Sailor Sam and the Goat

Sailor Sam and the Goat is a humorous fiction story about a sailor who brought a goat onto a boat. The goat kept butting all of the sailors, and they thought it was funny until the goat fell off the ship. The sailors saved the goat, but the captain decided the goat should go to the nearest island. The sailors did not want to leave the goat until they realized that other goats lived on the island too. The story is narrated with dialogue, speech bubbles, and onomatopoeia.

Sailor Sam and the Goat is a simple narrative story. Critical thinking questions are provided to guide the reader. Illustrations match the text, and one illustration is a zoomed in view of what the captain sees through the telescope. A visual information guide is provided for teachers to draw students’ attention to the bold and illustrative text as well as the information, layout, and design of maps. There is an illustrated map with a key to use as an exemplar at the end of the book. An activity on designing a map is provided for teachers to extend students’ learning.

Readers develop vocabulary such as singular/plural (sailor/sailors) and homonyms (their/there). Opportunities arise to discuss apostrophes within contractions (can’t). Focus on long and short vowel e and discuss suffixes and base words (butted).

This title is from the Sails Literacy series. Hook readers and ignite their curiosity - over 850 levelled texts with bright, colourful, sophisticated designs.