1. pets
2. birds

The Ugly Duckling
About the Tale
Level
G
H
ans Christian Andersen was born in the small Danish town of
Word Count
Odense, in 1805. Like the ugly duckling, he was awkward and
special. With nothing to sustain him but sheer determination, Hans
287
headed for Copenhagen. There, he went to college and later wrote an
assortment of plays, novels, articles, and his beloved children’s tales. He
penned “The Ugly Duckling” in 1844. This lovely story of a homely bird
that “blooms” into a gorgeous swan has been translated into dozens of
Vocabulary
curious, geese, heron, pecked
Supportive Features
repetitive, patterned text;
short sentences
languages—English among them. It remains one of Anderson’s most
celebrated works.
Challenging Features
use of interior commas
dialogue, moral of tale
Discussion Questions
1. Why do the other birds make fun of the ugly duckling?
2. Why is the ugly duckling afraid to show his face to the swans?
3. At the end of the story, the ugly duckling decides “to be kind to all
Comprehension
Use this book with the
Compare/Contrast Venn
on page 25.
living things, from peacocks to potato bugs.” Why?
Phonics
Notable Retellings
final e: time, five, cute,
while, came, face, spoke,
made, lake
B The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson (Mineditions,
1995). This faithful translation of Anderson’s fluid tale is a bit
melancholy, but oh-so beautiful.
Writing
B The Ugly Duckling by Lorinda Bryan Cawley (Voyager Books,
1979). Charming pictures and text combine for a lively read-aloud.
B The Ugly Duckling by Jerry Pinkney (HarperCollins, 1999). Kids
are sure to respond to the wonderful art of this Caldecott-Honor book.
Companion Reproducible
Focus Skills: Following Directions, Vocabulary
Development, Writing
Fluency
Name ____
____
________
________
My Anim
al Tale
Fill in the
Distribute copies of the reproducible of page 74.
Then invite each child to fill in the blanks to write
their own customized Animal Tale inspired by “The
Ugly Duckling.”
blanks to
write
________
your own
________
_______
tale.
Have partners reread the
story, taking turns to read
one page at a time.
Circulate and listen in.
Model how to read the
longer sentences, which
contain phrases or clauses
separated by commas.
Guide • page
74
• Folk &
Fairy Tale
Easy Readers
Teaching
Once upo
n a time
, a little
________
________
for a wal
______ wen
k. He me
animal
t
t some me
an ____
________
“You are
____
ugly! Go
different anim______s.
away.”
al
They said
.
Next, he
met som
e mean
________
________
“You are
different anim______s.
ugly. Go
away,”
al
they said
.
Finally, he
met som
e nice ____
________
____
“Don’t look
different anim ______s.
at me. I
al
am ugly
,” he said
.
“You are
not ugly
. You are
just diffe
rent. Let’
friends!”
s be
they said
.
Then, the
y all wen
t out for
________
________
ice cream
______
flavor of ice
and live
cream
d happily
ever afte
r!
THE END
Scholastic
74
Have children draw a
picture of the ugly duckling
after it has grown into a
beautiful swan. Around the
picture, ask children to write
words to describe the swan,
such as white and feathery.
73
Folk & Fairy Tale Easy Readers Teaching Guide © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Name _______________________________________________
My Animal Tale
Fill in the blanks to write your own tale.
Once upon a time, a little ______________________ went
animal
for a walk. He met some mean ______________________s.
different animal
“You are ugly! Go away.” They said.
Next, he met some mean ______________________s.
different animal
“You are ugly. Go away,” they said.
Finally, he met some nice ______________________s.
different animal
“Don’t look at me. I am ugly,” he said.
“You are not ugly. You are just different. Let’s be
friends!” they said.
Then, they all went out for ______________________
flavor of ice cream
ice cream and lived happily ever after!
74
THE END
Folk & Fairy Tale Easy Readers Teaching Guide © Scholastic Teaching Resources