Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Hansel and Gretel will find this post helpful. It includes resource recommendations, free teaching ideas, and information about the book. You’ll have everything you need to deliver engaging interactive read aloud lessons based on this story.
With themes of problem solving, advocacy and teamwork, this Hansel and Gretel picture book by James Marshall is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It will be a big hit in your classroom too! Learn more about this book below!
Engage Your Students with Hansel and Gretel Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Hansel and Gretel . You can find it in the section below.
- Check out the teaching ideas for reading comprehension strategies, grammar topics and social emotional learning skills that can be taught using this children’s book.
- Download the book companion to make lesson planning simple with Hansel and Gretel reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
HANSEL AND GRETEL SUMMARY
Living in the woods in the midst of a famine lived a woodcutter and his wife. His wife was afraid there would not be enough to eat, so they led their children to the woods to starve. Hearing of this plan, Hansel gathered pebbles to help him and his sister find their way home. When they returned, their father was happy to see them, but the wife was not.
In the eyes of the next famine, the woodcutter and his wife led the children deeper into the woods. Hansel left a path of crumbs, but they were eaten by animals! So, the children wandered deeper and deeper into the forest until they found a house of candy. A witch welcomed them, encouraging them to eat. She then locked up the brother and tried to make him eat so he would become plump.
In the end, Hansel and Gretel outsmarted the witch, ran off with her treasures, and found their father. They lived happily ever after!
HANSEL AND GRETEL LESSON PLAN IDEAS
Each of our 400+ Starts With a Story book companions come with a teacher’s guide to make lesson planning quick and easy, printable worksheets and digital resources that cover ALL of the standards-based reading comprehension skills.
When it comes to writing lesson plans and finding activities for Hansel and Gretel , we’ve already done all of the heavy lifting for you.
We found this book was especially good at teaching the topics listed below.
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
The text-based Hansel and Gretel reading comprehension questions focus on:
- retelling
- cause and effect
- making inferences
- making connections
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- problem solving
- advocacy
- teamwork
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- capitalization
- adverbs
- prepositions
HANSEL AND GRETEL ACTIVITIES
You’ll receive all of the following resources aligned to the story:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
YOU HAVE 2 OPTIONS! WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK COMPANION?
BOOK INFO FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
What are the reading levels for Hansel and Gretel ?
- Lexile® Measure: N/A
- Guided Reading Level: O
- DRA Level: 30
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 3.3
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by James Marshall. It was illustrated by James Marshall.
What genre is Hansel and Gretel ?
It is a fiction book. You may want to check out our genre activities or read our blog post, How to Teach Genre to Elementary Students.
How many pages are in the book?
The story is 32 pages long.
