The Rainbow Fish Book Study

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister is a sweet story with an important life lesson. It is a perfect choice for the start of the school year or any time your students could use a reminder about the importance of sharing and treating others with kindness. This book study includes a wealth of easy-to-differentiate resources to assist you and your students in close reading, writing, and thinking deeply about this story. These activities work well as literacy centers, or can be done as a whole class.

The table of contents is as follows:

• Vocabulary - Pre-teach key vocabulary from the story with this list or copy for students to paste into notebooks. Words, definitions, and picture cues are provided.

• Comprehension Strips – Comprehension strips allow students to practice returning to a text to find key information to answer specific questions. They are a fun alternative to a traditional question and answer worksheet and can be used as an individual or partner literacy center, or as a whole class activity when displayed under a document camera. Eight comprehension strips for each story and differentiated recording sheets are included. One recording sheet provides only lines for responses. The other provides sentence starters to help students answer each question.

• Sequencing the Story Printable – Students cut out six events from the story and paste them in the order they happened. Picture cues are provided.

• Characters Can Change Printable – Students write and draw to show how the Rainbow Fish changed throughout the story. Two differentiated options are provided. One provides sentences to fill in and complete. The more challenging option provides only the sentences starters, “in the beginning”, “in the middle”, and “in the end”.

• Problem and Solution Printable – Students identify, write about, and illustrate the problem and solution in the story. Two line options are provided.

• Making Connections Printable – Students identify what made the Rainbow Fish special and what he shared and apply the idea to themselves by thinking of something that makes them special that they also can share. Space for illustration and two line options are provided.

• Opinion Writing Prompt – Students consider whether or not the Rainbow Fish should have given away his scales and write about their opinions. Several paper options are provided.

• Lesson Learned Writing Prompt – Students identify the lesson learned from The Rainbow Fish. Several paper options are provided.

• Venn Diagram – Students use a lined Venn diagram to compare The Rainbow Fish and another story of your choice. In my own classroom, I use the story Little Prickles for this activity; however, I have also provided a blank template to allow you to write in the story of your choice.

• Rainbow Fish Sentence Building – To prep this activity print the cards on cardstock, or laminate, and cut out. