The start of a new year often means setting New Year's resolutions. The book Squirrel's New Year's Resolution makes a great mentor text for introduces students to this concept. We know students will love this sweet story about forest animals hoping to improve themselves in the new year. Hopefully it will inspire students to do the same! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
It is the start of the new year and all of the animals in the forest have made their New Year’s resolutions, everyone except Squirrel. She starts off by asking Bear what a resolution is and if he has one. Bear explains what a resolution is and tells Squirrel that his resolution is to help their friend Skunk learn how to read. After talking with Bear, Squirrel is determined to come up with a resolution.
As she travels throughout the forest, Squirrel runs into many of her friends and talks about their resolutions. Skunk wants to learn to read, Turtle and Mole want to plant a garden, and Porcupine wants to be less grumpy. When Squirrel is eating lunch at the diner, her friends arrive too and they talk about how helpful Squirrel has been. When she visited Skunk she helped her feel better, she climbed a tree to help Mole and Turtle find a spot for their garden, and taught Porcupine some funny jokes. That is when Squirrel realizes what her resolution will, be to help someone each day.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Squirrel's New Year's Resolution lends itself to teaching so many different skills in addition to a lesson on setting resolutions. Check out just some of the skills our book companion covers:
- Help students to analyze the characters and their actions in the book.
- Practice making connections to the story.
- Integrate opinion writing by asking students to write opinions and reasoning based on the book.
- Engage students in descriptive writing activities.
- Teach students about nouns and plural nouns.
- Practice creating shades of meaning.
- Lead a class discussion on goal setting.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities, 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
If you are looking for a resource to teach Squirrel's New Year's Resolution in your classroom, you will want our Starts With a Story Book Companion. Our goal with these book companions is to help make planning read alouds easier for teachers!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- The Luckiest Leprechaun by Justine Korman
- Turkey's Eggcellent Easter by Wendi J Silvano
- Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
- Akiak by Robert J. Blake
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!
