This book could be used as an interactive read aloud where students primarily focus on building comprehension skills. Because this text is moderately complex, scaffolding will be needed. This book would be great for the 2.RL.KID.1 standard. This standard has students identifying the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the story. This book would be an interactive read aloud because it has some complex components such as time hoping and dialogue. This works well because the teacher can ask those thought provoking questions which lead to students making inferences. Some vocabulary words I would teach in this lesson would be infantry, regiment, enclosure, and propose. These are topic specific words that students may get caught on. After reading the story through twice, I would choose to specifically focus on one specific area. This book has history, science, and family aspects that could also be pulled into lessons. You could have the students write about what they think would have happened to Winnie if she did not get put in the zoo or you could have them make a family tree like the one pictured in the back of the book. This would allow them to make real world connections and/or reflect on their own family history.  

I would use this text as an interactive read aloud in a text set of books about plants/gardening. This book pairs perfectly with science standard 1.LS1 which says that first graders should know about plant cycles and their relationships to water, soil, sun, and more. This book would also pair well with the speaking and listening standard 1.SL.CC.1, this standard just has students participating in conversation about a grade level topic. For the first reading of this text, we would go over the vocabulary listed above, as well as a few other chosen/tricky words. I would have these words posted on the board beside me with a picture, the definition, and an action to remember them. As we begin the second reading, we would make a KWL chart to help us put our thoughts together. I would help the students through this process by modeling my thinking. We would then keep this KWL chart and look at it as we read other books in the text set about plants. Once we finished the second reading, I would have the students write about an experience they had with gardening/plants. This would go well with the first grade writing standard 1.W.TTP.3. 

I would use this book in a third-grade classroom to introduce antonyms. This would work well with phonics standards and sentence composition standards. The book uses phrases such as fast and slow, rough and smooth, and dark and light. All of these are opposites of each other which the book mentions midway through. I would begin this lesson by asking them if they noticed anything about the words being compared. I would ask if they could come up with their own antonym examples. This could be done with the turn-and-talk method. I would use this book in partnership with other books that have examples of antonyms. I would also have my students do an activity that helps them practice using antonyms.  

I would personally teach this book to a group of third graders. This is a great interactive read aloud for something like a kindness week at school. I would read this to my students and ask them questions that help them relate this story to their own lives. A knowledge assessment for this book would come from students answering comprehension questions about the book. A skills-based assessment would look like them writing about how they could help their own community. I would have the students write in their writing journals about what they think would have happened if the people in the story did not help and then a way, they could help their school/community. I would encourage them to use vocabulary words we discussed in class and words from our word wall. I would also encourage them to use more complex sentence structures. I will model this type of sentence by thinking aloud and writing one on the board.  

I would personally teach this book to fifth graders. I think it is a great book for social emotional learning. I also think you could do some great lessons on similes and personification with this text. The 5.FL.VA.7b literacy standard states that students will be able to interpret different types of figurative language. Ideally, the class will have previous knowledge of what similes, metaphors, and personification are. I believe this book should be a shared reading experience. As the teacher and students read, the teacher may stop and ask what the author means by specific parts of the text. Especially the metaphorical parts. For example,"They don't see a pine tree sticking out from my lips instead of a tongue." This is not literal and the students may not understand it. As the teacher does this, they are reminding the students of the different rules for similes and metaphors. Once the class has had a small and large group discussion of the text and a good understanding of the meanings behind the similes, students will take something that they do and turn it into a simile. They would do this in their writing journals. One example a student may choose is, “I sing like a bird.” The student would then detail this out just as the story does.  

I would teach this book to a class of fifth graders. I would use it in a set of books about the Civil Rights movement. I think this could be interactive reading or shared reading depending on the level of your class. If this were an interactive reading, I believe you could model your understanding of the civil rights movement more. Because this book is nonfiction, I believe it is important to review other historical events from the time. You could have students make KWL charts about the civil rights movement. This would help them in making connections to what you are teaching. After the text set is finished, I would have students pick one historical figure to write a report on. This report would then be crafted into a project where the students make a poster board of facts about their person and then they dress up as them for a “wax museum” showcase.  

While I want to teach, I would also love to be a counselor one day. Therefore, I would use this book in a 4^th or 5^th grade setting to teach about stress management. I would introduce this book by reading the title and then looking at the pictures on the first pages. I would ask the students to infer how Whimsy is feeling. After we do this, I would have them write down some things that make them sad on a piece of paper. I would then have them crumble this piece of paper into a ball. We would then read the story together stopping to discuss some of the page's contents. Once we reach the part where Whimsy breaks her heavy things into pieces, I would have my students tear their paper into three smaller pieces. After we finish the story, I would have them look at the words on their three pieces. They would then get another sheet of paper where they can write three solutions to three different things that make them sad. This helps with comprehension in understanding the main idea of the story and it gives students an application piece.  

I would teach this book to a group of third grade students. This would be a good book to use for their unit on fables, myths, and stories from diverse cultures. This book would have to be taught as an interactive read aloud due to the use of words in a different language. However, when reading these words, I would have the students repeat them back to me. This book would be great for recounting stories and comprehension of the main idea. I would also read this story a second time as a shared reading. This would help with fluency and comprehension. I would also include a writing activity like having the students explain the story's main idea. All of this would include teacher prompting and support. I also think you could pull different literary device instruction in as well.  

I would use this book as a part of a text set for learning about animals within a specific region. This book is simply used as a tool to help us gather more information about the animals that live in the area we are studying. This book would pair well with a KWL chart because it is packed with information. They would be able to discuss what they know and what they want to know. You could also use this text to help explain site specific vocabulary such as wetlands, grassland, rain forest, and other regional words. To incorporate a writing activity, you could have students write 2-4 sentences about new information they have learned from reading the section. This would be a great interactive read aloud paired with another book. This book could be used in any grade level.  

This book would be perfect for teaching fluency, as well as vowel blends in the classroom. For fluency and prosody practice, I would have the students practice echo reading. This is where the teacher models reading and then the students read back. For vowel blends, I would focus on –ea because the book includes many words with this blend. Near, reached, and reappear are all examples of words using the –ea vowel blend. I would introduce this concept and then have the students be word detectives as we read. I may even have them practice writing by using an –ea vowel blend word in a sentence.