The Bad Mood and the Stick is part of our Starts With a Story Collection, which includes more than 550 picture book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Learn more about this children’s book below! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
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SUMMARY
"The Bad Mood and the Stick" by Daniel Handler, also known as Lemony Snicket, is a witty and imaginative children's book that explores the contagious nature of moods. The story follows a young girl who finds a bad mood stuck to her like a piece of chewing gum but finds a stick to poke her brother with which passes the bad mood from the girl, to her mother. As the bad mood passes onto others, it takes on a life of its own, spreading from person to person. Through humorous illustrations and clever wordplay, the book shows how negativity can affect people's interactions and experiences. However, when a dry cleaning lady stops the bad mood chain from continuing the bad mood cloud is finally defeated. "The Bad Mood and the Stick" is a playful and thought-provoking tale that encourages young readers to examine their own emotions and the impact they have on those around them.
 USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Our read aloud lesson plans for this picture book come with reading comprehension questions (with sample student responses), 30 writing prompts, teaching ideas for grammar skills, social emotional learning discussion ideas, and more. Check out our list below to get a sneak peek at some of the skills this resource teaches.
- Practice making predictions throughout the book. Encourage students to check and see if their predictions were correct.
- Teach a lesson on making connections to enhance comprehension.
- Have students sequence the important events in the story. This is an important skill when it comes to retelling a story.
- Teach students how contractions are used.
- Introduce students to quotation marks and provide examples from the book.
- Discuss the importance of making good choices.
- Use this book to discuss a variety of emotions with students and how to manage them.
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
- 30Â 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 book is a must have for your school or classroom library. Your students are going to love completing these activities for the book and you will be impressed with how much they learn. You will want to read this book to your class every year.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will love the similar books listed below, which can all be found in our free picture book list.
- My Magic Breath by Alison Taylor and Nick Ortner
- Ravi's Roar by Tom Percival
- Neck and Neck by Elise Parsley
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!
