The Leaf Thief 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 Leaf Thief" by Alice Hemming is a delightful children's book that follows the story of a mischievous Squirrel. Squirrel loves collecting leaves and hoarding them in his treehouse, but one day, he notices that all the leaves in his collection are disappearing. Determined to find the culprit, Squirrel sets off on an adventure to catch the mysterious leaf thief. Squirrel tries to forget about the missing leaf but finds more missing and gets all worked up again trying to figure out where his leaves are disappearing to. Through engaging illustrations and descriptive text, the book takes readers on a journey filled with suspense and humor. As Squirrel investigates, he eventually discovers that the leaf thief is no animal in the forest but just the autumn wind! With its playful storyline and themes of friendship and understanding, "The Leaf Thief" teaches young readers about empathy, forgiveness, and the importance of finding peaceful resolutions.
 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.
- Discuss the different characters in the story and analyze their thoughts and actions.
- Help students to analyze what the author’s purpose for writing the book might be.
- Have students sequence the important events in the story. This is an important skill when it comes to retelling a story.
- Analyze the illustrations in the story. Discuss how they provide meaning that the words might not.
- Use examples from the book to teach a lesson on punctuation.
- Introduce or review how and why author’s use ellipses.
- Discuss friendship and the qualities that make a good friend.
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.
- Fletcher and The Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
- The Very Last Leaf by Stef Wade
- Little Tree by Loren Long
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!
