Starting a new school year can make many students nervous and worried. They want to be accepted by their new classmates and fit in with everyone. The read aloud A Tiger Tale is a great way to encourage students to appreciate diversity among others and be proud of who they are. This story shows children that everyone is unique in their own way, making it a great book for back to school. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Anya is shocked when she wakes up to find she has grown a tiger tail, and it’s the first day of school. She worries what her classmates will think. Anya’s parents are supportive and encouraging about her appearance, but Anya is still upset. She tries everything to pull off the tail and cover it up, but neither words. Anya tries to act sick and decides to miss the bus to get out of going to school, but her parents catch on.
When Anya gets to school, she bumps into another classmate named Ben. She is surprised to see that Ben has bunny ears. When the two enter the classroom, everyone in class is unique. There is one student in a wheelchair, someone wearing headphones, a student with ears like a mouse, and even the teacher has very big teeth. When Anya realizes the diversity in her classroom, she finally feels better about her tiger tail.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
We think A Tiger Tail is a great read aloud for the beginning of the school year. We have designed our lessons and activities for teachers to use to build community within their classroom as well as review and introduce new reading and writing skills. Here are so of the topics our lessons cover:
- Practice making inferences and predictions throughout the story.
- Help students to identify the genre and theme of this book.
- Ask students to write a narrative story about their first day of school.
- Integrate opinion writing by having students write their thoughts on having a tail.
- Teach a lesson on action verbs and irregular verbs.
- Practice identifying base words.
- Discuss the importance of self esteem.
- Teach students about appreciating diversity.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
The activities and worksheets included on our A Tiger Tail resources are perfect for the first week of school. Students will enjoy using the graphic organizers and differentiated writing paper and teachers will be happy the planning is done for them. All you will need to do is select what resources you want to use and read the book to your students!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- The Day You Begin by Jaqueline Woodson
- All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfol
- Ricky the Rock that Couldn’t Roll by Jay Miletsky
- Schools First Day of School by Adam Rex
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
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