120 Fables and Stories: Supplemental Guide 7A | The Little Half-Chick (Medio Pollito)
Presenting the Read-Aloud 15 minutes
The Little Half-Chick (Medio Pollito)
Show image 7A-2: Hen with brood of baby chicks
Once there was a hen who had a large brood of little chicks.[Point to the brood and have students say brood of chicks with you.]
They were all fine, plump—and round—little birds, except the
youngest. He was quite unlike his brothers and sisters. He looked as
if he had been cut right in half! All of his brothers and sisters had two
wings and two legs and two eyes, but he had only one wing, one leg,
and one eye. And he had only half a head and half a beak. His mother
shook her head sadly as she looked at him. “Poor thing!” she said.
“He is only a half-chick.”The mother hen called her youngest chick Medio Pollito [MEH-dee-oh
poh-YEE-toh], which is Spanish for “half-chick.”[Have students tell their partner why he is called Medio Pollito. Call on two
partner pairs to share.]
She thought that he would never be able to take care of himself. She
decided that she would have to keep him at home to take care of him
and look after him.But, Medio Pollito had a different idea. Medio Pollito turned out to be
a very stubborn little chick.[Explain to students that Medio Pollito is stubborn and hard to take care of
because he did not always listen to his mother and liked to do things his way.]
Even though his brothers and sisters did just what they were told to
do, Medio Pollito did not. When his mother called for him to come
back to the chicken house, he hid in the cornfield. Sometimes he
pretended that he could not hear her (because, of course, he had
only one ear). The older he became, the more willful and stubborn he
became. He would not listen to his mother and he was often rude to
his brothers and sisters, even though they were always extra nice to
him.[Have students discuss with their partner whether Medio Pollito is a kind, or
nice, chick. Call on two partner pairs to share.]