The Three Billy Goats Gruff



Author: Paul Galdone

Genre: Folklore/Fable

Subject Area: Language Arts

Focusing Event:  This story focuses on a moral that three heads are better than one. Each Billy Goat makes the troll wait for the next Billy Goat to pass because they say that he is bigger and taAnstier than him. The troll continues to fall into the trap of letting the smaller goat pass for the larger goat. Unfortunately, the third Billy Goat is the strongest of the Billy Goats and knocks the troll off the bridge using his sharp horns. The students learn a lesson in this moral tale that teamwork and communication and hard work can increase one’s chance of accomplishing a difficult task.


Pre-Reading Strategies: Discuss with the class how teamwork is very important in achieving a goal. Tell them that teamwork and communication are very important and it helps build character. Also, inform the students that there is always a lesson to be learned when dealing with a story with a moral. Tell the students to pay attention to each individual goat in the story and what happens to each of them.

Post-Reading Strategies: After reading this story and because it is such an easy story to follow, the students will act out this short story in front of the class. This will make the students demonstrate teamwork, communication, and work ethic in trying to act out the short story in front of the class. It will also get the students to practice public speaking and acting in front of their peers in front of the class. Acting out this short story will help the students remember this classic tale, as well as build familiarity with each other in a group setting. With the incorporation of Reader's Theatre, students will be able to retell the story and the order of sequence of events which helps build comprehension.

Assessment: A worksheet detailing the key compenents of a short story--Characterization, conflict, solution, etc.

Reflection: Overall, this book is a childhood favorite. It is in comparison to The Three Little Pigs. At the end of the story, the final character defeats the "villain" in the story and makes a happy ending for the reader.

Galdone, Paul.  (1973). The Three Billy Goats Gruff. New York: Clarion Books and a Haughton Mifflin Company imprint. Grades K-2.