Duck by Barrie Watts

Prompts and vocabulary

Prompts

Ask the child questions after the second and third readings of Duck, to start a conversation about the book. You can prompt the child on every one or two pages, using the questions below. If the child says something spontaneously about a picture, be sure to expand on it and listen while the child repeats it.

1. Who is this? (This is the mother duck.)
2. What is she doing? (She is sitting on the eggs in her nest to keep them warm.)
3. What is happening here? (The baby duck is beginning to hatch out of the egg.)
4. What is this? (This is a baby duck.)
5. Where are the duck's feet? Where is its beak?
6. What is the duck covered with? (The duck is covered with feathers.)
7. What can the duck do now? (The duck can swim.)
8. What is this in the water with the duck? (Green plants are in the water with the duck.)
9. What is the duck eating out of? (The duck is eating out of a yellow bowl.)
10. Then what does it do? (The duck climbs into the bowl.)
11. What is happening in these pictures? (The duck swims and then shakes water off its feathers.)
12. What do you see here? (The ducks are getting bigger. They huddle together.)
13. Is this still a baby duck? (No, the duck is almost grown.)
14. Which picture shows the newborn duck? Which picture shows a grown-up duck?

Vocabulary

The words listed below come from the story and its pictures. As you page through the book, point to the pictures and ask the child to name the object or the action shown. This will help the child learn new words. You can use the words below, or you can choose words you think will interest your child. Below are words for every one or two pages of the story.

• mother duck, nest, egg, hatching
• baby duck, broken egg, feathers, beak, feet, wings
• swimming, plants, webbed feet
• yellow bowl, eating, standing inside
• shaking
• getting bigger
• grown up, white feathers, tail, drinking
• growing