Squirrel Gathers Acorns
Squirrel Gathers Acorns
by ReadRead · 5 min readNutty fills her basket, the Wind knocks it over, and Chip the chipmunk has a clever idea. A story about helping a friend and finding a better way.
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It is autumn in the big oak forest, and Nutty the little red squirrel is filling her basket with acorns for winter. Then the Wind comes to play. Whoosh! The basket falls over and the acorns fly everywhere. Chip the chipmunk helps her pick them all up, and has a clever idea for keeping them safe.
The new words in this book
To pick things up and bring them together in one place. It comes up 8 times, and every time acorns really hop back together into the basket.
To make things fly apart, here and there. It comes up 7 times: the acorns fly out of the basket, and the leaves swirl all over the page.
The two words are a pair of opposites the pictures show: gather brings the acorns together, scatter sends them all over. The text repeats on purpose (“Gather, gather, one by one!” and “Whoosh!”), so a child can join in early. Every other word is a common word, like tree, basket, wind, leaves and friends.
Questions to ask while you read
Pause after each spread and ask one question. There are no right answers; the point is to get your child talking.
- 1What can you see in the autumn forest?
- 2How does Nutty gather the acorns?
- 3Who is that up in the sky?
- 4What happens when the wind blows?
- 5How does Nutty feel? Who comes to help?
- 6Where do Chip and Nutty find acorns?
- 7Oh no, the wind is back! What is Chip’s idea?
- 8Why don’t the acorns scatter now? What does the Wind say?
- 9Tap the leaves: can you gather every acorn?
- 10Who would you share your acorns with?
How hard is this book?
About 250 words, sentences of 6–8 words, dialogue.
- Dialogue × 9“Oh no! My acorns!”
- Questions × 1Who is that, up in the sky?
- Commands × 3“Look at all my acorns!”
- Not / no × 3“Oh no! My acorns!”
- Will / going to × 1“Let’s play! I will scatter them!”
- Contractions × 2“Let’s play! I will scatter them!”
All 109 words, most used first
the 32 · acorns 11 · gather 8 · is 8 · to 8 · scatter 7 · and 6 · i 6 · leaves 6 · one 6 · in 5 · whoosh 5 · wind 5 · basket 4 · by 4 · oak 4 · them 4 · a 3 · again 3 · all 3 · down 3 · forest 3 · here 3 · like 3 · little 3 · oh 3 · over 3 · play 3 · red 3 · then 3 · am 2 · big 2 · blows 2 · but 2 · finds 2 · for 2 · friends 2 · full 2 · good 2 · her 2 · hole 2 · hooray 2 · into 2 · it 2 · just 2 · let's 2 · makes 2 · my 2 · no 2 · not 2 · soon 2 · they 2 · together 2 · under 2 · up 2 · an · are · at · autumn · begin · chipmunk · coming · do · every · fall · falls · feels · from · fun · goes · gold · has · helped · idea · likes · log · look · lots · need · of · old · party · put · puts · quick · rock · runs · sad · shake · share · she · sits · sky · so · some · sorry · squirrel · still · sun · tap · that · there · top · tree · trees · who · will · winter · you
Names don’t count: the picture shows who it is.
Tips for parents
- First time: use Read to me and let your child just listen and watch.
- Before page seven, stop and ask “How can Nutty keep her acorns safe?” Let them think of an idea.
- On the leaf page, say the words together as you play: “Scatter the leaves! Gather the acorn!”
- Play it for real: scatter a few blocks on the floor and gather them into a box, one by one.