It is so important to teach elementary students the importance of including and accepting others. We love using Eve Bunting’s book One Green Apple to start these discussions with students. Her books make great read alouds because they lend themselves to rich, thoughtful discussions and follow up activities. This book can be used to teach a variety of reading comprehension strategies, writing and grammar skills as well. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Farrah has just moved to the United States and does not speak english yet. It is her second day in her new class and they are on a field trip to the apple orchard. Although she wears jeans and a t-shirt like her classmates, she is wearing a dupatta. None of her classmates wear this yet at home, all the women did. Farrah feels shy with her new classmates because she cannot yet express herself to them. The students take a wagon ride into an apple orchard and they each pick one apple. They take their apples inside and use a machine to turn it into apple cider.
Throughout the day, one of her peers Anna tries to make Farrah feel welcome. She introduces herself, tells Anna that they are drinking cider, and makes room for Farrah to help the students with the cider press. This show of acceptance helps Farrah feel more comfortable and she eventually says words out loud for the first time.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
In addition to teaching students about inclusion, One Green Apple can be used as a mentor text to teach reading, writing and grammar skills. Our book companion has lessons and activities for all skills below and many more, take a look!
- Read the book to students without showing the pictures so they can practice their visualizing skills.
- Practice sequencing the events of a story.
- Ask students to write about their personal connections to the story by integrating narrative writing.
- Teach students about descriptive writing and ask them to write their own descriptions based on the story.
- Review pronouns, adverbs and irregular verbs with students.
- Practice working with and identifying synonyms.
- Discuss with students the importance of including others and making them feel welcome.
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
There are so many different activities included in this book companion. Teachers love how easy it is to select the resource they want to use, print, and be ready to teach. The best part is there is so much variety you can use these activities across multiple grade levels and subject areas. You will be so happy you purchased this resource!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
- Under My Hijab by Hena Khan
- My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits
- Chocolate Milk, Por Favor by Maria Dismondy and Nancy Raines Day
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!
