Stone Soup Lesson Plans

"Stone Soup", a book by Marcia Brown, is a version of an old tale in which strangers trick a starving town into giving them some food. It is usually told as a lesson in cooperation, sharing, and helping others. It is a wonderful story to use with younger children as they begin to explore questions of good and evil and how people treat one another. It is also a great story to use in comprehension and writing instruction.

After reading the story aloud to the whole group, the teacher can then address comprehension instruction in small groups. Teachers can use the story to discuss and analyze character traits, such as the hesitation and fear of the villagers toward the strangers. The willingness and creativity of the strangers in tricking the villagers can also be discussed. Teachers can then show how those same characters change throughout the story. Teachers can also create a classroom stone soup as a lesson in cooperation. Students can bring a food item from home to help build the stone soup. This can best be done by recruiting parent volunteers to assist in and monitoring the cooking. Students can also demonstrate understanding by creating a cartoon strip around the same story line.

"Stone Soup" can also be used to implement character education as these are some of the main themes of the story. Most teachers recognize that cooperation and sharing are major issues with elementary students. As the teacher reads the story, it can be pointed out that when the visitors began their soup, they didn't have anything. This reflection can then begin a discussion of how we can help others less fortunate. Please use the following lesson plans to create your own "Stone Soup" unit.

Stone Soup Lesson Plans:

Stone Soup: 

Students read the classic story "Stone Soup" and identify the theme, setting, and main characters. They then get in groups of two and identify the main events of the story, namely, the beginning, middle, and end.

Thanksgiving Story "Stone Soup: 

Students sit and listen to the story, recall the story by naming the vegetables in the story, and use daily living skills and fine motor skills to prepare "Stone Soup."

Soup's On!: 

Students listen to the book "Stone Soup", and bring in cans of vegetables to create a graph to organize data. They make and eat first grade vegetable soup