Make Way for Ducklings activities and lesson plan ideas

Our Make Way for Ducklings Activities are now digital for distance learning with editable teaching slides and worksheets based on Robert McCloskey's book. Read aloud the 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 inferences

☐ analyzing setting

☐ analyzing illustrations

☐ plot | problem and solution

☐ asking and answering questions

☐ sequencing

◼️ SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING TOPICS

☐ responsibility

◼️ GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE CONCEPTS

☐ irregular verbs

☐ proper nouns

☐ prepositions

☐ multiple meaning words

SUMMARY OF THE MENTOR TEXT:

Make Way For Ducklings tells the story of two ducks, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. They are looking for a good place to make a nest and raise ducklings. After flying for a long time, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are too tired to keep going and land on an island in Boston’s Public Garden. They enjoy swimming in the water and eating the peanuts people throw from the swan boat. However, when they are almost run over by a bicycle, Mrs. Mallard decides they need someplace new. After flying around the city, they land on an island in the river and start to make their nest. Soon after, their eggs hatch and Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are busy caring for their ducklings. When Mr. Mallard leaves to explore the river, Mrs. Mallard stays back and teaches the ducklings.

When it is time to start heading back to the Public Garden to meet Mr. Mallard, Mrs. Mallard teaches her ducklings to walk behind her in a line. They try and cross the street but there are too many cars! Thankfully, a police officer comes to stop traffic and let the ducks cross. The family reunites in the pond and decides to live there.

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