THUNDER BOY JR. activities and lesson plan ideas
This THUNDER BOY JR. Activities and Interactive Read Aloud Resource Book Companion Packet includes lesson plans, reading comprehension questions, vocabulary, grammar, phonics, writing and word study activities with both printable and digital student pages.
Following an interactive read aloud of the picture book, THUNDER BOY JR. by Sherman Alexie, choose from the included collection of either printable activities or go paperless and use the digital activities to practice standards-based skills. We've even included editable teaching slides themed to match the book!
THIS READING UNIT FOCUSES ON USING THE MENTOR TEXT TO TEACH:
◼️READING STRATEGIES
☐ RETELL
☐ ANALYZING CHARACTER
☐ AUTHOR’S PURPOSE
◼️GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE CONCEPTS
☐ CONTRACTIONS
☐ CONJUNCTIONS
☐ COMMA
◼️SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING TOPICS
☐ COMPASSION
☐ INDIVIDUALITY
SUMMARY OF THE MENTOR TEXT:
Everyone has a normal name around Thunder Boy Jr. His mom and his sister have normal names, but why does he have to be Thunder Boy? We learn that this boy is named after his father, Thunder Boy Sr. Although his dad’s name fits his personality, the boy does not feel a connection to his name.
There are many names Thunder Boy Jr. can think of that are aligned with his personality and experiences. He has touched an orca- so his name could be “Not Afraid of Ten Thousand Teeth”. Or, he has climbed tall mountains, so he could be “Touch the Clouds”.
Reflecting on his relationship with his father, Thunder Boy decides on the name Lightning. Together with his dad, they can light up the night sky!
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