It’s not uncommon to witness students get frustrated in the classroom and just give up. Perseverance is such an important and necessary life skill that teachers are trying to teach their students. This week we are spotlighting The Most Magnificent Thing because it is a great way to introduce and teach perseverance to students. It is a story that’s relatable and inspiring for students. I love that the main character in the story is a young girl that enjoys building. Having main characters like that is so important as we try to instill a love of mathematics and engineering in young girls. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
The Most Magnificent Thing, by Ashley Spires, tells the story of a young girl and her dog who like to do everything together. One day, they decide to build the most magnificent thing. They get started building, and when they finish they discover that it is not magnificent.
The girl and dog start making many changes to their creation, trying to make it exactly what she imagined. As they work, some people start admiring her work. The girl is frustrated that they can’t see the magnificent thing she imagined. Her frustration grows and she becomes very angry, smashing her creation.
While on a walk to cool down, the girl discovers the different parts of her creations, and realizes there are parts of each she likes. She gets back to work and eventually creates exactly what she imagined.
This is a heart-warming story of perseverance and growth mindset. Children will enjoy watching the young girl create with her dog sidekick!
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
The Most Magnificent Thing is a great way to teach students the lesson of perseverance, however, there is so much more to this book! It is a great way to integrate social emotional learning within the more traditional subject areas of reading and writing. This mentor text can get students engaged in a variety of writing activities and be used to teach important reading comprehension skills. It is a great addition to any classroom library.
- There is so much to learn about the main character in this story that it serves as a perfect lesson in character analysis. Students will use what they know about character development to better understand the main character.
- In addition to using the text, teach students to use the illustrations of a story to expand on their comprehension. Discuss how the pictures of a book can teach us things the words might not.
- With a relatable book like The Most Magnificent Thing, students can practice narrative writing by connecting the story to their own experiences.
- Students can demonstrate their social emotional learning by engaging in informational writing.
- Use this book as a way to study base words and expand students' vocabulary and knowledge of word meaning.
- Teach strategies for managing emotions like anger and frustration.
- Introduce the concept of growth mindset with students.
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
Planning a read aloud with reading, writing, grammar and social emotional lessons can require a lot of time and resources. We’ve made this task so much easier with our Starts With a Story Book Companion. Our book companions will be your new best friend!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty
- The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett
- The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
- Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae
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!
