30,000 STITCHES activities and lesson plan ideas

Save yourself time and engage your students with these 30,000 Stitches activities. This jam-packed book companion is quick and easy to use - Just print and go!

Read on to learn more about all that is included in this standards-based interactive read aloud packet based on the children’s book, 30,000 Stitches by Amanda Davis.

TO SAVE YOU TIME, WE'VE DONE ALL OF THE WORK FOR YOU!

1. We chose vocabulary words & kid-friendly definitions.
2. We selected mentor sentences & specific grammar skills for each.
3. We wrote 30 book-based writing prompts (that cover 10 genres of writing).
4. We identified an SEL focus / character education topic based on events in the story.
5. We constructed strategy-based reading comprehension questions and created no-prep, print-and-go reader response worksheets.

YOU ONLY NEED TO DO 3 QUICK & EASY STEPS:

STEP 1: PLAN

Simply customize your 30,000 Stitches lesson plans using the ideas in the teaching guide and choose from the 15 standards-based activities.

STEP 2: PREP

Prep can be as simple as printing the activity pages (or assigning the included digital version) and finding a free video of the book being read aloud online.

OPTIONAL: If you want to dive deeper into a book study, you’ll find our teaching ideas and slides make it easy to create mini-lessons, anchor charts, and slideshows.

STEP 3: TEACH

Engage your students with an interactive read aloud by reading or streaming the picture book. Practice reading comprehension strategies with text-based discussion questions. We even wrote the 30,000 Stitches comprehension questions for you!

Some teachers like to assemble and assign independent work packets. Others prefer to dive deeper into the story with vocabulary, grammar, SEL, and writing lessons that can span over several days.

The best thing about our 500+ book companions is the flexibility they provide you. We’ve packed them with a variety of teaching ideas and activities so you have the option to use them in the way that works best for you and your students! 

THE 30,000 STITCHES BOOK COMPANION FOCUSES ON:

◼️READING SKILLS

☐ ASKING AND ANSWERING QUESTIONS

☐ AUTHOR'S PURPOSE

☐ IDENTIFYING THEME, MESSAGE AND MORAL

☐ ANALYZING ILLUSTRATIONS

☐ SUMMARIZING / RETELLING

◼️GRAMMAR

☐ ADJECTIVES

☐ PREFIXES

☐ PROPER NOUNS

☐ PREPOSITIONS

◼️SEL

☐ TEAMWORK

30,000 STITCHES SUMMARY

Amanda Davis’ book, 30,000 Stitches, tells the story of the American Flag flown after September 11, 2001. The flag was hung by construction workers after the Twin Towers fell and it stayed there until it became faded and tattered. Eventually the flag was taken down and stored away. 

Years later, the flag was brought to Kansas by a group of volunteers from New York. A tornado had struck the town and volunteers were working to rebuild the town. The flag was going to be part of a memorial park. However, when residents saw the damaged flag, they decided to repair it. They began fixing the flag with pieces of their own flags ruined in the storm. Eventually, a new plan was formed. The flag would travel around the country to be repaired by people from all 50 states. 

The flag visited many historical places and events. Each time, volunteers added their own pieces to the flag. Ten years later, the restoration was complete the flag returned home to New York City. 

Davis’ book not only tells the history of this important flag but spreads a message of unity.

THIS COLLECTION OF ACTIVITIES and LESSON IDEAS INCLUDES:

➜ Comprehension Questions categorized by reading strategy; text-dependent
➜ Social Emotional Learning guidance lesson ideas & discussion topics based on the story
➜ Vocabulary Activities with kid-friendly definitions
➜ Grammar Topics selected to align with the text
➜ Focus Sentences use the book & author's craft as a mentor text to improve writing
➜ Lesson Planner summary, background info and planning space

➜ Story Mapping Printable identify character, setting, problem and solution

➜ Making Words Activity Page use any word from the book

➜ Focus Sentence copy work, identifying elements of the sentence, rewriting)

➜ Design a New Book Cover demonstrate understanding of the text by creating an illustration

➜ Predicting Activity primary-ruled and wider-ruled versions
➜ Summarizing Somebody → Wanted → But → Then → Finally

➜ Comparing and Contrasting using a Venn Diagram

➜ Cause and Effect analyze how events affect one another

➜ Visualization illustrate visualizations from the story and support thinking with text-based evidence

➜ Making Connections identify text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections

➜ Thematic Writing Paper Use with the Writing Prompts... Makes a Great Bulletin Board

➜ 2 Sequencing Activities First → Next → Then → Last and Beginning → Middle → End

➜ 2 Vocabulary Activities Vocabulary Booklet and Word Mapping

➜ 2 Character Trait Activities listing traits and supporting traits with text-based evidence
➜ 30 Text-Based Writing Prompts 3 prompts for each of the following types of writing:

• narrative
• persuasive / opinion
• descriptive
• expository / informative
• creative / story writing
• procedure / how-to
• list making
• letter / postcard writing
• poem
• book reviews

INCLUDED DIGITAL ACTIVITIES:

➜ 5 Teaching Slides to use for instruction (add questions, vocabulary, instructions, etc)

➜ 15 Student Pages for use in Google™️ Classroom or as editable files to create customized printables