The Fox and the Hen

Author: Eric Battut

Genre: Folklore/Fiction

Subject Area: English, a tale that tells a moral, Science

Grades: Kindergarten/First Grade

Theme: Children will be prompted with the importance of little eggs to a mother animal. In nature, wild hens (and other animals) lay many eggs and wait several weeks until their eggs hatch. Sadly, other animals in the wild want these eggs for food. Mother hens need to protect these eggs because they may hatch into little baby hens. Hens lay their eggs and soon they hatch and a family develops.

The young audience will also learn the importance of not being careless and to think about the positives and negatives before going through with a decision. This will help guide young students to learn the value of making good decisions, while bad decisions warrant consequences.

Quick Summary: Henrietta Hen, the main character in the story, lays her first egg in the beginning of the story. As she lays her first egg, she is very curious to what it may be. She accepts Red Fox’s offer to trade it for a tasty worm. Six farm animals explain to Henrietta what she has done and offer to help her get the egg back. One by one, they accompany her to the fox, who disdains their offers to swap it for the other animals' valuables. However, long before Henrietta’s seventh visit to the fox, the repetitive nature of the text’s phrasing and the illustrations’ composition slip over the line from predicable into monotonous. This book explains the importance of cherishing the little things in life and to think twice before going through with an action. (http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Hen-Eric-Battut/dp/1907152024/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353813790&sr=1-1&keywords=the+fox+and+the+hen).

Pre-Reading Activities:
Have any of you ever been to a farm and have seen a chicken egg before?

Where do little baby hens come from?

Why do you think their eggs are so important to them and why do you think they need to protect their eggs in the wild?

Discuss with the class about nature and how some mother animals lay eggs because when they hatch, babies come from these eggs. Discuss with the children that other animals need food to survive and will try to take a mother hen’s eggs to eat. Discuss with the children that there is a food chain and each animal relies on the animal below it for food. Students will be encouraged to learn a valuable lesson after reading the story.

Post-Reading Activities:

Discuss with the class about nature and how some mother animals lay eggs because when they hatch, babies come from these eggs. Discuss with the children that other animals need food to survive and will try to take a mother hen’s eggs to eat. Discuss with the children that there is a food chain and each animal relies on the animal below it for food. Students will be encouraged to learn a valuable lesson after reading the story.

Assessment: Students will be asked to recap these pre and post-reading objectives to see what they learned from the class discussion and the story.

Battut, Eric. (2010). The Fox and the Hen. China: Sterling Publishing. Grades K-2.