Teaching elementary students point of view can be challenging. We recommend using the book Memoirs of a Parrot to teach this important comprehension skill. This book is written in a diary format told by the parrot, Brock. Students will love listening to Brock tell his story and will be engaged with all of the excitement and action this book has to offer. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Brock is a parrot living in Wilbur’s Pet Shop. He can’t stand when customers come in and stare at him, asking if he wants a cracker. Brock can’t seem to understand why they think his name is Polly. One day, a man named Todd comes into the store and buys Brock. Right away, Brock doesn’t like Todd. His house is right near the freeway and he is not good at playing the ukulele. Todd keeps trying to get Brock to talk, and Brock doesn’t know why Todd can’t understand him. Eventually, Brock realizes Todd wants him to speak his language.
Brock enjoys dropping his crackers in the toaster to warm them up. One night, he drops a cracker in but it doesn’t pop back up. The house starts to fill with smoke and he calls to Todd for help. When Todd saves him from the smoke, Brock says thank you in Todd’s language. This is the start of their friendship and Brock is finally happy in his new home with his friend.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
While we love using Memoirs of a Parrot to teach point of view, it can be used to teach many other skills and strategies. Below we’ve identified some of the ways teachers can integrate this book into lessons on comprehension, writing, grammar, and social emotional learning.
- Have students practice asking questions about the text as they read and searching for answers.
- Practice summarizing and retelling the important events of the story.
- Incorporate letter writing by asking students to design and write a postcard from the store.
- Ask students to write book reviews about the story.
- Teach a lesson on adverbs and pronouns.
- Introduce students to shades of meaning and complete activities about synonyms.
- Discuss the importance of friendship.
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 know that students will have so much fun reading this book. Students can use these activities to extend students learning and learn new skills. The activities make great lesson plans for teachers, independent activities, and plans for a substitute teacher.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian
- Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
- The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt
- Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
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