Interpreting Texts, Making Meaning: Starting Small

Teaching Activities

Not only is The BFG by Roald Dahl an exciting and wonderful book to read to your students that will help to cultivate a passion for reading and reinforce comprehension skills, but there are many activities that students can engage in that will assess their level of comprehension.

Lesson 1: Making Predictions and Asking Questions…What happened to Sophie?

In chapter one of The BFG we discover that Sophie is an orphan who is up late at night during what is called the witching hour. Sophie gets out of bed to close the curtains to the window when she sees something tall, black, and skinny coming down the street. ³¹

In chapter two, Sophie tries to figure out exactly what she is looking at walking down the street. She knows that it isn't human, but it resembles a person. Sophie begins to think that it is a "giant person". As this "giant person" is walking down the street she notices that he is wearing a black cloak, and is carrying a suitcase. The "giant person" stops in front of the Goochey's house and looks into the upstairs window of the children who live there, Michael and Jane. Sophie watches as the "giant person" pulls a jar and a long trumpet out of the suitcase. The "giant person" pours the contents of the jar into the trumpet and blows it into the window of the Goochey children. As the "giant person" is packing up he turns and sees Sophie staring at him out of her window across the street. As soon as Sophie sees the "giant person's" face she runs back to her bed and hides under the covers. ³²

The first time that I read this chapter I got goose bumps all over my arms because I wanted to know, exactly who was it that Sophie was seeing? What and why was he blowing something into the window of the Goochey children? — and What was going to happen to Sophie now that she has been seen by this "giant person"? Just as I was able to formulate these questions that the author wants me to arrive at while reading this text, we have to teach our students the do the same: how to think and ask questions while reading.

After reading chapter two to your students, you will want to go back and "dissect" the chapter with your reading detectives. Explain to your students that we have a mystery to solve today, and we need to start by gathering the all the information and clues that the author has given us. It may be a good idea to start a BFG KWL Chart to help students organize their thoughts visually. Start by asking the students, "What is it that we already know?" There are three important things that you want your students to tell you that they know in this chapter:

1. Sophie sees a giant person.

2. The giant person is blowing something into the window of the Goochey children.

3. The giant person catches Sophie looking at him from her window.

Once you and your students have gathered all the information and clues, you are ready to begin asking questions that will help solve the mystery. Read through the facts again with your students, and as you read start saying to your students "Something does not make sense. I wonder what's really going on here? I believe I have some questions that need to be answered about the information that we already have. What about you? What do we want to know?" There are three important questions that we want answers to in this chapter:

1. What did the "giant person" blow into the window of the Goochey Children?

2. What is going to happen to Sophie now that the "giant person" has seen her?

3. How would you feel if you were Sophie?

Chapter two of The BFG leaves you with many activities that can be used to reinforce sequencing, reading comprehension, and predicting skills. At the end of this chapter, there is a writing opportunity that will allow students to use their predicting skills to tell you what they think will happen to Sophie now that the "giant person" has seen her. I like to do most of my writing on story top paper where students can draw a picture first, and then explain their picture when they are writing. I find that this helps students organize their thoughts, and incorporate detail into their writing. You can also have your students exercise their sequencing and comprehension skills by completing a six-box (a large piece of white or manila construction paper folded into six boxes) where they would recall six important events that have happened in the story from the beginning of the book to the end of chapter two, then draw a picture and write a sentence(s) to explain their picture. Students can also make complete a story map on which they identify the characters, setting, and problem, and predict the solution.

Lesson two: How To Make Snozzcumber Juice

As we continue to read The BFG, we learn that Sophie has been indeed kidnapped by a giant and taken to a far off land called Giant Country. Sophie thinks that the giant that kidnapped her is going to eat her because all giants prefer human beings as their food of choice. Through conversation, Sophie learns that the giant who kidnapped her is different, and good. He does not eat people because he thinks that it is wrong, unlike the other giants who live in Giant Country, which is why he is called The Big Friendly Giant or The BFG. Since The BFG chooses not to eat "human beans", he is forced to eat the only vegetable that grows in Giant Country, the snozzcumber. According to The BFG, snozzcumbers are "filthing, sickable, disgusterous, and rotsome". ³³

Chapter eight of The BFG allows you and your students to trade in your reading detective hats for chef hats as you make up recipes for Snozzcumber Juice. Tell your students that we can't grow snozzcumbers because they only grow in Giant Country, but we can make our own version Snozzcumber Juice with a special machine called a juicer. This activity will allow students to be independent thinkers as they brainstorm and make a list of green fruits and vegetables that can be used to make Snozzcumber Juice. Students will then write a recipe for their juice, including a list of ingredients and step by step set of instructions (first, next, then, and last) that tell how to make the juice. Have students draw small illustrations beside their steps. As a reading reward, you and your students could make your very own Snozzcumber Juice and decide whether you think it is "wondercrump," or "disgusterous!"

Lesson Three: Making Connections…Jack and the Fleshlumpeater

In chapter thirteen, Sophie and The BFG are just coming back from Dream Country, where they have captured a trogglehumber, or bad dream. They find that the other nine mean, man-eating giants are fast asleep. The BFG and Sophie decide to blow the trogglehumper onto the meanest sleeping giant of them all, the Fleshlumpeater. As the nightmare unleashes itself onto the Fleshlumpeater he begins to thrash and yell out, asking Jack not to kill him, and to have mercy on him. The BFG tells Sophie that all giants are afraid of Jack because he has killed a giant. As a result of the Fleshlumpeater's violent thrashing from his horrible nightmare, he hits the Meatdripper in the mouth and the Gizzardgulper in the stomach, which starts a fight and wakes the other sleeping giants. ³⁴

In order to give your reading detectives a little background information on giants, and an opportunity to make text to text connections, you should read Jack and the Beanstalk aloud prior to reading chapter thirteen. In this chapter, we want students to be able to make a connection between Jack in the fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk, and Jack in the Fleshlumpeater's dream who he seems to be scared of. Ask your reading detectives to put their hats back on because we have another mystery to solve: Who is Jack? Ask your reading detectives, "What information and clues has the author given us about this person named Jack?" There are three things that you want your students to tell you about Jack:

1. Jack is a human being

2. All giants are afraid of him

3. Jack is a giant killer

Ask your reading detectives whether they have ever heard of a person named Jack who may have killed a giant. As a culminating activity use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk with The BFG.