There was an old lady who swallowed a fly

We don't pull this one out often enough, probably because I prefer to sing the song :)

It's very cleverly designed - every page you turn, you can see how the old woman is cramming more and more animals into her belly until the horse fills it entirely - then she's dead, of course! (And that's

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precisely why one should never swallow a horse.)

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This is fun book that most students will enjoy. There is an old lady and she starts swallowing different things around her. It does repeat alot, it builds up to the new thing that was just swallowed and ask the same question at the end. The pictures in this book are amazing. And children will find

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it funny.

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This is one of my favorite books. It is a funny book that has some great illustrations. It also uses repeated sentences so that the students can read it by themselves and try to predict what happens next.

This book is a poem about an old lady who at first swallows a fly. She ends up swallowing much more. This book gives pictures using a cut hole in the book, so the reader can see what is going on in her stomach.

This is such a cute book! It was funny, with great vivid pictures. There is so much

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happening on each page. I like the smart little comments the animals make at the bottom of each page.

The classroom could discuss what is reality. For example, a human can not really eat a cow. The children could also all write silly, rhyming poems about an animal of their choice.

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The lady swallowed a fly then a spider then a bird, cat, dog, cow and finally a horse. After she swallows the horse she is dead of course.

This is just a classic book. It is useful for teaching sequencing in the classroom. You can see the animals in the woman's stomach as she eats them. The words are not written in the traditional line form. In this book, they are written in more of a blob form. This makes it fun to read.

The story itself is a rhyme built around an old lady who swallows things. It is a cleverly illustrated folk favorite. The story itself has a moral, if the old lady eats a horse she will surely die. Although death is mentioned, the lightheartedness of the limerick itself allows the children to

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understand what is taking place. The illustrations are colorful and allow the children and inside view of the old lady’s belly.

I remember this folktale from when I was young and I sang the story to my son. The repetitions is a great way to involve the kids into the story.

Extensions that could be used in a classroom setting include asking the students to write down all of the words that they can think of that rhyme with the word “fly”. In addition, the students could list all the insect and animal names that the old lady swallowed.

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book review: This story is about an old lady that swallows a fly and doesnt every throw up. The pattern keeps building on this idea

content summary: patterns, flies, old lady, funny, rhyme

Wonderful read-aloud and interactive story. Lots of fun! The illustrations are fantastic.

"There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" is a silly nursey rhyme, that can be used to help spark childrens imagination, they will enjoy seeing all the many animals and bugs that end up in her belly. Can be used in a Pre-K classroom. Children can color or draw pictures of what they think she will

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swallow next!

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Summary:
This book is filled with fun characters and a funny old lady. The old lady swallowed a fly and nobody knows why, but to get rid of the fly she has to keep swallowing other animals. All the other animals she swallows are all kept in her tummy, so she grows larger and larger. Soon the old

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lady can't swallow any more animals because she dies.

Personal Reaction:
I love this book! As a grown up and reading this book I'm wondering why I love this book so much, but I do. This book makes you laugh and even as I read to my kids, they seem to think it is so funny! I never understood why the old lady dies but it never seem to make a lasting impression on the kids.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. I love the colorful images in this book. In the art center you could put out bright colorful paints for your students to paint their favorite character.
2. This would be an excellent story to try to get your students to retell the story and try to have them remember what animal comes next.

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There Was an Old Lady is a classic and traditional story that most kids can familiarize with. I like this book because it is an instant classic, and it teaches repetition and provides a crazy good story. I think it would be suitable for kids in grades K-2.

This is a great fun book for children to explore. It talks about the different things an old lady swallows and what happens because of swallowing them.

This book recites the familiar song about an old women who swallows many different animals who all move inside her until her dramatic end on the last page of the story. I absolutely loved this version of the story because the book had amazing illustrations involving cut out holes and I would use it

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in my teaching for the entertainment factor. This book is suitable for children Grades PreK-2 and fits with units that might focus on themes of song, animals, and the absurd in literature.

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We liked this book especially because it was repetitive and it had a sequence to it. What my daughter loved the most and was curious about were the holes on each page to show what was inside of the old lady's tummy.

Personal Reaction:
This book was first published in 1973 and then again in 2002. The book is still stuck in the 70's with patterns, looks of the old lady who swallowed everything. The look of the animals and colors are out dated for children in this time period to keep their attention.

Summary:
We all

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know the classic, "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly". She swallowed various animals to catch others but started off swallowing a fly for no reason at least that is what she said in the book. But in the end died.

Classroom Extension:
1. Food Chain
2. Real or imaginary
3. Rhyming

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In my opinion, this is a silly or humorous book for children to read. As I re-read the story, I was drawn in by the continuous additions into the book. The illustrations also played a key role in intriguing my interest. The way that the book is laid out correlates to the written aspect of the

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story. Not only do the readers hear about all of the things that the old lady swallowed but we see the additions into her belly with each page. One of the examples of this aspect is, "there was an old lady who swallowed a spider, that wriggle and wriggled and jiggled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly. Perhaps she'll die." In the book, the illustrator depicts a picture of the happy old woman with a fly and the newly added spider inside of her stomach.The author introduces a new animal while briefly mentioning the previous one.The plot of the story is also laid out well. One of the underlying aspects of this book is that it is a prime example of sequence and is interesting for children to read. The sequence moves from animal to animal while still including the previously mentioned animals. One of the best examples of this was at the end when all of the animals were mentioned in the sequence that they were swallowed. "There was an old lady who swallowed a cow. I don't know how she swallowed a cow! She swallowed the cow to catch the dog. She swallowed the dog to catch the cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider, that wriggle and wriggled and jiggled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly. Perhaps she'll die." This entire section of the book recaps all of the animals swallowed in a repetitive and organized manner.
The big idea of the message is focused on humor and the impossible tale of this woman who swallowed such an abundance of animals. The author is implying that if children eat abnormal things then they will die, in an exaggerated way.

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I would use this book to teach sequence of events. I would use a storyboard to demonstrate the sequence of events in this book. I would also, teach my students to make and confirm predictions about the book.

This was a great book because it is just a fun book to read to students.

I had mixed feeling about this book after reading it. I liked the book because the writing was very organized. The book had a lot of rhymes and repetition, which is great for young readers. For example, the old lady “She swallowed the cow to catch the dog.” The old lady kept eating more animals

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to catch the previous animal that she just ate. But I didn’t like how the main idea of the story is very hard to understand by young readers. Many young readers would think the message of the story is not to eat animals. The actual big idea to this story is “Don’t bite off more than you can chew”, meaning don’t do things you know you can’t do.

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A little macabre to be honest - didn't remember the whole bit about death when I read it as a kid!
That being said, my 1 year old loves to listen to the book (as long as I make the animal sounds as well) and loves to play with the book itself because of the large holes.

The one with the proper ending! All the newer ones leave out the eventual absurd death. A family friend used to read this to me when I was small, and this was the edition. Nice colorful pictures and the original goofy rhyme. Great for kids.