Jack and The Beanstalk Tall and Short Stories

1. Each team has to list as many items that could be thrown away as possible (one point each).

One day, Farmer Giles and Jack were out mowing the grass in the fields by the beanstalk, when they came across a very friendly wasp, buzzing around, as wasps, do, singing this song, with an out of tune note or two.

“How great it would be, to be a honey bee,

Flying around the universe, into infinity.

Maybe, I’d be confused with a butterfly or a flea,

But being a bee, would be great,

I could land on haystacks and Farmer Giles’ gate !”

As Farmer Giles stopped the tractor for a while, the wasp gave him a cunning smile. Mmm … he hadn’t eaten breakfast and headed straight for the jam sandwich in his picnic box somewhat fast. Quickly, the wasp was munching away, an entire crust had disappeared by the end of the day. When Farmer Giles looked around, there was only a trail of crumbs on the ground, he found !

Zing The Buzzing Sting In The Tail

Pick all the verbs as you can see from this poem, then add “ing” to make them into continuous present tense words. Example - do = doing.

© Jacqueline Richards 2008

Jack’s beanstalk was in Lilliput Valley - a place where goblins and fairies lived.

It was a magical place, where dreams came true,

No wonder Jack’s beanstalk grew and grew.

If Farmer Giles wished for a fabulous harvest, (that Autumn was one of the best),

The blue tit wished for a better nest, (soon, his new nest was so big, he had room for a guest !).

What were the wishes of all the rest ?

Writing Activity

Imagine you were each of the characters in Jack’s beanstalk - what would you wish for and why ?

© Jacqueline Richards 2008

On the trunk of Jack’s beanstalk, there was a step ladder - how many more steps does Jack need to take ? Which one number is added to step up the step ladder ? Fill in the gaps with the missing number.

Question 1 :

12

__

52

__

92

__

122

____________

Question 2 :

5

__

15

__

25

__

35

____________

Question 3 :

5

__

15

__

25

__

35

____________

Question 4 :

2

__

6

__

10

__

14____________

500

__

700

____________

© Jacqueline Richards 2008 ANSWERS :

5. 100

The vegetables in Jack’s beanstalk decided to have a race. Very soon, they were wobbling around all over the place. The aubergine of course was the most fast - he wanted to win a medal and not be in the race last. As the finishing line was getting near, the apples and pears started to cheer ! The grapes squashed together in a crowd - the sounding of their squishing was really quite fruity and loud ! The tangerine had real ap - peel. When he won, the grapefruit started to squeal ! The aubergine hadn’t had this much fun all week, chased by the tangerine, he looked like a freak. As they circled around the dip, the tangerine let out a pip ! They celebrated with a glass of juice and soon, all the other vegetables in Jack’s branstalk were also footloose ! The aubergine threw a party - where all the vegetables sang hale and hearty … They soon ended up in a stew, as the beanstalk around them grew and grew.Inside everyone of these sentences is a piece of Jack’s beanstalk - can you see it ?

Example - 1. One of the main cause of climate change is said to be disforestation.

2. I bought a sapphire ring.

3. The ghost disappeared down the hall.

4. I feel disappointed.

5. The crook was charged with disappropriation.

6. The passenger disembarked on the quay.

7. He branched out.

8. I just twigged the idea !

9. He made a trunk call home.

10. First I ironed the coat sleeves.

© Jacqueline Richards 2007

How many words can you think of that include the word “vin” ? Example - vintage, raving, striving, living.

Chinese Whispers

The animals in Jack’s beanstalk often communicated through the grapevine. Use your imagination to complete the following. If you were an animal living in Jack’s beanstalk, what would you say ?

The fox who lived next door to Jack’s beanstalk told the rabbit in the warren at the bottom of Jack’s beanstalk that ……….

The rabbit in the warren at the bottom of Jack’s beanstalk told the frog that ……….

The frog hopped about as he told the worm ……….

The worm couldn’t read properly in the dark soil, so mixed the message up a bit as he told the caterpillar crawling up the trunk that …..

