1,2,3 Storytelling
Look at the front cover together. Ask your child to tell you what they can see and what is happening. Take note of their questions / comments. Read the story to your child. Ask your child to tell you about the Pet Star.
Storytelling 1 – Read the whole story. It is likely that your child will want to tell you what is happening and will talk about the pictures.
Storytelling 2 = Read the story and ask your child about each page and the illustrations, for example, “What is the little girl doing? Why?” or “How is the star feeling? How do you know?”
Storytelling 3 – Ask your child to share the story with you. They tell you the story using the pictures on each page.
Watch Emma read My Pet Star here
Activities
Talk
Ask: where has the star come from? What has happened to the star? Use the words from the story: ‘tumbled, bumped, scratched’ to help your child understand that the star has fallen from the sky and hurt himself.
Ask: why has he lost his glow?
Look at the picture on page 8. How is the star feeling? Model the use of words for your child to use: ill, sick, dirty, scared, hurt, worried.
Look at the pictures of the little girl helping the star and repeat the action words: cleaned, fixed, tucked.
Ask: How would you help the star if he were your pet?
Ask: Why doesn’t the star wake up until it is dark? Why does he miss the ice creams? Why doesn’t the star talk or play? Do you think that stars make good pets? Why/why not? What does the star do at night? Why can’t the little girl sleep? What do you think that the little girl needs to do to help the star now?
Play
Shooting Stars
Think of lots of adjectives to describe how stars look: shooting stars, sparkling stars, floating stars, shining stars, twinkling stars, glowing stars. Think of an action for each word, for example ‘shooting stars’ your child runs across the room, ‘sparkling stars’ your child stretches out their arms and spins around. You call out, for example ‘shooting stars’, and your child shoots around the room.
Songs
Five little men in a flying saucer – BBC Teach
Hold up five fingers and take one away after each verse.
Five little men in a flying saucer
Flew round the world one day.
They looked left and right but they didn’t like the sight
So one man flew away.
Repeat, taking one man away each time.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
How I wonder what you are
Star Light, Star Bright
Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight
I wish you may, I wish you might
Grant this wish I wish tonight
My Pet Star
(to the tune of Baa Baa Black Sheep or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
I found a star, so small and bright
I kept it safe all through the night
I fed it well, I helped it shine
I knew one day it can’t be mine
Up it flew, so high, so far
Goodbye, my friend, my pet star!
Five Little Stars
(To the tune of five little ducks)
Hold up five fingers and take one away after each verse.
Five little stars were shining one day
Up in the sky and far away
Along came a cloud and blocked the light
And one little star disappeared from sight
Repeat, taking one star away each time.
My Pet Star is written by Corinne Averiss, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw, and published by Orchard Books,