Students will see poinsettia flowers throughout the winter holiday season. This week we are spotlighting The Legend of the Poinsettia. This story is a fun read aloud that will teach students the story behind these flowers. I always find that folktales are so engaging for students and I can’t wait to share this story with students. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
The Legend of the Poinsettia takes place in a village in Mexico. The main character is a young girl named Lucida. As the village prepares for Christmas, Lucida’s mother is asked to weave a new blanket for the manger scene. They are very proud to do this and Lucida is happy to help. However as it gets closer to Christmas Eve, Lucida’s mother becomes sick and must stay in the hospital. Everyone is disappointed the blanket will not be completed in time. Lucida tries to fix the blanket but it just gets tangled. She is so upset that she has nothing to bring to the church so she hides outside.
An old woman approaches Lucida and tells her everything will be okay. She teaches Lucida that the gift she brings does not matter, it is the thought that is important. Lucida gathers a bundle of weeds and brings them to the church. Everyone is surprised to see the weeds bloom into poinsettia. From that day forward the poinsettia flowers bloom every Christmas Eve in Mexico.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
There are so many skills that you can teach with The Legend of the Poinsettia. This is a book that can be used for a single lesson or be stretched out into a longer unit!
- Practice identifying the moral of the story and encourage students to provide details to back up their ideas.
- Examine fables as a type of genre and discuss qualities of fables.
- Engage students letter writing with activities related to the story.
- Ask students to get creative and add pages or a new ending to the book.
- Explore proper nouns and adjectives.
- Introduce students to a new prefix and or suffix.
- Discuss responsibility and the qualities of a responsible person.
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
Once you print out this resource you will be ready to start teaching right away. With so much to offer, there aren’t any reasons to turn this down. Your time is valuable, and we understand that!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
- The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePaola
- The Night Tree by Eve Bunting
- The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
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