Alice and Greta activities and lesson plan ideas

Our Alice and Greta Activities are now digital for distance learning with editable teaching slides and worksheets based on Steven J. Simmons's book. Read aloud the Halloween picture book then use the printables or go paperless with Google or Seesaw to practice standards-based skills.

THIS READING UNIT FOCUSES ON USING THE MENTOR TEXT TO TEACH: 

◼️ READING STRATEGIES

☐ making predictions

☐ comparing and contrasting

☐ analyzing character

☐ plot | problem and solution

☐ asking and answering questions

☐ cause and effect

☐ author's purpose

◼️ SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING TOPICS

☐ kindness

☐ making good choices

◼️ GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE CONCEPTS

☐ synonyms

☐ prefixes

☐ adjectives

☐ time order words

SUMMARY OF THE MENTOR TEXT: 

Alice and Greta by Steven J. Simmons is the story of two witches. The two have known each other since they were in school. Alice has always chosen to use her magic to help people and spread joy. She helps a family that is stuck on a sandbar and turns a frog into a prince. Greta has always used her magic to create problems for others. She makes children’s soccer balls disappear and causes a wave to destroy a sandcastle.

One day, Greta is looking for trouble. She finds a playground with children and covers them in marshmallow goo! When Alice hears the children’s cries, she tries to help. However, Greta is quick to stop her and traps her in the goo too. Alice must think back to the most important lesson she learned in school to help save the day.

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