Giraffes Can't Dance activities and lesson plan ideas

Our Giraffes Can't Dance Activities are now digital for distance learning with editable teaching slides and worksheets based on Giles Andrade’s book. Read aloud the growth mindset 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

☐ analyzing character

☐ making predictions

☐ plot | problem and solution

☐ asking and answering questions

☐ rhyme, rhythm and repetition

☐ identifying theme, message or moral

◼️ SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING TOPICS

☐ growth mindset

☐ diversity and individuality

◼️ GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE CONCEPTS

☐ action verbs

☐ suffixes

☐ adjectives

☐ compound words

SUMMARY OF THE MENTOR TEXT: 

Gerald is a giraffe who wants to dance but does not think that he is good at it. When it is time for the Jungle Dance, Gerald becomes sad because he thinks he is a bad dancer. When Gerald tries to dance, the other animals make fun of him and he leaves the dance floor feeling sad and alone.

Gerald walks into a clearing where he meets a cricket. The cricket teaches him that he needs to listen to the song that is right for him. Gerald listens carefully for music coming from the moon. He is ecstatic when he realizes he is finally dancing! Gerald returns to the Jungle Dance and all the animals are shocked by how well he can dance! Gerald tells them that everyone can dance when they find music that they love.

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