The Little Kitten
by Pauline Cartwright
Emergent Level 4
Teacher guide by Sharyn Spotswood and Joy Allcock
Phonemic Awareness
1. Rhyming
A number of one-syllable words in The Little Kitten can be used to generate rhyme. Choose
any of those from the following list and ask students to think of words that rhyme with each
one.
stay bay, day, hay, lay, may, pay, say, way, clay, pray, tray, sway, they
think link, pink, rink, sink, wink, blink, clink, brink, drink, stink
puddle cuddle, huddle, muddle
so go, hoe, Joe, low, mow, no, row, toe, blow, flow, slow, crow, grow, snow, show,
though
went bent, dent, gent, lent, meant, sent, tent, vent
2. Hearing sounds in words
Choose a sound as a focus and ask students to listen for this sound as they or you read the
book.
The story contains the following words that begin with a common sound.
‘k’ kitten, came, can, cuddle
‘s’ so, said, stay
The story contains the following words that end with a common sound.
‘il’ little, puddle, nibble, cuddle
long ‘e’ she, messy, noisy, hungry
The story contains the following words that share a common sound but not necessarily in
the same position.
‘s’ stay, asked, so, said, messy, hissed, wants
If students need more practice with hearing sounds in words, generate more words that
have a common sound at the start or end or inside.
3. Syllables
Call out the words listed below, mixing up the order of one- and two-syllable words.
Students clap the syllables and say how many syllables they can hear.
One-syllable words Two-syllable words
came little okay
home kitten
stay puddle
asked messy
hissed noisy
jumped nibble
begged hungry
Phonics
NOTE
Many words end with an ‘l’ or ‘il’ sound. This sound often forms the last syllable in a word or
is part of the last syllable in a word (un/til, can/cel, an/gel, ta/ble, chem/i/cal). There is
usually a consonant sound before the el, le, al, ol endings, which contributes to the ‘il’
pronunciation.
If there is a doubled consonant before one of the ‘il’ endings, the single vowel before it will
be pronounced as a short vowel (paddle, pebble, riddle, hobble, puddle). If there is a single
consonant before this ending, the single vowel before it is likely to be a long vowel (table,
regal, bible, hotel, bugle).
Although this is too much information for young readers, it is useful for them to recognise
the le ending (the most common ‘il’ ending) and to know how to pronounce it. If you think
students are ready for some of this information, you could tell them that where there is a
doubled consonant before the le ending, this tells us to pronounce the single vowel before it
as a short vowel.
The focus of this book is on the le spelling pattern. Words that contain this pattern are
bolded to help students notice them.
le is on the end of many words of two or more syllables and it usually sounds like ‘l’ or ‘il’.
Most of the words in this book that end with le contain a doubled consonant such as bb in
nibble and dd in puddle. These are examples of where doubled letters represent one sound.
You could use this book to review these doubled letter = one sound patterns.
Ask students to look for words in the book that end with an ‘il’ sound that is written as le.
Add each of these words to a list on the board as students find them when they are reading.
Review these words at the end of the reading and ask students to add any other words they
know with the same sound or spelling pattern.
The following words contain the le pattern in The Little Kitten.
little, Nicole, puddle, nibble, cuddle
Vocabulary Development
1. Word continuum
Ask students to give as many words describing size as they can think of.
For example:
large, huge, giant, massive, enormous, gigantic, humongous, big
small, tiny, mini, teeny, puny, wee
After students have brainstormed all the size words they can think of, draw a sloping line on
the board with Biggest at the higher end and Smallest at the lower end. Ask them to decide
where each word might fit compared with the other words they have thought of. Set the
two ends of the continuum with questions such as, “Which word would we use to mean
something really, really big? Which word would we use to mean something really, really
small?”
Organise the list onto the diagram. If you draw this diagram on a large sheet of paper you
can leave it pinned on the wall so that, as students find other words that describe size, you
can add them easily.
2. Word association
What words can you think of that are associated with cats (fluffy, furry, cute, scratchy,
meow, purr, cuddly, soft, paws, claws, tail)?
3. Shades of meaning
Compare the meanings of begged and asked.
On page 11 it says, “Can she stay?” begged Nicole.
What does the word begged mean in this sentence? What is another word that might mean
the same thing?
On page 3 it says, “Can she stay?” asked Nicole.
Read the question in the way you think Nicole is saying it when she is asking.
Now read the question in the way you think Nicole is saying it when she is begging. How
might she look when she is begging?
What are the differences between these two ways of saying the same question? Which way
is more likely to get Nicole what she wants?
Comprehension
1. Before reading
Introduce the book by discussing the front picture and the title. Ask, “What do you expect
this book to be about?”
Discuss further with questions such as the following.
