Back to School Read Aloud with Activities

Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen is a newly released picture book that is great for the Back to School season. If you haven’t picked up your copy, you can grab one HERE.

After Katie and I read the story over this summer we just knew we had to create a teaching resource to go along with it. It’s the perfect book to being building a welcoming and loving classroom community.

And because this year is going to look so much different than years past, we made sure all of the activities are DIGITAL and printable. Let’s take a look at some of the activities that we paired with the story.

Comprehension Skill: Comparing

One of the comprehension skills that we teach using this book is Comparing and Contrasting. Students practice this skill by comparing themselves to a classmate using a Venn Diagram.

Nonfiction Connection

As with all of our Rooted in Reading units, we provide a Nonfiction reader. Students read information about different types of houses.

After reading the informational text, students record facts learned about the five different types of homes. This can be done on paper or it can be completed digitally through Google Slides, Seesaw, or Power Point.

Side-note: Digital doesn’t have to mean boring! For the nonfiction response, students create an apartment craft that pairs with their informational writing. They can still do this digitally! Students simply move the pieces together to make the apartment building.

But wait, there’s more!

Click HERE to see the full resource listing. Here’s what is all included:

*Skills: Making Connections and Comparing

– 5 Days of Lesson Plans for Reading and Vocabulary

– Teaching Videos:  Comparing, Making Connections, Introducing Vocabulary Words, Directed Drawing

– Picture Examples of all Activities

– Reading Comprehension Question Stems

– Digital Posters for:  Making Connections and Comparing

– Me, Myself, and I activity (similar to an All About Me activity)

– Venn Diagram for Comparing Animals

– Venn Diagram Flap-Book

– Let’s Compare Activity

– Types of Homes Activity

– Fiction Passage

– Nonfiction Passage

– Comprehension Check for the story with Answer Key 

– Anchor Chart for Comparing

– Schoolhouse Directed Drawing and Writing Pages

– Nonfiction Reader: Home Sweet Home (Types of Homes)

– Anchor Chart for recording information about types of homes

– Reading Response Craft: Apartment Building and Writing Pages

– Vocabulary Picture Cards

– Vocabulary Prompts

– Vocabulary Match It!

– Vocabulary Words in Sentences

– Vocabulary Assessment:  Match word to picture

Our Gift for YOU!

Before I go, I want to share a digital activity for the First Week of School. Students create an All About Me Slideshow on Google Slides or Seesaw.

You can see how this digital Back To School activity works by watching the video below:

Grab Your FREEBIE

In this document you will find links to upload this to Google Classroom and/or Seesaw! I hope that is helpful for you!

{Amazon Affiliate Links were included in this blog post}