The Enormous Crocodile

One of the first read alouds I did this year was The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl.  This is a very short, very entertaining book!  It is all about a crocodile going into the village to eat children.  It may seem scary but each of his plans backfires and the students always got away.  I split the book up into two sections, ending after the crocodile tells all of the jungle animals his plans and before he tries his first trick.

We had a wonderful time predicting what would come next in this book.  The crocodile would see a place where he wanted to hide and the students would guess how he would disguise himself.  Also, they would guess how the children would get away every time.  In fact, there were so many guesses and comments to share that it almost took us three sessions to read!

Another activity that would fit nicely is to have your students come up with their own trick for the enormous crocodile.  What else could he disguise himself as to get a child?  Have your students draw a picture of their ideas.

If you're a second grade teacher, you could easily use this book as well.  I would highly recommend this book for the humor and the excitement.  My class gave it two thumbs up!

Extra Resources:

RoaldDahlFans.com has a quiz your students could take after listening:
http://www.roalddahlfans.com/games/quiz.php?quizID=8

Unique Teaching Resources has a great art idea that asks students to review the four clever tricks.  This page has pictures and masters.
http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/Enormous-Crocodile-Lesson-Plans.html