If you are looking for a great mentor text for teaching letter writing, then you have to check out The Day the Crayons Quit. This book is written entirely through letters that crayon's send to the little boy that uses them. It is such a creative book and students will love hearing why the crayon's quit their job. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Duncan’s crayons have decided to run away! They feel like Duncan has mistreated them, and are not going to take it anymore. Some crayons feel overworked and tired. Some crayons feel like they aren’t being used to their full potential. Other crayons are so worn down that they are just a stub.
Each crayon writes a letter to Duncan explaining why they left and providing different options for Duncan to use them properly.
At the end, Duncan hears the crayons’ concerns and creates a picture using all of them in better ways.
Students will love this story told from the point of view of crayons.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
The Day the Crayon's Quit is a great for teaching letter writing, but it also lends itself to teaching many other skills.
- Introduce students to new vocabulary words that appear in the text.
- Discuss point of view and how to determine the point of view of this book.
- Analyze illustrations throughout the book and discuss the meaning they add to the text.
- Have students write their opinions on the different crayons in the book.
- Integrate poetry by having students write poems about crayons.
- Teach a mini lesson on capitalization.
- Review adjectives and have students practice using them in their own writing.
- Discuss the importance of advocation.
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
Teachers and students are loving these resources! You will be amazed at how much your students can learn from just one read aloud when you use these activities.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- The Day The Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt
- Ricky the Rock That Couldn’t Roll by Jay Miletsky
- Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin
- The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors by Drew Daywalt
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!
