Summary

Baby Llama gets a bedtime story read to him by his mother. Then Mama Llama goes downstairs to do the dishes while Baby Llama sleeps, but Baby Llama does not fall asleep. Baby Llama is thirsty and waits for his mother to bring him a drink. She takes a long time to bring it to him, which bothers Baby Llama more and more until he ends up throwing a fit. Mama Llama comes up and explains that even when she is not there with him she is always near him.

Activities
Pre-reading activities (Also recommended as a Read-Aloud)

1. Look up "llama" in the dictionary and find out where they originated.
   Little Explorers Picture Dictionary (in English or multiple languages)
   direct to llama page
   Note: There is also a llama page to color online, but it is a distraction rather than contributing to learning.

2. Look up South America (where llamas are from) on the map. Give students a map of the world and have the students color in the area for South America.

3. Give students a list of words that they might not understand from the book such as: hum, fret, whimper, moan, pout, shout, weeping, wailing, tizzy, patient, snuggle. Ask them to use 2 of them in a sentence of their own.

4. After a picture walk through the book, students work in pairs telling what they think the story will be about.

1. Students get with the same partner they were with before reading the story and make a list of things that they predicted correctly in the story and things they predicted that did not happen in the story.

2. Anna Dewdney has written a sequel. What is a sequel?
   In this sequel, Mama Llama takes Llama Llama shopping at the Shop-O-Rama. Lots of things bother Llama Llama and, sure enough, pretty soon Llama Llama is MAD. Mama Llama, of course, knows how to calm him down. If you can’t find this sequel to read, try making up one of your own.
   Llama Llama Mad At Mama (Hardcover) by Anna Dewdney. Viking Juvenile, 2007. ISBN: 9780670062409. pp: 40. Ages: 4-6, gr: preschool-k

3. Small group activity (3 or 4): Talk about a time you were scared when one of your parents was not around.

4. Have you seen a llama at the zoo? Look at these zoos that have llamas:
   • Palm Beach Zoo, Florida
   • Lake Superior Children’s Zoo, Minnesota
   • Riverbanks Zoo, South Carolina
   
   
5. Make your own paper bag llama using fabric and construction paper. Examples of paper bag animals for the teacher:
   • FunRoom.
   • Making Friends
   • Enchanted Learning

6. Did you notice that Baby Llama had a stuffed animal llama with him? Draw a picture of something that can always help you feel safe. Write a sentence or two about why it always helps you.

7. Print out one of the activity pages from Anna Dewdney: coloring pages, connect-the-dots, maze, word search.

8. Make a graphic organizer with "Mama Llama" in the middle and the lines coming off of it with the places she was and what she was doing. (This can be done on the chalkboard as a class.)

9. Make worksheets with a Venn Diagram with "myself" on one side, and "Baby Llama" on the other side; Students write things that are different about the two of them on the outside and what they have in common in the middle.

About the Author

• About Me - Anna Dewdney homepage

• brief bio and photo

Awards

• Wanda Gág Honor Book, 2006 (best picture book to read aloud to children birth-8)

Related books

• Hoban, R. (new edition, 1995). Bedtime for Francis. HarperCollins. grades preschool-1

More for the teacher

• Anna Dewdney homepage

• A good llama information page to print for your background information.

• If the class takes a field trip to the zoo, use this book in advance. Compose a class letter to the zoo asking for information about llamas that the zoo has.

Assessment

Llama Llama Red Pajama. Accelerated Reader: Quiz #87616 EN; Book Level 2.0; Points= 0.5

• Bedtime for Frances by Hoban, Russell. AR Quiz #5208 EN; Book Level 1.6; Points= 0.5. Book Adventure Level 1.0. Reading Counts Level 3.4; Points 2.0. Lexile Level 360. Guided Reading Level K. Flesch/Kincaid 2. word count= 1340