Jamaica and the Substitute Teacher 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
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SUMMARY
"Jamaica and the Substitute Teacher" by Juanita Havill, takes young readers into the world of Jamaica, a spirited and curious young girl. When Jamaica's beloved teacher, Mrs Wirth, is out of town for a week and is replaced by a substitute teacher named Mrs. Duval, Jamaica instantly wants to impress her. Mrs. Duval makes Jamaica's class work hard but also allows them to have fun, but when Jamaica struggles during a spelling test, she does anything to succeed so she can impress Mrs. Duval. Jamaica ends up cheating on the spelling test by copying her classmate but felt guilty and dishonest when she received her perfect score. Jamaica decides to be honest and tell Mrs. Duval that she copied and struggled during the spelling test and learns a valuable lesson about honesty, kindness, and understands that it's ok if you're not always perfect because all that matters is to always try your best.
 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.
- Have students practice their questioning skills as you read the book.
- Encourage students to use their summarizing and retelling strategies.
- Identifying the theme, message, or moral is an important skill that takes a lot of practice. Use this story as an opportunity to help your students with this reading strategy.
- Discuss the different adjectives used in the book.
- Review capitalization including what it is and why it's used.
- Teach students how to make a proper apology.
- Teach students about the importance of having a growth mindset using examples from the book.
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
- 30Â 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.
- Substitute Creacher by Chris Gall
- The Substitute Teacher from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler
- Miss Malarkey Won't Be In Today by Judy Finchler
- Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry G. Allard Jr.
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!
