13 Ways to Eat a Fly

by Sue Heavenrich

Pacing Material

A counting book with a twist — thirteen predators and the surprising ways they catch and eat flies.

Big Idea

Even the smallest creatures play a role in the food web, and there is wonder in paying attention to tiny things.

Discussion Questions

1.Which fly-eater was most surprising to you?
2.How does counting help tell this story?
3.What is a food web, and where do flies fit in?
4.Why do small creatures matter?

Classroom Activity

Food Web Map

Draw a food web showing flies, three predators from the book, and what eats them. Add arrows to show the flow of energy.

Lesson Plan

⏱ 40 minutes📦 Large paper, markers, arrows (pre-cut or drawn)

Learning Goals

Explain what a food web is and where flies fit in it
Identify three predators from the book and how they catch flies
Draw a food web with arrows showing the flow of energy

Activity Steps

1.Read the story, counting each predator and how it catches flies.
2.Discuss: 'What is a food web? Why do even small creatures matter?'
3.Model drawing a food web: flies in the center, predators around them, arrows showing energy flow.
4.Students draw their own food web with at least three predators from the book.
5.Share webs and add one more predator or prey to a class web.

Standards Connections

ELA: RL.1.1 — Ask and answer questions about key details
ELA: RL.1.2 — Retell stories, including key details
ELA: RL.1.3 — Describe characters, setting, and events
ELA: RL.4.6 — Acknowledge differences in characters' points of view
ELA: SL.1.1 — Participate in collaborative conversations about the text
ELA: W.1.3 — Write narratives recounting events with descriptive details
SEL: Social Awareness
SEL: Relationship Skills
Art: VA:Re7 — Perceive and analyze artistic work

Pace-Write-Read Study with Pace-Write It!

Focus question: How does an author make a small creature like a fly feel important and exciting across many short pages? In 13 Ways to Eat a Fly by Sue Heavenrich, each page reveals a new predator and a new way the fly might be caught, turning a simple counting book into a fast, surprising sequence. The pacing moves quickly through short bursts of action, page turns, and repeated structure, while building suspense about what will happen to the fly next.

