The Night Before Summer Vacation 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
SUMMARY
"The Night Before Summer Vacation" by Natasha Wing is an entertaining children's book that captures the anticipation and excitement of summer break. The story follows a young girl named Penny as she prepares for her family's upcoming vacation. As Penny packs her bags and makes a checklist of all the fun things she wants to do, she can hardly contain her excitement. The night before the trip, Penny finds it hard to fall asleep as she dreams about the adventures that await her. With its playful rhymes and vibrant illustrations, the book captures the essence of summer, from swimming at the beach to camping under the stars. "The Night Before Summer Vacation" celebrates the joy of family trips, the thrill of exploring new places, and the freedom of the summer season. It is a delightful read that will leave young readers eagerly anticipating their own summer adventures.
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.
- Cause and effect can be a difficult skill for students. This book is a perfect mentor text for teaching this skill.
- Teach a lesson on making connections to enhance comprehension.
- Discuss the author’s use of rhyme and rhythm in this book.
- Have students sequence the important events in the story. This is an important skill when it comes to retelling a story.
- Encourage students to use their summarizing and retelling strategies.
- Explore the different ways words can be made plural.
- Discuss the importance of teamwork and what a good teammate looks like.
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 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.
- And Then Comes Summer by Tom Brenner
- The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
- Jabari Jump by Gaia Cornwall
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!
