The Very Clumsy Click Beetle 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 Very Clumsy Click Beetle" by Eric Carle, tells the story of a young beetle. While on a walk, the young beetle grew tired and fell from a tree. The beetle landed on his back and couldn’t get back up. When the young beetle called for help, a wise old beetle appeared. He promised to return the next morning and teach the young beetle how to click and flip through the air to land on his feet. As promised, the wise old beetle came back the next day and showed the young beetle how to get back up. But when the young beetle tried, he just landed on his back. An earthworm, turtle, snail and mouse came by and each encouraged the young beetle to keep trying. However, when a person approached, the young beetle was scared. This time, when the young beetle kicked and flipped, he somersaulted through the air and landed on his feet! The wise old beetle cheered for his success! This sweet book teaches readers the importance of perseverance and encouraging others.
 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.
- Identifying the theme, message, or moral is an important skill that takes a lot of practice. Use this story as an opportunity to help your students with this reading strategy.
- Practice making predictions throughout the book. Encourage students to check and see if their predictions were correct.
- 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.
- Teach a lesson on multiple meaning words using examples from the story.
- Discuss what it means to persevere and why it is important.
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.
- The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
- The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle
- The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
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!
