Loveable Troublesome Goats - There's a Billy Goat in the Garden

There's a Billy Goat in the Garden
retold by laurel Dee Gugler
illustrated by Clare Beaton
based on a Puerto Rican folk tale
Laptime: toddler - Kindergarten
Story Circle: preschool - Kindergarten

We have two goats at my house, Sven and Ole. This is a picture of Sven.
Our goats are LaManchas so they have little tiny ears.
People laugh at them but I think that they are very handsome. Though it is
not true that goats will eat anything, they will eat almost anything
and are always looking for ways to get into trouble. I enjoy this book so much because often at our house, there is a billy goat in the garden!

There's a Billy Goat in the Garden is a retelling of a Puerto Rican folk tale. A stubborn billy goat is in the garden eating the clothes that are hanging out to dry. The children can't chase him away so they enlist the help of their barnyard friends. Each animal tries their best to get the goat to leave the garden but as the animals get bigger the goat gets more stubborn. Finally the least likely creature succeeds where the others failed showing sometimes it's the little unexpected things that get the job done.

Laurel Dee Gugler's charming retelling of this folktale is accompanied by beautiful fabric collage illustrations by Clare Beaton. The artwork gives each page a 3 dimensional feel that makes the reader want to linger on the page to take in every detail.
Laptime Activity
Learn to Love a Goat

• Check out this site, Breeds of Livestock, Goat breeds, to learn about different types of goats. Be sure to check out L for LaMancha and to learn about Sven and Ole.
• Goats and More Goats, from the Irvine Mesa Charros 4-H Club, also gives great goat info.
• Search the internet or go to the library for more information about goats.
• Visit a goat breeder for an up close and personal goat experience. Around kidding time there is always a need for an extra pair of hands to feed baby goats.

Laptime and Story Circle Activity
Fabric Collages
You will need:

• A variety of fabric scraps
• good scissors for each child
• White school or craft glue on bottles or in cups with popscicle sticks for applicators
• buttons, yarn, string, beads, etc. for interesting touches

1. Give each child a piece of heavy construction paper for their background.
2. Put the fabric scraps in the center of the work space so that the children have access to a variety of fabrics.
3. Using the illustrations in the book for inspiration, talk about the different fabrics, colors and patterns that are used and how to cut out different shapes and sizes.
4. Encourage the children to make simple designs: a tree, some flowers, a house, a hillside, a rainbow, clouds, etc.
5. Remind the children to use only small dots of glue on the fabric so that the glue doesn't soak through and make a soggy mess - No glue monsters.
6. If you have preschoolers that do not have the small motor skills to handle scissors, pre-cut different shapes out of the fabric so that they can put the shapes together to make a picture.

Story Circle Activity
Creative Drama - act out the story

• Start with a movement game - Have the children spread out around the room so that they have space to move. Move around the room like each of the animals in the story: You are a goat eating the clothes in the garden. How does a goat move? You are a rooster going to scare the goat out of the garden. How does a rooster move? - and so on with the other animals.
• Choose 10 children to be the characters in the story. The rest of the children will be the chorus.
• As the teacher reads the story have each character act out what is being read. After you read a page allow time for the actors to act out what you just read and encourage them to add their own dialogue - What would the rooster say to the goat? What would the goat say back to the rooster. Also encourage the children to move like the animal characters that they are playing.
• The children who are the chorus should repeat the phrase, "will NOT COME OUT!" every time that it comes up in the story. Each time the phrase comes up the chorus should say it with more and more dismay and frustration.
• Remember, this is not to be a performance piece but a fun activity to enhance the story that you just read. Have fun; be creative.