Most students will only know the recent movie version of Ferdinand, but many of us will remember the print version.. a true classic!  This story is the tale of a sweet, gentle bull named Ferdinand who has enchanted readers, young and old alike, since it was first published by Viking Press in 1936! I remember winning a big, green, stuffed animal bull at a local bizzare and naming him Ferdinand!

The Story of Ferdinand, written by American author Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson, tells the story of a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in bullfights. He sits in the middle of the bull ring failing to take heed of any of the provocations of the matador and others to fight.

Use the map below to locate Spain. On which continent is Spain? What countries surround Spain? Where is Spain in relation to where we live? If you wanted to visit Spain, how would you get there?

We will use “The Story of Ferdinand” Spanish Flashcards to help us expand our Spanish vocabulary and better understand the story!

Using the “On Stage” version of The Story of Ferdinand adapted by Judy Newman at Scholastic, students will make this classic story come ALIVE with Readers Theater! Reader’s Theater is a strategy for developing reading fluency. It involves oral reading through reading parts in scripts. Students will not need to memorize their part; they need only to read and reread to develop fluency skills. The Story of Ferdinand script includes lots of dialogue for us to read and have fun!

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