Reading with Franklin the Turtle Author Study Grades 1-3

Book excerpt: Kids love Franklin and readily identify with him as he sometimes makes poor decisions but always finds a solution to his problem. Use this resource to help your students develop the literacy strategies necessary to derive meaning from print and illustrations, read to find new information about a topic, and think and write creatively, all using the Franklin books. 108 pages Includes Story summaries Reproducible work sheets for 16 different Franklin stories Teacher suggestions Resource list Student tracking sheet Answer key Stories Included: Franklin's Bad Day Franklin's Blanket Franklin is Bossy Franklin in the Dark Franklin Fibs Franklin Goes to School Franklin's Hallowe'en Hurry Up, Franklin Franklin is Lost Franklin is Messy Franklin Plays the Game Franklin Rides a Bike Franklin has a Sleepover Franklin's School Play Franklin and the Tooth Fairy Franklin Wants a Pet List Of Skills The Comprehension section deals with Knowledge, Comprehension, and Evaluation based on Bloom's taxonomy. e.g. identifying, sequencing events, matching a character to an event, judging why a character acted a certain way. There are two questions under the heading Word Study. One question relates to phonics and the other word study. If you students are unfamiliar with any of these skills, then they should be taught as mini-lessons to ensure successful completion of the reading activities. The following skills will be explored: Phonics: short vowels; long vowels; long vowels with silent e; double vowels; "y" as a vowel; initial consonants; blends; digraphs; initial consonant substitution; hard and soft c; double letters Word Study: classifying words; word meanings; plural and singular words; verbs, adjectives; compound words; root words; contractions; rhyming words, one, two, and three syllable words In the Thinking About the Story section, the students are asked to relate what happened to the story to their own personal experiences.