As a teacher, it is so important to me that my students feel comfortable in the classroom. I want them to feel confident about themselves and celebrate the things that make them unique. This week we are spotlighting a book that helps start that conversation with students, Perfectly Norman. This is such a sweet story teaching the importance of self esteem and confidence. It is a great way to teach children that it is okay to be different and be proud of that. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
The story Perfectly Norman is about a young boy named Norman. Norman had always felt perfectly normal, until one day when he grows his wings. Norman loves his wings and he loves flying! However, when it is time to go to dinner, he decides that he needs to hide his wings from everyone so that they think he is still normal.
Hiding his wings makes Norman feel miserable. He misses out on all of his favorite activities, and is hot and uncomfortable. Finally, he decides to take off his coat and reveal his wings. This inspires other children to take off their coats and reveal that they have wings too! Norman is never happier than when he is flying around with the other children. He learns the lesson that being normal isn’t important, he just needs to be perfectly Norman.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Perfectly Norman is a great resource for social emotional learning in the classroom. However, it also has so much academic content that can be integrated into the read aloud. Teachers can use this book to teach reading comprehension skills, grammar, vocabulary and writing skills. The list below highlights some of our ideas for using this book.
- Teach students how to identify the message or moral of a story.
- Practice making inferences while reading.
- Encourage students to create detailed and descriptive writing related to the text.
- Write a book review of Perfectly Norman.
- Introduce new vocabulary words.
- Explore different synonyms for words in the book.
- Teach students new prefixes and suffixes.
- Discuss the importance of self esteem.
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
As a teacher, it is always hard to find time to plan the detailed, comprehension-focused read aloud that I want to. There just isn’t enough time between meetings, grading, and everything else! Now you can teach a comprehensive read aloud lesson without all the planning!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
- Mixed: A Colorful Story by Arree Chung
- Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
- Ruby Finds a Worry by Tom Percival
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!
