Activity_Guides

Activities & Themes
Click on the links below to see the activities for each book.
Age range for the activities may vary from 3-9 years old, so make sure
to choose activities that are appropriate for your child/students.

Getting to Know Each Other as featured in Teaching Tolerance Magazine, Fall 2006

THEMES: friendship, tolerance, family, aging, grandparents, Alzheimer's

THEMES: perseverance, individuality, creativity, late-bloomers, gardening, nature, crafts

Craft Flowers:
Hand Print Flowers (Easy)
Tissue Paper Flowers (Easy)
Construction Paper Daffodils (A little harder, but still fairly easy)
Craft Foam Calla Lilies (Trickier)
Craft Foam Gladiolas (Trickier)

N ature Ideas: Identifying Flowers, Plant Your Own Garden
Observation Journal

Dessert Time: Worms in the Mud

Language Arts Games: Mixed Up Sentences (2 versions), Match the Tools

Topics for Discussion or Writing:
Creative problem-solving
Creating your own successes
Finding your talent
Nicknames
Vocabulary
Emotions

Research Ideas
State Flowers
Flower Shapes
Flower Colors
Annual or Perennial

Pre-reading, language arts, math, science, drama, music and food activities,
written by the authors
Readers Theater script
Activities by educator Jackee Brigman Bell

THEMES: family, relationships, value of friendship over money

Language arts & food activities
Carla's Sandwich Cookbook

THEMES: creativity, peer pressure, food, sharing, teasing, indivituality

Activity Guide from educator Donna O'Donnell Figurski
C lassroom activity from the PJ Library Book Club

THEMES: uniqueness, tolerance, Christmas, Hanukkah

Grandfather Paper Bag Puppet

THEMES: grandparents, memories, wrinkles

Monster Finger Puppets to print and make                Monster Music
Make Your Own Monster free printable                    CA Young Readers Medal Resource Guide
Trick or Treat Safety Guide                                                (full of fun things to do!)
Classroom Activity
Literature Springboard from Empowering Writers

THEMES: creativity, imagination, facing fears, humor, Halloween

Reacting to Bullying Printable Activity Page
Anti-bullying resources
Deeper themes in Alley Oops: an interview with the author

THEMES: bullying, combating bullying, sport as a conduit for conflict resolution

Knit Pobble Mittens - a knitting pattern
Pobble's Way Parent/Teacher Guide
Language Arts Activities
Printable Stick Puppets

THEMES: imagination, winter, nature, bedtime

A Cat Is: Language Arts/Science
Lots of Great Project Ideas from the Grand Island Public School in Nebraska

THEMES: pet adoption, cats, family, compromise

Home or Classroom Activity Guide

THEMES: rules & consequences, siblings, birth order, fairness, humor

Coloring Page 1
Coloring Page 2

THEMES: mourning, grief, celebration of life, grandparents

Word Jumble Crossword Puzzle
Word Search Draw a Sandcastle page
Help the Dragon Move In Maze (easier)
Help the Dragons Move In Maze (harder)
B uilding a Story is Like Building a Sandcastle (a Parent/Teacher Guide)
Common Core - Visualization (a teacher-designed activity)
THEMES: friendship, imagination, beach, dragons, family

Ernestine coloring page                                Help Ernestine Get to the Park Maze
Ernestine Word Search                                Match Names and Jobs Activity
Help Ernestine Pack Her Wagon                Questions for Discussion
Print Play Date Cards for your kids!
Fly a Kite with Ernestine (you need both the instructions and template, below):
Instructions                Kite Template

THEMES: free play, lessons, fun, oversheduling, Nannies