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Library / The Lion and the Three Bulls

Lesson plan

The Lion and the Three Bulls

Grades
3–5
Time
50 min
Reading level
1
PDFPrint the worksheetRead the story

Lesson flow

5 min

Horns Out

Three pupils stand back to back with fingers up as horns, all facing out. A fourth walks slowly around them and can find no way in. Then say plainly, "This story ends sadly. The Lion kills all three bulls. The story tells us that in very few words, and we will not act that part out or draw it."

5 min

Walk the Words

Walk across the front three ways and have pupils name each one: wandering off, stamping and strolling. Glare at the board, then whisper a word behind your hand. Sketch a field on the board for "meadow."

10 min

Read to the Glare

Read the story aloud for Grade 3. Partners in Grades 4 and 5 take turns reading. Everyone stops at "the bulls began to glare at one another." Read the rest to the whole class yourself, quietly and with no voices, and end at "He took his time over each one." Give a moment of quiet. If a pupil is upset, say, "It is a sad end. Now we will look at how it could have gone differently."

10 min

Whisper Cards

Each group of three gets the Lion's lines on slips: "The others say you are slow," "The others eat all the sweet grass" and "You would be better off on your own." Each pupil takes a slip, reads it in a low voice and says how that bull feels and what he does next. Use only these three lines. No pupil writes a whisper of their own or names anyone in the class.

10 min

Map the Split

Draw the meadow, the wood, the hill and the stream on the board. A pupil places three bull markers as the story tells it: side by side in the meadow, then one in the wood, one on the hill and one by the stream. Pupils find the lines that explain why this matters: "One bull he could fight" and "Three bulls would toss him over the hedge."

10 min

Stop the Whisper

Pairs choose one whisper and write what that bull could have said or done, such as walking back to ask the other two if it was true. Hear a few answers. End the lesson here, on what the bulls could have done, and read the moral aloud together.

STORY OVERVIEW

  • Title and Moral: The Lion and the Three Bulls - "Together you are strong. Let no one split you apart."
  • Plot Summary: Three bulls are safe from a lion as long as they stay side by side, so he whispers to each one alone until they quarrel and go separate ways. Once they are apart, he goes to each bull in turn.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • Identify the three things the Lion whispers and what they do to the bulls.
  • Explain how the bulls' friendship breaks, using details from the story.
  • Support the moral with two events from the story.

WORDS TO TEACH FIRST

  • meadow: a field of grass and wild flowers.
  • wandered: walked away from the others.
  • whispered: said something very quietly.
  • glare: to look at someone in an angry way.
  • stamped: walked away with hard, angry steps.
  • strolled: walked in a slow, easy way.

TEXT QUESTIONS

  1. Why does the Lion not dare go near the bulls at first? Sample answer: They stay side by side with their horns facing out. "One bull he could fight," but "Three bulls would toss him over the hedge."
  2. What does the Lion do to split the bulls? Sample answer: He finds each bull alone and whispers something unkind, such as "You would be better off on your own."
  3. How do the bulls change? Sample answer: They "began to glare at one another," and then each one goes to a different place: the wood, the hill and the stream.

EXIT TICKET

Pupils write two lines: "The Lion could not beat three bulls together, so he ____." and "One thing the bulls could have done is ____."

SUPPORT AND STRETCH

  • Support: Read the Easier version with a small group. It ends "He ate them all," so tell the group that line is coming before you start. Pupils sort three drawings as you read, side by side, cross and apart, then finish, "The bulls were safe when ____."
  • On level: Pupils work through the Whisper Cards, write what one bull could have done, and finish the exit ticket.
  • Stretch: Pupils write the talk that never happens, in which the first bull goes back and tells the other two what the Lion said. They add one sentence on how that would change the ending.

ENGLISH LEARNERS

Stand three pupils side by side, then move them apart, saying "together" and "apart." Give this frame: "The Lion said ____, so the bull felt ____." Pupils copy the first gap from a Whisper Card.

Answer key

Comprehension

  1. They ate, slept and walked together, side by side, with their horns all facing out.
  2. He did not dare go near three bulls, so he needed to get them apart.
  3. Any of the three lines is right: "The others say you are slow," "The others eat all the sweet grass" or "You would be better off on your own." A good answer adds a feeling such as hurt or angry.
  4. They began to glare at one another, and then they went off to the wood, the hill and the stream.
  5. He stood up and stretched, then went to the wood, the hill and the stream in turn, taking his time over each bull.

Vocabulary

  1. B
  2. E
  3. D
  4. F
  5. C
  6. A

Writing Task

A good answer tells the other bulls what the Lion whispered and asks them to stay together, as the moral says.

Original text available on the story page.