Where Is The Green Sheep Lesson Plans

Using Where Is The Green Sheep by Mem Fox in Your Classroom

The poem "Where Is The Green Sheep?" by Mem Fox is a short rhythmic piece that works well for early readers and phonics instruction. It's repetitive, bouncy, and gives you a natural hook for talking about rhyming words, reading with expression, and basic comprehension. Below is a practical walkthrough of how to actually use it without turning it into a twenty-page unit plan nobody has time for. You don't need fancy materials. The original book or a printed copy of the poem is enough. I like to project the text and do a first read-aloud where I just read it straight, letting the kids catch the rhythm on their own. Most of them pick it up within thirty seconds. The poem has three main stanzas about different sheep — the sleepy sheep, the busy sheep, and the green sheep — so you already have a built-in structure. Here's the thing most people miss: the poem isn't just about animals. The real teaching opportunity is in the question-and-answer pattern. Every stanza follows the same structure — a question, then a descriptive answer with a rhyme at the end. That repetition is what makes it work for early literacy. Don't skip over the structural pattern when you're planning your lesson.

Step-by-Step Lesson Flow

I run this as a two-session unit. The first session is introduction and read-aloud. The second is activities and assessment. Here's what I actually do. Session One: Start by writing the title on the board and asking kids what they think a "green sheep" would look like. This gets them engaged before they've even read the text. Then read the poem aloud. Read it again, slower. On the second read, pause after each question and ask the kids to predict what comes next. They'll start saying the answers along with you by the third stanza. That's your moment — stop and point out the rhyme scheme. What words rhyme? "Sleepy" and "dreams" don't rhyme, but "day" and "away" do. Point out which lines rhyme and which ones don't. Most kids can spot the end rhymes if you draw their attention to them explicitly.

I also have them do a choral reading where everyone reads together. This builds confidence for reluctant readers and lets you hear who's struggling with the rhythm. Usually two or three kids in any class will be off-beat, and that tells me who needs extra practice later. Session Two: Break the class into small groups. Give each group one of the three sheep scenarios and have them create a simple illustration and a new rhyming couplet to add to their stanza. So if their sheep is the busy one, they might add something like "A busy sheep that works all day / Would never go home and sleep away." It's simple but it reinforces the pattern and gives them ownership of the text.

Then we do a comprehension check. Not a worksheet — just verbal questions. Where does the sleepy sheep dream? What kind of wool does the green sheep have? These take two minutes and tell you everything you need to know about who understood the text.

Common Pitfalls and What I Do Instead

One issue I run into every time: kids get fixated on the "green sheep" being impossible and miss the point of the poem. They'll spend ten minutes debating whether green sheep exist instead of reading. I just redirect them — tell them the poem is asking "where" not "whether." The question is about location and description, not biology. That usually gets us back on track fast. Another problem is the pace. If you try to cram this into one 30-minute period, you'll rush through the read-aloud and skip the rhyme work entirely. You'll end up with kids who can recite the poem but haven't actually engaged with the language. Two sessions is the minimum. If you only have one block, combine the choral reading and the group activity, but cut the illustration part — it eats time without adding much learning value. For kindergarten, I sometimes simplify by having them match picture cards to each stanza instead of writing new verses. The phonemic awareness work is the same, but the output demand is lower.

Downloads and Resources

There are free printable worksheets available on sites like Sheppard Software, Worksheet Fun, and various teacher sharing platforms. Search for "Where Is The Green Sheep worksheet PDF" and you'll find matching exercises, tracing pages, and sequencing activities. The official publisher, Simon & Schuster, also has some educator materials on their website. One workaround I found: instead of hunting for perfect worksheets, I take the three main questions from the poem — "Where is the green sheep?" and the two variations — and turn them into fill-in-the-blank prompts on my own whiteboard. It takes five minutes and works better than most printable materials because I can adjust the difficulty on the spot based on how the class is doing.

Extension Ideas for Different Levels

For advanced readers, have them rewrite one stanza from the green sheep's perspective using first-person narration. The poem's structure makes this a natural exercise in point of view. For English language learners, the repetition is actually helpful — the predictable pattern lets them focus on vocabulary without getting lost in complex syntax. I keep a word wall up with key terms like "dreams," "wool," "snow," and "away" and have them use those words in their own sentences after the lesson. The poem also works for seasonal tie-ins. In winter, the "snowy sheep" stanza becomes an easy entry point for discussing weather and temperature vocabulary. In spring, the green sheep opens up a conversation about colors in nature and why sheep aren't actually green. This is a straightforward resource. It does what it says it does. The lesson plan structure above will get you through it in about an hour of actual teaching time across two days, and the kids will walk away with better phonics awareness and a poem they can read independently. That's usually enough.