Classroom Book Activity – Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Classroom Book Activities for: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom By Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. Illustrated by Lois Ehlert

Story Summary

In this rhyming alphabet book, letters are racing each other to the top of the coconut tree. Will all the letters fit in the coconut tree? Will they help each other get to the top of the coconut tree?

Recommended Ages: 

• Preschool
• Kindergarten

Activity 1

• Introduce the letters of the alphabet to the students. Place the letters (you can choose to use uppercase or lowercase letters) in a plastic bucket.
• Have the students sit in a circle and place the bucket in the middle of the circle.
• Each student gets a turn to pick a letter until all the letters have been picked. Have the students try to name each letter that is picked.
• After all the letters have been picked, count how many letters there are altogether. Review with students that there are 26 letters in the alphabet.
• Ask the students what else they know about letters (letters in their names, letters in words, the ABC song). Then sing the ABC song together.

Materials

• Alphabet Magnets
• Plastic Bucket

Activity 2

• Introduce the story Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to the students.
• Ask the students to look at the cover and share what they notice. What might this story be about? Have they seen a tree like that before? What is growing on the tree?
• Share with the students that in this story, the first letter is challenging the other letters to join him in climbing up the coconut tree.
• Read the story aloud to find out what happens to the letters and the coconut tree!

Materials

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book

Activity 3

• This next activity can be used as a center after reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
• Gather a group of 4-5 students at a table. Give each student a pink piece of construction paper and have them put their name on the back.
• Next they will need a piece of brown and green construction paper. Instruct the students on how to cut out a trunk and palm leaves to make the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom coconut tree. Then glue the trunk and palm leaves to the pink paper. Use the cover of the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book as a model.
• Now students will look through magazines to find the letters of the alphabet. They will cut the letters out and glue them to the paper to make it look like the letters are going up to the coconut tree just like in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
• As the students are adding letters to their coconut trees, discuss with the students the letters and the sounds they make.

Materials

• Tru-Ray Sulphite Construction Paper
• Pencils
• Scissors
• Elmer’s Glue Sticks
• Magazines

Activity 4

• Gather the class together and reread Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Let the students chime in if there are parts of the story they remember.
• After reading, introduce the interactive chart for the “Chicka Chicka” poem.
  Chicka Chicka
  Boom Boom!
  Will there be
  enough room?
  Here comes ______
  up the coconut tree!
• The chart will be created ahead of time with a list of letters on a sentence strip. The strip can be pulled through slits in the poem.
• The sentence strip could also have student names or sight words on it to extend the activity.

Materials

• Ruled Chart Tablet 
• Liqui-Mark Washable Markers
• Scissors
• Sentence Strips

Guest Blogger: Melinda Brown, Reading Recovery Teacher at East Lyme Public