Realistic Fiction Book Extension Activity

Your Name: Breanna Holden

Book Title: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Book Author: Judith Viorist

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Date: Reprint edition July 15, 1987

1. Grade 1 Core Standard (5 points)

Writing Standards
Production and distribution of writing- 5. With guidance and support form adults, focus on a
topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen
writing as needed.

Research to build and present knowledge- 8. With guidance and support form adults, recall
information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a
question.

Speaking and Listening Standards

Presentation of knowledge and ideas- 6. Produce complete sentences when appropriate to
task and situation.

Language Standards
Conventions of Standard English-1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard
English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. Capitalizations, verbs, proper noun
usage, produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative sentences in
response to prompts.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use- 4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and
multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading content.

Health Standards- Core Concepts- Mental and Emotional

1.ME.1.1- Recognize the relationships between emotions and actions.

Objectives (What will children expect to learn?) (5 points)

The goal of this activity Is to address feelings and emotions
Children will assign cause and effect through writing prompt
Children will self-reflect on their past experiences, actions, and feelings.
Children will gain a greater understanding of feelings being nouns.

2. Materials and Equipment needed: (5 points)

Book- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Paper
Pencils

3. Teaching (What will you do?) (5 points)

• Read book and discuss Alexanders bad day. Relate his bad day to a bad day that I
have had.
• Now talk to the children and listen to their bad days. What happened to make it bad,
what feelings they felt. Offer expanded feelings other than just sad and mad.
• Break down Alexander’s day into cause-and-effect scenarios. Cause of him thinking
he is having a bad day- he didn’t get a toy in his cereal now what effect did that
have on him? Was he sad, did he feel left out, unlucky, was he upset?
• Model folding their paper in half hot dog style (vertically) have them trace that line
with their pencil. Then model on the white board the words “cause and effect” on
either side of the line.
• Put some examples on the board. I was driving to work and spilled coffee on my shirt- it
made me feel frustrated and angry.
• Have the students help with making a word bank of nouns to reference when
searching for certain emotions. Try to group similar emotions together.
• Go from student to student helping them with grammar, punctuation, nouns in the
form of feelings, and ask them to elaborate on the thing they are writing about.
• 5 minimum examples requested.
• Group children up in groups of 4 and have them share and compare feelings and
events.

4. Closure: (2 points)

While children are still in groups, I will read the story over again and have the groups work
together to answer my questions about the feelings Alexander might feel throughout his day.
This will demonstrate how well they can associate feelings to Alexanders unfortunate events
throughout the day.

5. List 3 additional books in this genre to extend the learning: (3 points)

• The Boy with Big, Big Feelings By: Britney Winn Lee
• My Body Sends a Signal: Helping Kids Recognize Emotions and Express Feelings
By: Natalia Maguire
• The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions By: Anna Llenas
• Grumpy Monkey By: Suzanne Lang