The Very Smelly Princess / Guided Reading Plan

Author: Stephanie Moss

Illustrator: Nina De-Polonia-Nill
Standard:
● NJSLSA.R3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the
course of a text.

● 2.1.2.PGD. 2: Develop an awareness of healthy habits (e.g., wash hands, cough in arm, brush
teeth).
Objective: Students will be able to listen, make predictions, and connect the reading to real
life situations by completing a 5 question worksheet using key concepts from the text at a 90%
proficiency.

I. PreReading - Prepare students for reading a book:

A. Activate/Build Prior Knowledge

Develop discussion relating to hygiene and encourage students to share their experiences and
routines for showering, oral hygiene, hand washing etc. Discuss the importance of having
efficient hygiene and why it is not healthy to not shower. Discuss how student hygiene might
affect the friends and family around them. Allow students to share experiences where they may
have not displayed proper hygiene. Some examples may be not taking a shower after the pool,
forgetting to brush their teeth, or even not washing their hands after using the bathroom. The
importance of using students' prior knowledge may help them relate to a time where they gave
their parents a hard time about a hygiene routine . In the story the Princess refuses to take a
bath but once she does she reveals all the good that comes with being clean.

B. Preview the text and make predictions

Now take a look at just the images within the story to begin a picture-walk. Begin guiding
students through the pictures in page order. Allow the students to observe the picture of the
soldiers on page 5 and allow them to take turns taking predictions of what they believe the
soldiers are doing and why. Walk the students through the book in order to name all the
different people throughout the story that were affected by the Very Smelly Princess. Begin
adding notes to a big post it note paper while the class discusses different points that include
the people affected by the princess’ bad hygiene.

C. Teach Vocabulary
As students discuss during the picture walk and observe the pictures, listen for vocab words that
students will find in the reading. Ensure that the words used are within the context of the story
being discussed, then elaborate on these words and their true definition. Provide a page and
point to a tier 2 vocab word then allow the student to explain the definition. Some example
words: wash, bath, naughty

D. Set a Purpose to Begin Reading

Allow students to begin reading the story and remind them that friends and family in the story
will make many attempts to make the princess take a bath. Ask them to discover why the
princess should take a bath.

II. Read the Text – Students in the role of reader

actively read the text with guidance & support.
Instruct students to read silently, as they read and walk around the room while monitoring
student progress. Note what students need assistance with decoding words or if they try to
blend phonemes. If students need help then assist as needed. As students face the story events
encourage them to illustrate a picture of a page where the princess faces a conflict. Add some
of their examples to the big post -it note that the class creates together.

III. Responding to Text

A. Discuss the Purpose Setting Question
Begin discussion related to the reading and its importance of why it is being read. Overall the
students should come to the conclusion that friends and family wanted the princess to shower
because she smelt bad, looked messy, and it was not hygienic. Ask students to recognize each
attempt that someone tried to convince the princess to take a bath, discuss each person she
affected, and monitor students comprehension based on their responses. Answers should
include the queen, the king, the maid, the soldiers, and her ponies. Then ask the students to
recognize who tried to bribe her into taking a bath, some examples are: Tilly Twinkles, fairy
godmother, pirates,king, and queen.

B. Clarify Concepts and/or Vocabulary (QARs)

Continue leading conversation about the story and begin letting students ask questions and
share their interests. Encourage students to address specific issues where people tried to make
the princess take a bath. Ask students to consider the harmfulness of not taking care of your
body and how it could also affect the people around you. Open the conversation up for some
deeper questions that stray away from the book. For example focusing on the way Princess
Grace does not listen to her parents, let students express the reasons why this could be an issue
in real life.

C. Supporting Comprehension using a giant post-it note

Use this as an opportunity to go over and correct what the students believed happened in the
story. Begin with a class discussion and start note taking on the giant post-it note as students
take turns discussing the plot, setting, and characters. Allow the students to correlate the
sequence of the reading using terms like first, next, then , finally etc.

D. Make Connections to self, other texts and the world

Encourage students to start brainstorming why hygiene is important to everyone all over the
world and to think about how this book can be relatable to their real lives. Compare this story to
one that they have read before like Brush, Rinse, and Floss, ask students to compare and
contrast the two sources. Allow students to get creative by sharing which story they liked better
and about what this book taught them.

E. Support Further Discussion of Concepts in the Reading

Encourage students to continue reading the story and remind them that the Very Smelly
Princess will try again to avoid her friends and family about the situation. Ask them to read to
discover the next approach from strangers to make her take a bath and pause for discussion
after each attempt is shown.

IV. Exploring – Review the book to further support

students with a literacy strategy
Begin a cooperative instruction lesson where students will break up into small groups of three
and they will re read the story. During their reading the students will be instructed to write
down three different ways that the strangers tried to convince the princess to shower and they
will also need to draw 3 different scenarios where friends or family tried to convince the
princess to take a bath.

V. Apply –
Engage students in the task of exploring our next science unit about plant growth that involves a
class garden and getting messy. This is why the hygiene unit was taught first, there could be a
big mess when the students take on the gardening. Engage students by expressing how we are
going to “be princess grace for the day”. The same way that Princess Grace Played in the mud,
the class is going to play in the soil. Require students to choose a different flower and begin
digging, planting, and watering a seed. The students will need to measure the growth of the
stem with a ruler every week after planting. The students will use addition and subtraction to
estimate the weekly growth of the flower. After every gardening trip the class will wash their
hands with guided instruction to incorporate the hygiene unit, eventually the students will
know how to/how long to wash their hands. Encourage students to practice at home with
showers, bath, hand washing, and brushing teeth. Address the students' experiences
throughout the week through class discussion while in the garden.