Latke, the Lucky Dog activities and lesson plan ideas

Our Latke the Lucky Dog Activities are now digital for distance learning with editable teaching slides and worksheets based on Ellen Fischer’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

☐ summarizing and retelling

☐ analyzing character

☐ point of view

☐ analyzing illustrations

☐ plot | problem and solution

☐ asking and answering questions

☐ cause and effect

◼️ SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING TOPICS

☐ expectations

☐ transitions

◼️ GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE CONCEPTS

☐ proper nouns

☐ pronouns

☐ plural nouns

☐ interjections

SUMMARY OF THE MENTOR TEXT:

Zoe and Zach got to pick out a dog as a Hanukkah present. They chose a medium, playful dog and named him Latke. When Latke makes it home, he is very excited about his new house. He thinks he is so lucky to live with Zoe and Zach. When Latke sees treats on the table, he thinks he can eat them because it is his home. Latke is curious about candles so he chews them. He keeps chewing and slobbering on things and his family starts to get angry and upset. Latke worries that his family will bring him back to the shelter.

Eventually, Latke learned that he should only be eating his food, and his family gave him a chew toy as a Hanukkah gift. Students will love this story about a puppy adjusting to his new home. This book is a great way to teach students about Hanukkah traditions.

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