Goldfish on Vacation is part of our Starts With a Story Collection, which includes more than 550 picture book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Learn more about this children’s book below! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
In "Goldfish on Vacation" by Sally Lloyd-Jones, three little goldfish named Barracuda, Patch and Fiss live in a tiny bowl in a city apartment. They dream of exploring the big wide world beyond their small home. One day the fish owners see a big sign on the fountain in the park that said "calling all goldfish". The children wanted to restore the beautiful fountain and so their father marked on the calendar "goldfish vacation" on the day of the goldfish fountain party. When the day finally arrived Barracuda, Patch and Fiss joined hundreds of goldfish and finally got to meet new fish while their owners also got to meet new friends at the fountain when they came to visit their fish family members. The story highlights the power of kindness, friendship and coming together as a community to make a positive impact on the world!
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Our read aloud lesson plans for this picture book come with reading comprehension questions (with sample student responses), 30 writing prompts, teaching ideas for grammar skills, social emotional learning discussion ideas, and more. Check out our list below to get a sneak peek at some of the skills this resource teaches.
- Practice making inferences throughout the story and after reading.
- Encourage students to use their summarizing and retelling strategies.
- Analyze the setting of this book. Discuss where and when it takes place.
- Have students sequence the important events in the story. This is an important skill when it comes to retelling a story.
- Cause and effect can be a difficult skill for students. This book is a perfect mentor text for teaching this skill.
- Teach a lesson on irregular verbs.
- Discuss friendship and the qualities that make a good friend.
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
This book is a must have for your school or classroom library. Your students are going to love completing these activities for the book and you will be impressed with how much they learn. You will want to read this book to your class every year.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will love the similar books listed below, which can all be found in our free picture book list.
- Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian
- The Day The Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt
- Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
