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 The Jelly Donut Difference 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
Dexter and Leah are twins that are constantly arguing. They both want to be first and will grab and yank things from each other. When their parents are preparing to have guests over for dinner, they realize they are out of eggs. The twins' parents send them over to their neighbor, Ms. Marvis’s house, for eggs. While at her house the twins realize how quiet her house is and think she must be lonely. They decide to invite Ms. Marvis over for dinner.
While at dinner, Ms. Marvis tells everyone stories about her family tradition on making jelly donuts. The next day, the twins decide to make donuts and leave a bag at Ms. Marvis’s house. They also create a family of snowmen outside her house. Ms. Marvis is so appreciative of the twins kindness that she writes them a thank you note. The twins are happy that they have a family and learned new traditions from their neighbor.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
The Jelly Donut Difference 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 for The Jelly Donut Difference.
- 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.
- Teach students about informational writing by having them teach about their own traditions.
- Use examples from the book to teach a lesson on possessive 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 The Jelly Donut Difference. 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:
- Ordinary Maryβs Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson
- Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller
- The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds
- 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!
