Comparing Stories by David Shannon

As a part of our study over David Shannon books, we read Too Many Toys and A Bad Case of Stripes. As you can read about in previous posts, the students analyzed the characters, wrote about the beginning, middle, and end as well as the story elements. In this lesson, the students created a Double Bubble Map to compare the two stories. They then wrote at least one way the two stories were the same and two ways they were different on a four-tiered foldable. The foldables were displayed along with artwork they created for A Bad Case of Stripes. The students traced their hand and arm and then colored it with stripes.

Character Traits: Too Many Toys

After reading Too Many Toys by David Shannon, the students wrote about the main character, Spencer, on a person template. They wrote how he acts, what he feels, and what they would do if they were him. They then colored the template to look like Spencer.

Character Traits: Alice The Fairy

After reading Alice the Fairy by David Shannon, the students wrote about the various character traits of the main character on a person template. They wrote about what she looks like, how she acts, some things she did in the book, and then if they would want to be a permanent fairy or a temporary fairy. They then colored the person template to look like her.

Bad Case of the Stripes

Continuing with our study of David Shannon books, we read A Bad Case of Stripes. The students created foldables again to write the beginning, middle, and end. They also completed a Story Map to write the characters, setting, problem, and solution.

Too Many Toys

As a part of an author study of David Shannon, we read Too Many Toys. The students created a three-flap foldable to record the beginning, middle, and end of the story and then completed Story Maps to record the characters, setting, problem, and solution.

Word Work

During our Daily 5 time, our main focuses are Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Working on Words. During Working on Words time, the students enjoy a variety of hands-on practice activities. Below are a few examples of what the students work on while I am working in small groups on Guided Reading. Each group has a set of word wall and phonics cards to practice. They build the letters with pop cubes, write them in Rainbow Letters or Stair-Step letters, and much more.

 

 

Reading Partners

Each morning when the students arrive they begin Read to Self  or Read to Someone from Daily 5. I try to have the students read for 15-20 minutes at the beginning of each day either independently or in partners. During this time, I've found that a large number of the students enjoy reading to a stuffed animal. They get to use their imagination while they read aloud. As you can see from the pictures, the students are free to read wherever and however they are comfortable.

Area Animals

The students created various animals on one inch grid paper using color tiles. They the colored their animal on another sheet of grid paper. They then paired up with another student to compare the area of their animal with the area of their partner's animal. They then recorded which animal covered the most space and which animal covered the least area.