The caterpillar told the butterfly who flew up the branches saying ……….

The butterfly told the ladybird ……….

The ladybird buzzed to the dragonfly about the ……….

The dragonfly got in a flap to the flea about ……….

The flea jumped up, saying to the bee that ………

The bee ummed, hummed and arghed a bit to the hornet about ………

The hornet then told the wasp ……….

But the wasp had a bad memory and forgot to say to the woodpecker

that ……….

The woodpecker pecked to the crow that the mite ……….

Who passed it on to the eagle that ……….

The eagle could clearly see, that the problem all started with the bee.

No wonder no - one ever got any sleep in Jack’s beanstalk ! when through

the leaves all night, you could hear the insects titter and talk !

One day a chaffinch was passing by underneath Jack’s beanstalk … his car had broken down, so he had to walk. Whilst he waited for a mechanic to arrive, he switched on the radio - playing music from nine till five. Soon, the chaffinch in Jack’s beanstalk drove everyone a little bit mad. When he turned up the volume on his radio, the music that blarted out was quite bad (but it was the only compact disc that he had !). The chauffeur chaffinch switched up a gear … and within a few seconds, a song was playing from yesteryear. When the chaffinch turned the steering wheel … all the blue tits started to squeal. As the chauffeur drove around the bend, suddenly the chaffinch set off a trend. The chaffeur chaffinch didn’t slow down … as over the beanstalk, he flapped his wings and was blown.

Chaffinch Wings

In some of the chaffinch’s words, the word “wing” has flown away ! Circle the “wing” inside these words below.

sewing

slowing

towing

bowing

rowing

flowing

sowing

rowing

mowing

showing

throwing

following

endowing

towing

stowing

crowing

Rub - a - dub - dub, three insects in the shrub. Jack’s beanstalk was surrounded by creepy crawly grubs.

There were so many, they joined in a club.

No wonder the leaves of the branches shook, when the caterpillars wriggled, they almost became unstuck !

Some of the insects climbed up the trunk, they wobbled so much, the woodpecker thought they were drunk.

Rub - a - dub - dub, three spiders in the tub.

When the bubbly water splashed, they took a scrub.

And one of the daddy long legs came to give him a rub.

Can you guess what the creepy crawlies are ? Some of them even got stuck in a jam jar.

Answers :ladybirdant

Jack decided one day, that the animals needed to learn more about the universe. “What a lot of rot !”, cried the bee (who already knew that two plus one equals three). “I agree”, said the flea (demonstrating to Jack that he knew chemistry). “Why me ?”, inquired the snail, (although he was slow, he already knew how to fix the rail). “I don’t like school - I never could stick it !”, said the kangeroo in a kagool (though he did like cricket, which he thought was cool). “I know what you mean”, said the giraffe, (who never really thought homework was much of a laugh). “Oh ! No !” exclaimed the glow - worm (dissecting mosquitoes made him squirm !). The only creature, who agreed that they didn’t know enough, was the furry caterpillar, (who put the problem down to her fluff !). Although she spent ages reading her books, she wanted to find out how to scale the beanstalk without getting stuck and decrease the time to the top that it took. Jack lined up all the creatures and introduced them to a very friendly zoology teacher (who was a tree creeper !). The tree creeper set up school by the fence - with school dinners that only cost sixpence. He had a microscope and set of slides, in which he magnified an insect’s insides. The butterfly’s antenna’s were open - eyed. The wasp had never seen a caterpillar that looked so wide ! Under the microscope, the caterpillar had fangs as big as a crocodile - Jack’s furry friend hadn’t seen one with so many legs for quite a while (of course, doubled in size under the microscope, which could walk for miles). Although the teacher tree creeper was a bit of a creep, he seemed to know everything … he even showed the grasshopper how to leap ! Then he helped Farmer Giles count his sheep. Soon, all the creepy crawlies in the beanstalk, who originally thought studying was utter humbug, were swotting like mad - instead of being swotted, which of course, wasn’t half as bad !

