Jasper: Jasper's Beanstalk

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The illustrations are charming and simple, but with enough going on to draw interest and support questioning of the book. I like this story, as it is a nice way to introduce to the children the topic of changes and the life cycle of a bean. It allows the children to relate to what Jasper is doing and then carrying out the task themselves. The imagery is clear and simple, as well as the text, allowing for the children to start to learn the days of the week. Enjoy Jasper’s Beanstalk. Appreciate humour. Reread the story together, modelling how to use different strategies to read unfamiliar words ( resources). Identify what Jasper did on each day. Discuss the consequences of Jasper mowing the bean. List equipment used/ what he did with it to care for the bean.

Display Contents from Seed to Sunflower and model using the book to answer questions about the life cycle of a sunflower. Write a response to each question. Read The Tiny Seed. Remind children it shows the lifecycle of a seed. Identify what stops some seeds from growing, e.g. sun too hot, ice too cold, ocean too wet. List ideas & consider alternatives. Share The Tiny Seed. Reflect on why the tiny seed was able to germinate. Discuss what conditions seeds need to start growing. Help children to use because to provide reasons for ideas. It is also a nice way to get the children talking about the book and extend their thinking by asking questions such as: What happens to the beanstalk? Does Jasper climb up it? If so, where does he go? The story is about Jasper the cat, who finds a bean on Monday, plants it on Tuesday and continues 'looking after it' until the following Monday when he digs it up believing it will never grow. of course the bean does grow (after a long, long, long time) showing that if Jasper had just been more patient he would have grown the beanstalk himself.

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Jasper's beanstalk probably has around 100 words in it, but manages to cover lots with them - days of the week, growth cycle of a plant, gardening vocabulary and techniques (some incorrectly used!) and the virtue of patience! Jasper’s Beanstalk is a great story to introduce the concept of planting and growing to children in the EYFS. I enjoyed reading this short and simple story to a reception class on the second placement. I read the book as a way of introducing the topic of planting and growing to the class, in the lesson the children went on to growing their own seeds, just like Jasper. Language and Literacy - recall and sequence the story with the children. You could provide the children with story props and then encourage them to act out the story individually or with others.

This is a wonderful story for children in the EYFS. The story goes like this, on Monday Jasper plants a bean and every day of the week he tends to it to help it grow. A week later, after waiting, waiting and waiting, Jasper gets very frustrated and impatient as nothing has grown. He decides to pull the bean out and throws it away. A long, long, long time later, the bean grows into a lovely beanstalk. Jasper is glad and begins to look for giants. Jasper wants to plant his own bean; the story goes through the different days of the week, showing what happens to Jasper's bean each day. He gets sad because his bean won’t grow. But then all of a sudden it grows into a large giant beanstalk and he gets excited he is sure there is a giant at the top!

Share Oliver’s Vegetables. Identify and enjoy the humour. Discuss why Oliver didn’t spot the potatoes instantly. Find each vegetable and recognise which part Oliver ate, e.g. cabbage = leaf.