Genre: Drama Author’s Purpose: Entertain Comprehension Skill: Compare & Contrast By: Douglas Love

1. Blame it on the Wolf Genre: Drama Author’s Purpose: Entertain Comprehension Skill: Compare & Contrast By: Douglas Love Compiled by Terry Sams, Piedmont

2. Summary This play lets the wolf tell his side of the story.  What really happened with the three little pigs?  Did the wolf threaten them as some say?  And did the wolf really go after Little Red Riding Hood's grandma?  Could it be that the Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood have misunderstood him?  In this play, a jury hears testimony from the three pigs, Little Red, and others, and learns that there are always two sides to a story!.

3. Genre - Drama A drama is a play that has a cast of characters. The author of a play is called a playwright. It is usually performed on a stage in a theater before an audience. It will have a setting. The dialogue tells what the actors say.A drama has stage directions that tell the actors how to interpret the speeches or move around the stage.

4. Comprehension Skill: Compare and Contrast • Compare is to tell how two things are alike. • Contrast is to tell how two things are different. • Use their comparisons to look for meaning and author’s purpose • Clue words such as like or as show comparisons. • Clue words such as but, instead, and unlike show contrasts.

5. Compare and Contrast “The Three Little Pigs”

6. Comprehension Skill Review: Theme • The theme of a story is what the author wants us to learn from the story. • It is the story’s “big idea”. • Most stories do not tell what the “big idea” is. • Readers need to find it themselves. • A good way to find the theme is to ask: What does the author want me to learn from this story?

7. Practice Theme There are always two sides to a story. Pigs don’t listen very well. Wolves are nice. Which sentence is the theme for Blame it on the Wolf? Why do you think this theme makes sense?

8. Read to Find Out - Pg. 362-373 • What is the setting of the first scene? • What is the wolf trying to do in this story? • Who decides the wolf is innocent or guilty? • How are the pigs’ and wolf’s stories different?

9. Read to Find Out – Pg. 374-383 • What did the animals do that effected the outcome of the story? • Which character in the story is most different from the others? • How are Auntie Pot Pie and Big Red related? • What proves that the wolf is not guilty? • What is a moral that can be learned from this story?

10. Words to Know • character • courtroom • guilty • evidence • rescued

11. More Words to Know • appalling • defendant • verdict • witness • wolflike

12. character • a person or animal in a book, play, film, story, or poem

13. the room in which courts of law meet courtroom

14. evidence • facts; proof

15. guilty • having done wrong

16. rescued • saved

17. appalling • filling with horror or fear

18. defendant • a person against whom a charge is brought in court

19. verdict • the decision of a jury

20. witness • a person who takes an oath of truth in a court of law

21. wolflike • similar to a wolf

22. The trial took place in the courtroom.

23. The wolf is my favorite character.

24. The defendant was found guilty of the crime.

25. The dog let out a wolflike cry.

26. The lawyer presented the evidence to the jury.

27. The verdict of the jury was not guilty.

28. She pled guilty to the crime.

29. Each pig was called to be a witness against the wolf.

30. Charlie was rescued by the fireman.

31. Chicken Little said he was so frightened, it was appalling!