It is so important to the Starts With a Story team that we have a large collection of books that can be used for social emotional learning. We knew that Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed had to be included in our collection. This story is all about inspiring children to spread kindness through simple acts. We think read alouds are a great way for teachers to talk to students about important concepts like this because most teachers already do a daily read aloud. This is an easy way to pair social emotional learning with reading and writing lessons you’re probably teaching already. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
One day, an ordinary girl name Mary walked by a push filled with blueberries. She decided to pick them and leave a bowl full of berries on her neighbor Mrs. Bishop’s porch. This act of kindness inspired Mrs. Bishop to make blueberry muffins and give a basket to five people she thought could have left the berries. Each of those people, felt so good about receiving the muffins that they wanted to do something kind for someone else. This set off a chain reaction of random acts of kindness. Each person that received an act of kindness did something kind for five others in return.
Soon, kindness and love spread throughout the whole world and made its way back to Mary. Her aunt, who had been treated with kindness, surprised Mary with a necklace. Everyone was thankful that one ordinary girl was able to change the world.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed is a great mentor text for teaching students about kindness. However, it can also be used to teach students important reading comprehension strategies, writing skills, and grammar concepts. All of our book companions come with activities that relate to these subject areas. Check out just some of the skills included in our book companion!
- Practice identifying the theme of a book and teach students to think about how the theme can help them in their own lives.
- Have students sequence the events from the story. Sequencing is an important skill when it comes to building reading comprehension.
- Integrate narrative writing by asking students to write about their own experiences with acts of kindness.
- Practice letter writing by having students write letters to people in their community.
- Use examples from the book to teach a lesson on proper nouns.
- Introduce students to words that have multiple meanings.
- Discuss how students can spread kindness at home or 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
This resource is all you will need when it comes to planning your read aloud for the book Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed. Gone are the days when you have to brainstorm discussion questions, look online for student activities, and spend hours gathering resources. Now everything you need is included in this book companion allowing you to make choices on what you want to use with your students.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- The Jelly Donut Difference by Maria Dismondy
- Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller
- Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
- Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller
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!
