Build strong questioning skills with this engaging Rooted in Reading companion for Picnic at Mudsock Meadow by Patricia Polacco! This week-long resource helps students become more active readers as they learn to ask meaningful questions before, during, and after reading while building comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar skills.

Over the course of 5 days, students will focus on asking questions throughout a text, including questions about the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Students will also take a closer look at the climax of a story and consider how important events work together to move the plot forward.

Students will explore the paired nonfiction topic The Swamp, extending their learning beyond the mentor text while building background knowledge and informational reading skills.

Vocabulary instruction is woven throughout the week with activities focused on the words swamps, boomed, mortified, battered, convincing, and stee. Students have multiple opportunities to discuss and apply new vocabulary in context.

Each day includes a Daily Deep Dive where students interact with a mentor sentence from the text, building skills in close reading, editing, grammar, noticing language, and thinking about meaning.

The week's grammar focus is singular and plural nouns, with targeted instruction and practice to help students recognize and correctly use nouns in their own reading and writing.

This resource includes:

• 5 days of detailed lesson plans for comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar
• Comprehension lessons focused on asking questions before, during, and after reading
• Activities for questioning across the beginning, middle, and end of a story
• Instruction and practice identifying the climax
• Comprehension focus posters, anchor chart templates, and discussion questions
• Reading response activities, printables, and assessments
• Paired nonfiction learning with The Swamp
• Vocabulary activities featuring the week's targeted words
• Daily Deep Dive mentor sentence activities
• Grammar lessons and activities focused on singular and plural nouns
• Engaging text-based response activities