P.E. a ‘farm’ overhaul. One option is to have a Simon Says day where they have to move or sound like farm animals. Or you can use something like this This or That Farm Animals! Kids Fitness! PE Activity video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-kEatxb9BQ).
To add in Health, you can ask how the different characters felt at different points in the story. This could also be an opportunity to address bullying as well, if that is a topic that you have had a hard time introducing.
Music
If you would like to add some music to your lesson, consider singing Old McDonald had a Farm or London Bridge is Falling down. You can tailor this to include whatever concepts that you are currently covering in music class such as rhythm, pitch, melody, or instruments.
This creative lesson was a lot of fun to not only create but also for my children to do. Doing this lesson over the course of 3 days really lets them have fun and cover standards across all subjects by tying everything together. If you found this blog helpful please consider subscribing to and liking this post as it will help to grow the community as well as let me know which type of posts are more beneficial for you. If you are looking for some tips about how to lesson plan try My Top Tips for Lesson Planning blog. I hope this lesson brings creativity and enjoyment into your classroom as well.
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Do you and your kids enjoy multi-subject creative lessons such as this one? If so, share some of your favorites with the community in the comments below.
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