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I created – and am excited to share! – this Potato Pants! lesson plan to use with the book by Laurie Keller. It includes free printables for teaching what the lesson of a story is and how to summarize.
This book and the activities can be enjoyed year round, but they are also perfect for celebrating Read Across America Day. And if you’d like to find additional lesson plans for K-1 like this one, be sure to check out and download my free reading activities for picture books!
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I used the activities in this post while we were at home during the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak. But these are great anytime you need digital learning resources OR in-person instruction.
As a certified K-5 educator who taught kindergarten and first grade, I am sharing what we did in our home to stay on top of curriculum while quarantined at home. Of course, you can use them anytime of year in the home or classroom, too!
PLEASE NOTE: Life is busy as a work-at-home / stay-at-home/ homeschooling mama right now, so my directions here will be brief! Please follow me on Instagram @babblingabby where I will be sharing my daily activities and saving them in a story highlight!
This was an especially fun lesson plan for me because I had the opportunity to teach this lesson LIVE to students and teachers around the country! What a great time I had bringing this silly story to life.
I hope you’ll watch it, too! Here’s the link:
ELA LIVE Lesson #4 with Abby Mullins
Teachers, you have my permission to share this post with your students and use the included printables in your digital learning. You will find the printables linked throughout the post!
I love using a good “mystery” to engage students in a lesson. It captures their interest and easily gains their attention. Moreover, it makes them want to know more!
So, before I begin reading, I’ll cover the book with the words TOP SECRET, which prevents them from seeing the book jacket. (In this case, my own children actually destroyed the jacket #eyeroll , but there was still an illustration on the actual book that needed to be covered.)
Next, I present the Mystery Box. I explain that what’s inside the box will give them a clue about our learning. For Potato Pants!, I said something along the lines of, “What’s inside this box is going to teach you a lesson!”
Now, this can be any manner of container. I’ve always preferred to use a gable box. Typically, I grab one from a craft store, but this particular one came in a set from Amazon. Absolutely any box or opaque container would do, though.
Next, I’ll give the box a good shake so that students can hear what’s inside. Sometimes I’ll pass the box around, too. Then, I’ll reveal four clues – one at a time – and have students guess what’s inside after I share a clue.
Clue #1 is usually pretty vague, and then the clues get more specific as I work up to showing the last one. Clue #4 is usually the obvious giveaway.
For this lesson, the clue cards read:
Of course, the students then realize it’s a potato! I’ll connect the potato back to what I originally said before sharing the clues: This potato is going to teach you a lesson!
Then, I share the title of the book, Potato Pants! by Laurie Keller. (If you can’t request it from your school library, it is available for purchase through Amazon.)
You can then share the cover art on the book jacket and take a picture walk.
Before we read, I’ll set up the learning objectives. This is a good time to clarify definitions and state what the students will learn. I used Potato Pants! to teach what the lesson of the story is and how to summarize. (Here is a similar desktop pocket chart – perfect for virtual teaching or small group instruction! It’s one of my favorite teaching tools!)
DOWNLOAD LESSON DEFINITION POSTER
As you saw in the video, I love bringing stories to life. I incorporate a lot of emotion and expression, and, of course, fun voices for the characters. Students LOVE this and it models reading skills like voice and fluency.
Pro Tip! To help me while I’m reading, I pre-read the story and place sticky note reminders on pages where I want to remind myself to ask a question or point something out. These notes are invaluable if you get caught up in the story and forget the comments you intended to make.
After I’ve finished reading the story, we’ll discuss how the story relates to the learning objectives.
First, we’ll summarize the story using the SWBST mnemonic and work through each part together.
DOWNLOAD SWBST POCKET CHART PIECES
Students can complete this activity along with you using this recording sheet. Alternatively, they can easily fold a sheet of paper into five sections and label them with SWBST.
Next, we discuss the lesson that Potato Pants teaches. To help understand what the lesson of the story is, you can post three different questions to your students to help them figure it out. (There are a few, so many responses are acceptable!)
DOWNLOAD LESSON GUIDING QUESTIONS
After you’ve finished reading and discussing Potato Pants!, there are several ways to extend the lesson. Here are a few ideas I have:
If you do this Potato Pants lesson plan in at home or in your classroom, I would love to know! Please share it with me by tagging me on Instagram @babblingabby!
Don’t forget to grab your Mystery Box kit!
I promise, using the Mystery Box in your classroom is sure to provide a high interest inferencing activity that all student will be intrigued by. This increased engagement will help support their learning!
Included in this printable are:
Enjoy!
These FREE resources are an instant download upon a confirmed subscription.
Abby is a former kindergarten and first grade teacher who channels her passion for education into creating engaging activities and resources for the kindergarten and first grade classroom. When not dreaming up or working on her next project, you’ll find her enjoying her family – most likely in her minivan on the way to a soccer field.
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