We think that Chocolate Milk, Por Favor is a book that every teacher should have in their classroom. This book is all about accepting others, appreciating diversity, and showing kindness. It would also be a great book to read before you have a new student join your classroom. The powerful message in this book is one that all students can benefit from. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
There is a new student in Johnny’s class, his name is Gabe. The teacher explains that Gabe will not understand them for awhile, he speaks Spanish and is just learning English, so they must find ways to help him. Johnny does not like Gabe. He thinks he is a crybaby and does not want to share with him.
When Johnny sees his classmates helping Gabe, he doesn’t understand why they are being nice to him, he thinks Gabe is just not like them. As the classmates continue to eat lunch with and play with Gabe, Johnny starts to be left out. One day, Gabe shows Johnny how to do a tricky soccer movie that Johnny had been struggling to learn. Johnny realizes that his frustration must be similar to how Gabe feels trying to learn English. The next day he decides to bring Gabe chocolate milk, and learns how important it is to have a friend.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Chocolate Milk, Por Favor makes a wonderful social emotional learning book. However, we also think it lends itself to many different academic concepts. Check out our list for some of the different lesson ideas we have for this book.
- Ask students to compare and contrast characters and how they change throughout the story.
- Discuss author’s purpose and how the author’s note helps to explain their purpose to readers.
- Students can practice persuasive writing by asking one of the characters to show kindness.
- Encourage students to write a summary of the book from the author’s point of view.
- Teach students about irregular verbs.
- Practice categorizing nouns.
- Teach students why it is important to appreciate diversity.
- Discuss the different ways you can show kindness at school.
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
We thought this book was so important for teachers to read so we created these activities and worksheets to make it easier. We hope that with these resources you can use this book as a mentor text to teach your students a variety of skills.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
- The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig
- The Jelly Donut Difference by Maria Dismondy
- Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
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