A Few Good Book Teaching Ideas

Alexander and the Terrible~ Horrible~ No Good~ Very Bad Day~ written by Judith Viorst~ is a story about Alexander who wakes up with gum in his hair and trips on his skateboard. His mom forgets to put dessert in his lunch box~ and his dentist finds a cavity! Anyone who's ever had a day they'd rather forget will love this cleverly illustrated~ laugh-out-loud account of one boy's day of misfortune. Alexander and the Terrible~ Horrible~ No Good~ Very Bad Day is listed at a 3.7 reading book level~ so it is appropriate for students who are reading at least at a mid third-grade level.

Alexander and the Terrible~ Horrible~ No Good~ Very Bad Day can also be utilized with many different activities to enhance the comprehension level of the reading. Students could begin by using a shoebox~ to depict a bad day they have had~ including a background~ at least one person~ and at least one other object (animal~ shoe~ bed~ bus~ etc.) Doing a quick survey in the class to find out the different brands of shoes each student is wearing is also a great project. Creating a tally chart with this information~ to make a bar graph or pie chart. Students may draw their graph on paper~ and take a photo. Or they may use Microsoft Excel to create the graph instead. Another idea is for students to think about where they wish they could go when they are having a bad day~ creating a travel brochure on Microsoft Office that shows their choice. They should make sure to include at least 10 facts about their destination~ plus at least 5 pictures.~ which will incorporate technology into the curriculum.

Additional activities to be used with Alexander and the Terrible~ Horrible~ No Good~ Very Bad Day would be for children to imagine they are writing a letter to Alexander while he is in the middle of his bad day. What would they say? They should make sure to use the correct format for letter writing and type their letter as a Word document.. If you want to appeal to your more musically inclined students~ feel free to assign students to make up a song about Alexander and his bad day. The song must have at least 20 lines and can be video or audio recorded to hear the song being sung. These different formats lend themselves to higher level thinking skills.

There are a great many activities that can be used with the novel Alexander and the Terrible~ Horrible~ No Good~ Very Bad Day~ and even more that students may also be able to suggest. The main idea is to have fun and enjoy reading~ while engaging in interesting summaries and lesson ideas within the content. Keep reading!

Charity Preston - The Organized Classroom