Jasper: Jasper's Beanstalk

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Read Oliver’s Fruit Salad. Notice that at the start Oliver didn’t want to eat the fruit. Discuss why he changed his mind. Finally, list lots of different fruits and describe them, e.g. red cherry. 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'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 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!

The story touches on the topic of the cycles of nature and how things grow, with a gentle moral of how everything comes to those who wait. A cute story of Jasper who has a bean and plants it to watch a beanstalk grow. He gets upset after a week of caring for his little bean and still nothing happens. He tosses it aside and forgets, but eventually the bean sprouts in the beanstalk Jasper was hoping for. Share the poem and rehearse at suitable times throughout the week, e.g. start/end of the day. Help children vary the pitch and tone of their voice as they rehearse to stress the counting words. Hold up fingers to correspond to each number and generate an action, e.g. munch = snap mouth shut. Jasper thinks that the bean will never grow into a beanstalk, but a long time later he is surprised…A selection of cards featuring our interpretation of characters and scenes from the Jasper’s Beanstalk story. They are ideal to cut out and use to retell the story or sequence the story with your pupils. 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 starts on a Monday where Jasper plants a bean and then every day of the week he tends to it to help it grow by watering it, digging it and spraying it. Unfortunately a week later, after waiting, waiting and waiting, Jasper gets very frustrated and impatient as nothing has grown. He decides he has had enough and digs the bean out and throws it away. However some time later the bean begins to grow and it grows into a huge beanstalk. Jasper is convinced there are giants at the top and goes in search of them. The book has clear illustrations which will allow readers to use picture cues to help them read the text.

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. 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. The illustrations are charming and simple, but with enough going on to draw interest and support questioning of the book.

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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. 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.