Element	How to notice or teach it in the novel
Pace	Read: Notice how 13 Ways to Eat a Fly moves in quick steps from one predator to the next, so the fly is always in danger and the reader keeps going. Classroom Activity: Write a 5-page mini counting book called 5 Ways to Catch a Bug, using one fast action on each page.
Plot	Read: Notice that the plot is simple but strong: a fly moves through the world while predators such as frogs, birds, and other creatures try to catch and eat it in different ways. Classroom Activity: Make a beginning-middle-end plot map showing how the fly’s danger grows across the book, then write your own short predator-and-prey plot.
Prosody	Read: Listen to how the words in 13 Ways to Eat a Fly sound when read aloud, especially the lively, snappy lines that match sudden movements like snapping, darting, or gulping. Classroom Activity: Choose one page and practice reading it aloud in a voice that matches the predator’s movement, then write 3 lines meant to be read dramatically.
Word pause	Read: Notice where short phrases and line breaks make you slow down right before the fly is caught, creating a tiny pause before the action lands. Classroom Activity: Write 4 sentences about an animal hunting, adding a pause with a dash or line break before the final action word.
Concept	Read: Notice how Sue Heavenrich combines counting with animal behavior, showing that something as small as a fly matters in a food web full of predators. Classroom Activity: Write a nonfiction-inspired fiction page that teaches one true fact about an animal while telling a tiny story.
Voice & World View	Read: Notice the playful, curious voice that treats the fly and each predator as worth noticing, helping readers appreciate small creatures instead of ignoring them. Classroom Activity: Write 5 sentences in a curious, nature-loving voice about a tiny animal most people overlook.
Setting & Place	Read: Notice how the settings shift through natural places where predators might find a fly, making the world feel full of hidden action. Classroom Activity: Draw and label one outdoor setting from the book’s world, then write 3 sentences showing how that place helps a predator hunt.
Point of View	Read: Notice that the book tells the action from an outside point of view, letting readers watch the fly and the predators from a broad perspective. Classroom Activity: Rewrite one page from the fly’s point of view, starting with “I buzzed…”.
Original Characters	Read: Notice that even though the characters are animals, each predator feels distinct because it catches the fly in its own special way. Classroom Activity: Invent an original predator character and write how it would become number 14 in the book.
Dialogue	Read: Notice that the book relies more on action and structure than on dialogue, which keeps the pacing brisk and focused on the chase. Classroom Activity: Add 2 speech bubbles to one predator scene, giving the fly and the predator each one line of dialogue.
Details	Read: Notice the specific details about how each predator catches a fly, which make the book interesting instead of repetitive. Classroom Activity: Write a sentence that tells exactly how one animal catches food, using at least 2 specific action details.
Descriptions	Read: Notice how the descriptions are short but vivid, helping readers picture quick movements and surprising eating methods. Classroom Activity: Describe a bug in 3 strong sentences so readers can clearly see it and imagine its movement.
Strong First Lines	Read: Notice how the opening quickly sets up the counting idea and the fly’s problem, pulling readers right into the pattern of danger. Classroom Activity: Write 3 different first lines for a bug story that begin with action or trouble.
Immediacy & Engagement	Read: Notice how each new predator creates an immediate problem for the fly, making readers want to turn the page right away. Classroom Activity: Write 4 short sentences that each begin with a new danger, such as “Then…” or “Suddenly…”.
Story Scenes & Summaries & Unique Structures	Read: Notice how the book uses a repeated counting structure instead of a long traditional story scene, and each page works like a tiny episode. Classroom Activity: Create a 6-box storyboard in which each box is one small scene in a repeated pattern.
Flashback & Flash Forward & Cliffhangers	Read: Notice that the book stays in the present action, but the page turns work almost like little cliffhangers because readers wonder what predator comes next. Classroom Activity: End 3 short pages of your own animal book with a cliffhanger question such as “But was the bug safe?”.
Tension & Suspense & Surprise	Read: Notice how tension grows because the fly keeps escaping one danger only to meet another, and surprise comes from the unusual predators and methods. Classroom Activity: Write a suspenseful 5-sentence scene in which a tiny creature escapes one problem and meets a bigger one.
Page Turns and Chapter Breaks	Read: Notice how page turns in 13 Ways to Eat a Fly help reveal each new predator, making the next number feel like a surprise. Classroom Activity: Fold paper into 4 pages and plan what secret or new danger will be revealed only after each page turn.
Performance	Read: Notice how this book invites performance with counting, dramatic pauses, and expressive reading for each predator’s attack. Classroom Activity: Practice performing one page with a partner, then write stage directions like “pause,” “whisper,” or “snap” beside your own lines.
Personality	Read: Notice how the predators show personality through their hunting styles, even without long character descriptions. Classroom Activity: Pick one predator type and write 4 sentences showing its personality through action only.
Humor	Read: Notice the humor in the twist on an ordinary counting book, where instead of counting toys or animals, readers count ways to eat a fly. Classroom Activity: Write a funny counting-book idea with a surprising topic, such as ways to lose a sandwich or ways a squirrel steals snacks.
Pause	Read: Notice how the book creates pauses before the moment of capture, giving readers a second to predict what will happen. Classroom Activity: Write 3 lines about a chase and place the word “pause” in your draft where you want listeners to stop and feel suspense.
Poetry and Poetic Devices	Read: Notice how the repeated structure, sound play, and short lines give parts of 13 Ways to Eat a Fly a poetic feel. Classroom Activity: Write a 4-line poem about a buzzing fly using alliteration, such as “busy buzzing bug”.
Repetition	Read: Notice how repetition of the counting pattern helps readers predict the structure while enjoying each new twist. Classroom Activity: Write a repeated sentence frame for your own book, such as “That is one way to catch a…” and use it 4 times.
Rhythm	Read: Notice the rhythm created by short phrases, repeated patterns, and quick action words that keep the book moving. Classroom Activity: Clap the rhythm of one page, then write 2 new rhythmic lines about an animal hunt.
Punctuation	Read: Notice how punctuation helps control speed in this book—commas can slow readers a little, while exclamation points can sharpen surprise. Classroom Activity: Rewrite one plain sentence about a bug in 3 ways using different punctuation to change the pacing.
Questions	Read: Notice the questions readers naturally ask: Which predator is next? Will the fly escape? How many ways are left? Classroom Activity: Write 3 reader questions that could make someone want to keep reading your own animal story.
Compare-Contrast	Read: Notice how each predator is similar because each wants the fly, but different in body, strategy, and speed. Classroom Activity: Complete a compare-contrast chart for 2 predators from the book, then write 2 sentences using “both” and “but”.
Objects	Read: Notice the importance of small objects and body tools—tongues, beaks, webs, or other catching parts—that help predators trap the fly. Classroom Activity: Choose one important object or body part from a predator and write 3 sentences explaining how it helps in the hunt.
Threes	Read: Notice how readers can group details in threes to make retelling easier, such as three predators, three ways of catching, or three surprising moments. Classroom Activity: Write a set of 3 action words for one predator, then build a sentence using all three.
Whitespace & Negative Space	Read: Notice how picture books like 13 Ways to Eat a Fly use open space on the page so the eye can focus on the fly, the predator, and the moment of action. Classroom Activity: Design one picture-book page with only 1 sentence and a sketch plan showing where the blank space will help the action stand out.
Art & Graphics	Read: Notice how the illustrations support pacing by showing size, motion, and the danger facing the tiny fly from each predator. Classroom Activity: Draw a mock page for number 14 and add arrows or labels to show how the art would guide a reader’s eye.
Interactives & Gamification	Read: Notice how the counting structure turns reading into a kind of guessing game because readers can predict, count, and anticipate each new way to eat a fly. Classroom Activity: Create a class guessing game called “What’s Predator #5?” and write 3 clue cards for your invented animal.

Pace-Write It!

20-Minute Classroom Flow Read (5 min): Read aloud 13 Ways to Eat a Fly by Sue Heavenrich. Pause at a few page turns and ask students to predict what kind of predator might come next and how it might catch the fly. Notice (5 min): Chart what students notice about pacing: counting pattern, repeated structure, short action-filled language, surprise page turns, and the way each predator creates a new problem for the fly. Ask: How does the author make a tiny fly feel important? Write (7 min): Students write their own short piece titled ___ Ways to Catch a ___. Encourage them to use counting, repetition, and one surprise on each page or line. Writing frame: “1 way to catch a ___ is by ___. 2 ways to catch a ___ are by ___ and ___. Another creature waits… Then ___.” Students may continue for 3-5 ways. Share (3 min): Partners read their pieces aloud with dramatic pacing, adding a pause before the final action on each line. Invite 2-3 students to share with the class. Exit ticket: Write one sentence answering: “One way Sue Heavenrich uses pacing in 13 Ways to Eat a Fly is ___.”

Pace-Write-Read Connection

Teach this book using the Pace-Write-Read method — Tool 33: Lists.

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