Do you have any pets? What are they? What have you named them?
What things do you have to do to look after your pets? Are some of these things more
enjoyable (fun) than others?
How are baby animals different from grown-up ones? Do baby animals need to be looked
after differently?
2. During reading
Ask questions such as the following to check students’ understanding and to access and
develop their background knowledge.
Pages 2–3 Who brought the kitten home? Where do you think he might have got it from?
How does Nicole feel about the kitten? Who doesn’t want the kitten?
Why do you think Mum said she didn’t think they could keep the kitten?
What do you think the kitten might do?
Pages 4–5 How did the kitten make a puddle? (or What was the puddle the kitten made?)
Who cleaned it up?
If Nicole (or was it Dad) cleans up after the kitten, will this convince Mum to
keep the kitten?
How could Nicole make sure there are no more puddles like this?
Pages 6–7 Why do you think the kitten hissed at the dog? What other things is the kitten
doing to show that it is scared or threatened (arching its back, ears pricked
back, hair standing on end)?
How did the dog respond?
Do you have any ideas about how the family could get the dog and the kitten
to be friends?
Pages 8–9 What is the kitten doing?
What do you think they have given it to eat? What things do cats normally
eat?
Do you think Mum is worried about how much the kitten eats? Why?
Pages 10–11 Where did the kitten jump up to?
What is Mum thinking? Does she look happy to have the kitten on her lap?
How does her face change from page 10 to page 11?
What do you think will happen next?
Page 12 How does Nicole feel now that Mum has said yes? What is Nicole doing to
show us how she feels (arms in the air, standing on one leg, a big smile)?
How is the kitten showing that it is content/happy?
3. After reading
Ask questions such as the following to establish and build on understanding.
What things will Nicole need to do to look after the kitten?
What new jobs might she have to do?
4. Retelling and sequencing
Photocopy the images from the story that have been reproduced with this guide and cut
them out. Students put them in order to retell the story.
One option is to glue the pictures, in the order established by students, into a scrapbook.
Students then write or dictate the words they want to go under each picture.
Alternatively glue the pictures onto cards for students to order. They then retell the story
orally to a partner.
Fluency
1. Reader’s Theatre
Use this book for a Reader’s Theatre
Divide your reading group into four subgroups:
1. narrators
2. students who will read Nicole’s words
3. students who will read Mum’s words
4. students who act out the part of the kitten.
Each subgroup reads or acts out its allocated part together.
If you practise reading the story in these subgroups a few times, the reading group could
then read and act out the story to the whole class in this way.
2. Word cards
Photocopy the word cards onto cardboard and cut them up.
High-frequency words
High-frequency words are grouped into decodable words and non-decodable words.
Students could read them as an independent activity in pairs or in groups. One approach is
for one student to hold up each card and the other student(s) to read the word.
Alternatively “deal” them out to students in the group. Each student places their words face
down. In turn, students turn over one card and have a try at reading it. If the student can’t
read their word, someone else in the group has a try at it.
Make duplicate or triplicate sets of the words for students to sort into matching piles.
Phonics focus cards
For the phonics focus cards, the le endings are in bold.
Students could use these cards to read the words like sight words, or they could spread
them out and match them to the words in the text as they reread the story.
If you stick these word cards to a board or poster, you could make new cards for any other
words ending with le that students find.
Decodable high-frequency words
Dad a can
stay I don’t
so Mum went
up
Decodable high-frequency words
came home with
little she asked
think said the
made jumped wants
Phonics focus words and revision of doubled
consonant words
little Nicole puddle
nibble cuddle
little kitten puddle
messy hissed nibble
cuddle begged
Reading Running Record
Name………………………………. Text Title The Little Kitten
Age………………………………… Level 4
Date……………………………….. Seen / Unseen (circle)
Recorder:………………………………
Analysis:
Error rate 1:…………Accuracy……………(%) Self-correction rate 1:……………
Level (circle) Easy Instructional Difficult
Analysis:
Information Used (Meaning M) (Structure/Syntax S) (Visual V)
When decoding successfully
When decoding an unknown word
When attempting self-correction
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----
Pg
Title: The Little Kitten E SC E
MSV MSV
SC
2
Dad came home with a little kitten.
3
"Can she stay?" Nicole asked.
"I don't think so!" said Mum.
4 The kitten made a puddle.
"So messy!" said Mum.
5
The kitten hissed.
6
"So noisy," said Mum.
7
The kitten went nibble, nibble.
8
"So hungry," said Mum.
9
The kitten jumped up.
10
"She wants a cuddle," said Nicole.
"So little," said Mum.
11
"Can she stay?" begged Nicole.
"Okay," said Mum.
12
Running word count: 69 (including title)