Say all the following words out loud. Which of the following make the sound “um” like a humming bug ?rumpus

Jack was looking forward to the beanstalk horticulture show. He and Farmer Giles had been harvesting all year … so there were lots of fruit and vegetables on the go. The strawberries were bigger than they had been in years, the leeks were so enormous, Jack had to cut them down with shears. There were bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbages in the show - some of the lettuces were so big, that they must have taken months to grow ! The oranges were so ripe, that they glowed in the Sun. The apples were enormous … they must have weighed a ton. The plums were plump … the sprouts grew in a clump … Farmer Giles ate so many, he really did feel a frump ! Along buzzed a hornet, looking for tasty morsels to eat. He couldn’t believe his eyes, when he saw all the jam sponges on the cake stall - they really did look a treat ! The hornet buzzed a whole lot more … and headed off towards the barn door. Then he spotted the plump tomatoes … piled up high all juicy and ripe. The hornet aimed fire - he really did have quite a sting. He squashed a grape with a single stab at the thing and soon, he was so sticky that he couldn’t flap his wings. Next, he took a stab at one of Farmer Gile’s pears … but he was so drunk on grape juice, that he collided everywhere. He hiccuped some more … and narrowly missed the floor. The hornet bounced off a beanastalk leaf, all around the horticulture show, he made terrible mischief. He slid down a cucumber and over a spud, within a minute or two, he’d landed in mud. “Ha ! Ha ! Hee ! Yippee !”, the hornet cried out with glee, before kicking over a very round, green pea. The bees in the beanstalk beehive flew down for a look to see what was so funny … and in runny honey got stuck ! The judges deciding which marrow was best, was suddenly stung by the hornet flying from his nest. Soon, all the people at the show, were so hopping mad that they started to go. But Jack and Farmer Giles didn’t much care at all … now they could share all the fruit and vegetables left on the horticulture stall.

The Sting In The Hornet’s Tail Game

Circle all the adjectives in the story above.

Squashed Tomatoes & Stew

1. If one pea pod contained 6 peas, how many peas were in 200 pods ?

2. Farmer Giles cut a 50cm cucumber into four pieces. How big was each piece ?

3. If one apple weighed 25 grams, how many apples were in 3 kg ?

4. In the commotion, Farmer Giles kicked over 20 % of the 200 mushrooms in the fungi competition. How many were left ?

5. Jack’s Wellington boots clumsily trod on eighth of the 40 bananas. How many were left ?

6. Farmer Giles threw away 0.6 of the 500 potatoes in the sack, because they were rotten. What fraction remained ?

7. Farmer Gile’s marrow grew at a rate of 2 cm per day. How big was it after 3 weeks ?

8. The cucumber and the marrow lined up together side by side measured 75cm. How big was each, if the proportionate size of the cucumber to the marrow was 1 : 4 ?

9. On the jam stall there were 10 jars of jam. The smallest pot was 5 cm high, the biggest was 25 cm. What was the range of jam jar size ?

10. There were 20 potatoes weighing 25 grams each, 50 potatoes weighing 30 grams and 30 potatoes weighing 10 grams.

a) How much did the entire sack weigh ? Give your answer in g and kg.

b) What was the average weight of each potato ? Work out the mean.

11. Farmer Giles lined up all the marrows. The size are given in order below.

a) What was the most likely size of the marrow in the middle ?

b) Work out the median.

c) Give a brief definition of why these two values are different.

d) What is the average size of marrow ?

25 cm - 30 cm - 35 cm - 35 cm - 45 cm - 50 cm - 55 cm - 60 cm - 75 cm - 80 cm - 90 cm - 100 cm - 105 cm

12. Jack counted the number of sunflowers in the garden bloom display. There were 125 - 25 more than the chrysanthemums. But in the tulips display, there were three times as many tulips as chrysanthemums. Write an algebraic expression to show this proportion.

© Jacqueline Richards 2007

Answers : chore ; shore ; horse ; thorn ; short ; shorn ; chortle ; horn ; horseshoe ; hornet ; hawthorn

1. 200 x 6 = 1200 peas 2. 12.5 cm