Literacy Snack Idea Giraffes + Free Printable

For this week’s Literacy Snack, we’re reading Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae.

“A wonderfully illustrated, fun tale depicting an important message through Gerald, the giraffe. All the jungle animals have their own specialty dance except poor Gerald. Their teasing and bullying has Gerald feeling sad and bad about himself. However, with a little advice and encouragement, he soon learns it’s OK to be different and those who are just “Need a different song.” Sashaying and boogying, Gerald finds his rhythm and shines.”

The plot presents a great opportunity to discuss the harmful effects of teasing and laughing at others who are different, while at the same time encouraging those who don’t fit in, to have fun and accept their uniqueness. It also a great way to set the stage for a growth mindset. Asking, what can you not do yet?

To tie it all together, we’re making Gerald the giraffe for our snack this week.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

1 Nutter Butter cookie

2 small candy eyes

1 pretzel stick

1 mini Nilla Wafer cookie

2 raisins

2 brown/chocolate sprinkles

Assemble

Have the students place the mini Nilla Wafer at the bottom of the cookie as his nose area. Add in the two brown sprinkles as his nostrils. Break the pretzel stick in half and add it to the top of the cookie as his little horns. Place the two raisins on the outer side of the horns as his ears. Last, add his eyeballs. He turns out so cute!

Free Printable

While the students are enjoying their snacks, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to think, draw and write about what they would like to do but can’t do yet like Gerald.

Click the green box below to download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store. 

If you’re looking for more books that have to do with a growth mindset, we shared a great Christmas themed book, The Littlest Reindeer. More than anything, she wanted to help fly Santa’s sleigh. She practices but she is disappointed that she is just too little to fly. Her friend Oliver suggests they do things that she can do and realizes it’s a lot! Click here to check it out now.

I hope your students enjoy making their giraffe snacks!

See you next time!

Jenette