Topic: The Rainbow Fish

Have you read the book The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister?

Perhaps you have it at home? If you do, find somewhere exciting to

read it again with an adult or older sibling. If not, use the link below

to hear the story being read (you could use the link and follow the

story in the book if you have it!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9mryuEKkKc

Then, you can use the story to do your learning over the course of

the week. I have included some ideas in this PowerPoint which I will

also upload to the Reception Page on the school website as smaller

documents in case that is easier to navigate! But feel free to come

up with your ideas as well!

The Rainbow Fish

By Marcus Pfister

Far out in the sea lived

a fish. No ordinary

fish, however.

He was the most

beautiful fish in the

entire ocean.

His scales shimmered

with all the colours of

the rainbow.

The other fish admired his colourful scales and called him Rainbow Fish.

"Come on, play with

us, Rainbow Fish!" But

Rainbow Fish was

proud and swam past

them.

A little blue fish swam

along behind him.

"Rainbow Fish, wait for

me! Please give me one

of your glittering scales.

They are so beautiful and

you have got so many!"

"Give you one of my

scales? What are you

thinking of?", cried

Rainbow Fish. "Get

away from me!"

Shocked, the little blue

fish swam away.

Still excited, he told his

friends about it. From

then on nobody wanted

any more to do with

Rainbow Fish.

They turned away when

he swam past them

What use were

Rainbow Fish’s

beautiful scales, if

they were no longer

admired by anyone?

Now he was the

loneliest fish in the

entire ocean!

One day he poured out

his sorrow to the

starfish. "I’m so

beautiful. Why doesn’t

anyone like me?"

"In a cave behind the

coral reef lives the wise

octopus. Perhaps he can

help you," the starfish

advised him.

Rainbow Fish found

the cave. It was very

dark here. He could

hardly see anything.

Then suddenly he saw

two glowing eyes.

"I have been expecting you,"

said the octopus in a deep

voice. "The waves have told me

your story. Listen to my advice:

give every fish one of your

glittering scales. Then you may

not be the most beautiful fish in

the ocean, but you will be

happy again."

"But ..." Rainbow Fish

began to say, but octopus

had already disappeared

in a dark cloud of ink.

"Give away my scales? My

beautiful glittering scales? “

thought Rainbow Fish,

horrified.

"Never! No. How could I be

happy without them?"

Suddenly he felt the

light touch of a fin. The

little blue fish was back!

"Rainbow Fish, please,

don’t be angry. Please

give me one of your

glittering scales, a small

one."

Rainbow Fish hesitated.

"A very, very small

scale, he thought. Why

not, I will hardly miss

it."

Rainbow Fish

carefully pulled off

the very smallest

of his glittering

scales. "Here, I’ll

give you this one!

But now leave me

in peace!"

"Thank you, thank you

very much!" burbled the

little blue fish excitedly.

"You are kind, Rainbow

Fish."

Rainbow Fish felt quite

strange.

He watched the little

blue fish for a long time

as he swam away

happily through the

water with his glittering

scale, turning this way

and that.

The little blue fish darted

through the water with his

glittering scale. Soon

Rainbow Fish was

surrounded by other fish.

All of them wanted to have

a glittering scale. Rainbow

Fish shared out his scales

and felt happier and

happier as he did so.

Finally Rainbow Fish had

only one glittering scale

left. He had given away all

the others! And he was

happy, happier than he had

ever been!

"Come on, Rainbow

Fish, come and play

with us!" called the

others. "I’m coming!"

said Rainbow Fish and

went happily with the

other fish.

THE END

Learning ideas

English

Talk about these questions with an adult.

1. Where did the rainbow fish live?

2. What did the rainbow fish tell the little fish the first time he asked him for a flashing scale?

3. Who did the rainbow fish go to for advice?

4. How many colorful scales did the rainbow fish keep at the end of the story?

What about these trickier questions?

1. If you were the octopus, what advice would you have given the rainbow fish?

2. How did the rainbow fish’s feelings change during the story?

3. How would the story have been different if the octopus had not been in his cave?

Cut out and sequence the pictures? (they are on 2 slides!)

Rewrite the story. Can you do this in your own words? Use the prompts of you need to!

What makes a good

friend? Can you write

a list of the qualities

a good friend needs?

Learning ideas

Maths

Capacity

Rainbow Fish lives in the sea, in water.

Why not experiment with capacity? What is

capacity? Can you use some different

containers and work out which has the biggest

capacity and which has the smallest?

Can you fill, empty and half fill some

containers? Can you make containers

overflow?

This might be one to do in the bath or outside

in the garden in the lovely sunny weather!

Cut out the fish and order them from smallest to largest.

Learning ideas

Other things you could do!

K R O C K F I S H F H T T T L

Q N R B X K W R W K P E B N N

B L M K D N R H H R Q P L O P

W C C R S R D K A D M M J I T

T V R F F U T G T L K I G L R

D H W A Y K P W M X E L P A T

R N L K B N M O K N Z V C E V

C H M L P K L T T M Y W Q S F

D S E A W E E D H C K E M L J

O H S I F D R O W S O F S E M

L C F N D L H K R A H S L R N

P N Y M I Q X J L R N L N H O

H N N W U Q Y M R X Y Z F R L

I W K Q Q M A E E F N E T N L

N F B M S L T N I X F U E M W

G T Z N C S O S H L R P K L C

X M W H Y M H C L T Z K N M S

jellyfish

shark

squid

seaweed

rockfish

dolphin

clam

crab

swordfish

octopus

eels

sea lion

whale

Sea Life

Words can go horizontally,vertically and

diagonally in all eight directions.