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Simply Special Ed

Resource Downloads & Teaching Advice

Academics Blog Comprehension ELA Vocabulary

5 Activities for How to Spot a Best Friend

How to Spot a Best Friend is a story that celebrates kindness and friendship. The 5 activities for this story are perfect for teaching students how to make friends in school!

Read more about books that teach friendship here.

How to Spot a Best Friend book companion

Why Book Companions?

Book companions are a fun and engaging way to get students interacting with a read aloud picture book! When I was teaching I had a lot of difficulty finding leveled book companions that would meet the needs of students in my self-contained classroom, so I made my own.

Here’s a look inside the How to Spot a Best Friend book companion.

((This blog post contains affiliate links for your convenience. You don’t pay any more by clicking my link (and I actually find the best prices for you!) but I make a small commission off of sales. This helps me to test out more materials and bring you more quality content. Thanks for supporting my little blog!))

whole group story map

Story Map

The Story Map is used to find key elements of the story. I love doing this in the whole group setting on the board as a group. The visuals make this a differentiated activity!

story map worksheet

After completing the story map as a whole group, you can break off into small groups to complete the Story Map worksheet.

sequencing worksheet

Sequencing

Sequencing is also a great activity to do whole group and then split off to complete individually for review and to check for understanding.

vocabulary cards

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is easy to review after the first time reading through the story. After the vocabulary review read through the story again bringing attention to the recently learned vocabulary words.

identical picture matching

The vocabulary matching activity is also differentiated with an identical picture match.

picture comprehension

Comprehension

To review the story at the end of the week we use comprehension worksheets that are leveled to meet your students needs.

open ended comprehension

Higher level writing worksheets are perfect for your open ended writers.

visual craft

Visual Craft

Finally, complete a visual craft with your students.

real picture visual directions

Use the REAL PICTURE directions and visual materials list to build student independence during craft time.

How to Spot a Best Friend Book Companion

Ready to Use the Book Companion?

Grab the Book Companion in the Shop here.

Grab the Book Companion on TPT here.

You can find the book here. (affiliate link)

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  • Book Companions – Halloween – Bo the Bat 16
    5 Activities for Bo the Bat
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Hi amazing teachers!
I'm Alyssa Shanahan -- a former Elementary Special Ed & Life Skills teacher. My classroom focus was always to keep things simple, increase communication, and build independence. Simply Special Ed's goal is to help teachers and students reach their full potential in and out of the classroom!

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