March is on its way out the door and April is ready to bloom! What does this mean? It is time to break out the new picture books and their corresponding April Picture Book Pals! Using Picture Book Pals with these four amazing books is a great way to help students boost their reading skills modeled and guided reading!
What are April Picture Book Pals?
A Picture Book Pal is a comprehension check, a reading guide, a deeper thinking tool, and more! No matter what you want to accomplish with your April picture books, you can get done with April Picture Book Pals! Because the April Picture Book Pals are similar to January, February, and March, your students will recognize the activities while the content always changes.
With all of the April Picture Book Pals you get so many fantastic elements! Not only do you get comprehension work, sequencing activities, vocabulary work, and writing activities, you also get bonus activities for fast finishers in your classroom. For April, we are highlighting these amazing four picture books.
Learn Sound Devices with Spring Comes
The book Spring Comes which is written by Newbery Honor author Kevin Henkes shows how everything transforms in the spring. A great concept to focus on with this book is sound devices like repetition and alliteration. Along with this great literary concept to focus on, students can analyze the imagery they see in the text. With the help of the Spring Comes Picture Book Pal, your students will be able to understand the text and then dive in deeper with vocabulary exercises and a fun craft. Because this talks about changing seasons, don’t be afraid to pair this with your science class! April Picture Book Pals don’t have to be just used in reading class. Always keep your options open!
Grow with Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt
Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt is a wonderful book that shows students into the secret world of gardening! Yes, it talks about the beautiful vegetables and fruit growing above ground, but it also shows what happens underneath. Diving into the dirt with earthworms, snakes, and more, your students will understand how the gardens in their backyards grow. If they don’t have a garden, they will learn how their vegetables and fruits grow before going to the store. This is a fantastic story to pair with science. You can even do a little experiment by growing something green and lush like grass! With your Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt Picture Book Pal, you’ll get fun visual comprehension check activities as well as vocabulary work and more!
Find Liam in The Curious Garden
The Curious Garden is a happy tale of Liam who finds a garden that isn’t well taken care of. When he decided to take care of the garden, it starts to grow and grow and grow! Eventually, it takes over all of the drab gray city. This is great for talking about cities, pollution, and why farms and rural areas are so important. With The Curious Garden Picture Book Pal, your students will not only do comprehension activities, but they will dive into the characters in the story. Plus, they will have some writing work to do that will help them start to organize their thoughts.
Keep Everyone Dry with The Big Umbrella
A fantastic character story, The Big Umbrella shows that when you have enough room for everyone, you should help anyone and everyone you can! When a big umbrella is found by the door, the owner soon realizes it can fit everyone under it when it rains. People of all shapes and sizes go under the umbrella to stay dry. The Big Umbrella is perfect for teaching students about sharing and kindness. With The Big Umbrella Picture Book Pals, your students can make puppets and interact with their story or use the writing activity to write their own version of the sweet story.
These April picture books are fantastic for talking about the weather, seasonal changes, fantastical stories, and how kindness matters. By pairing them with the April Picture Book Bundle, you’ll be sure that your students are learning everything they need to understand the text!
If you haven’t already got a copy, sign up below for a free 50-page copy of Picture Book Pals.
