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.
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!))
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!
After completing the story map as a whole group, you can break off into small groups to complete the Story Map 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
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.
The vocabulary matching activity is also differentiated with an identical picture match.
Comprehension
To review the story at the end of the week we use comprehension worksheets that are leveled to meet your students needs.
Higher level writing worksheets are perfect for your open ended writers.
Visual Craft
Finally, complete a visual craft with your students.
Use the REAL PICTURE directions and visual materials list to build student independence during craft time.
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)
