Words to watch for
The Fox and the Grapes
A fox was walking through an orchard on a hot summer day when
he spotted a juicy bunch of grapes. They were on a high branch,
way above the fox’s head. So he crouched down, leaped as high
as he could, and snapped his jaws, but missed the grapes.
The fox stared up at the grapes. They looked so fat and purple and tasty,
his mouth began to water. The fox backed up, got a good running start,
and again leaped for the grapes. He snapped his jaws together with a
terrific smack. But again, the grapes were beyond the fox’s grasp.
The fox gazed up longingly at the grapes. There were so many of them.
They were so round, so ripe, so purple, so perfect! He had to have those
grapes. The fox backed up even farther, he ran even faster, he leaped
even higher, and he snapped his jaws together even more loudly than
before. But when he returned to the ground, still no grapes.
The fox looked up one last time and pronounced, “Those grapes are
surely sour.”
- Can you think of a time when you wanted something
that you just could not have?
- What did the fox really mean when he said “sour grapes”?
- Can you think of a time when you wanted to say “sour
grapes”? What was it that you wanted?
- If you had been the fox, what would you have
done differently?
- What do you think the moral of the fable is?
Moral:
One often despises what one cannot have.
Journal Writing Activity:
See if children can retell the story with the beginning, middle, and end in order
Math
Pose some story problems:
-If the grapes were 48 inches off the
ground and, on his first try, the fox was
able to jump only so that his mouth was
37 inches off the ground, by how many
inches did the fox miss the grapes?
8If on the second try, the fox jumped
higher by 2 inches, by how many inches
did he then miss the grapes?
Or, estimate how many grapes in a bunch!
Science
Find out how and where grapes are grown
and what they are used for (grape juice,
vineyards producing wine, and so on).
Examine different varieties of grapes and
discuss the variety in color. Have a grape
taste test and vote on a favorite!
One of the most commonly used
expressions based on fables is “sour
grapes,” referring to the idea that people
pretend that something they really want is
unappealing if they cannot attain it. I tell
children that the proverb can be shortened
to the expression “sour grapes.”
- orchard
- juicy
- crouched
- jaws
- snapped
- grasp
- longingly
- pronounced
The Fox and the Grapes
A fox was walking through an orchard on a hot summer day when
he spotted a juicy bunch of grapes. They were on a high branch,
way above the fox’s head. So he crouched down, leaped as high
as he could, and snapped his jaws, but missed the grapes.
The fox stared up at the grapes. They looked so fat and purple and tasty,
his mouth began to water. The fox backed up, got a good running start,
and again leaped for the grapes. He snapped his jaws together with a
terrific smack. But again, the grapes were beyond the fox’s grasp.
The fox gazed up longingly at the grapes. There were so many of them.
They were so round, so ripe, so purple, so perfect! He had to have those
grapes. The fox backed up even farther, he ran even faster, he leaped
even higher, and he snapped his jaws together even more loudly than
before. But when he returned to the ground, still no grapes.
The fox looked up one last time and pronounced, “Those grapes are
surely sour.”
- Can you think of a time when you wanted something
that you just could not have?
- What did the fox really mean when he said “sour grapes”?
- Can you think of a time when you wanted to say “sour
grapes”? What was it that you wanted?
- If you had been the fox, what would you have
done differently?
- What do you think the moral of the fable is?
Moral:
One often despises what one cannot have.
Journal Writing Activity:
See if children can retell the story with the beginning, middle, and end in order
Math
Pose some story problems:
-If the grapes were 48 inches off the
ground and, on his first try, the fox was
able to jump only so that his mouth was
37 inches off the ground, by how many
inches did the fox miss the grapes?
8If on the second try, the fox jumped
higher by 2 inches, by how many inches
did he then miss the grapes?
Or, estimate how many grapes in a bunch!
Science
Find out how and where grapes are grown
and what they are used for (grape juice,
vineyards producing wine, and so on).
Examine different varieties of grapes and
discuss the variety in color. Have a grape
taste test and vote on a favorite!
One of the most commonly used
expressions based on fables is “sour
grapes,” referring to the idea that people
pretend that something they really want is
unappealing if they cannot attain it. I tell
children that the proverb can be shortened
to the expression “sour grapes.”
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