Cupcakes Word Work & Literacy for Primary Learners

Based on the book

“If You Give a Cat a

Cupcake”

By Laura Numeroff

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

Literature Connection: Art&Writing Project

If you give me a cupcake. . .

My favorite part of

“If You Give a cat a Cupcake” is. . .

If you give my cat a cupcake. . .

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

This book is excellent for cause &

effect, retelling/sequencing, and making

connections. This would also be great for

reviewing setting since there are many

setting changes in the story.

I made a flow map for students to draw

the story events to practice retelling.

Here are a few ideas for text-to-self connections:

1. If you give me a cupcake…

2. If you give my cat a cupcake…

3. My favorite setting from the story…

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

1. He will ask for sprinkles. 2. He might accidentally spill them on the

floor.

3. Cleaning up will make him hot so he will put

swim trunks on & go to beach.

4. He will get in the water, build a sand

castle, and look for shells (beach activities).

5. He will find a few other things too.

6. He will try to put the items in his pail,

but it will be too heavy.

7. He will decide he needs to go to the

gym for a workout. He’ll exercise (treadmill,

weights, karate).

8. He’ll want to take a walk to the park to

climb as high as he can.

9. He’ll see a lake and want to go rowing.

10. While rowing, he’ll notice a merry-go-round

and go for a ride.

11. The whale that he rides on will remind him

of the science museum.

12. He’ll see the dinosaurs and apes, and

you’ll be the last ones to leave.

13. On the way home, you’ll see the beach.

14. He’ll collect all of his things from the

beach and race home.

15. When he gets home, he’ll empty the sand

from his shoes.

16. Seeing the sand will remind him of

sprinkles (and if you give him sprinkles…he’ll

want a cupcake to go with them).

ABC Order/Vocabulary

strawberry frosting chocolate

bakery

tasty sprinkles cherry

treat

delicious

pink icing sweet

eat

dessert vanilla sugar

decorate

party

Cupcake Sentence Sense

Do

What

is

your

you like

to eat cupcakes

favorite

kind

of

cupcake

to

eat

?

Have

you

sweet . ?

Cupcakes are very

These are scrambled just a bit. I wanted to try to conserve

space. Even though all of the words are not together, each

sentence is complete.

The following page has some examples of “simile” activities. There

are a few sentence starters which could be used. Also included as

a writing connection is a “five senses” cupcake activity. This will

help students to include more details and “sensory” vocabulary in their

writing.

been

to

a

bakery

before

?

Cupcakes taste as sweet as

____________________.

A cupcake is as cute as

__________________________________.

A cupcake is as soft as

____________________________.

The icing was as fluffy as

____________________________.

5 Senses

When I eat a cupcake…

It feels

It smells

I see

I hear

It tastes

Cupcake Glyph

Favorite kind of cake

Strawberry-pink

Red velvet-red

Vanilla-white

Chocolate-brown

Age- Number of Sprinkles on top

Do you like baking?

Yes-cherry on top

No-strawberry on top

Making words (chocolate)

C h

o c

o l

a t

e Chocolate

making

words set

How to decorate a cupcake

Illustrate Write about what to do. 1. First

2. Second

3. Next

4. Then

5. Last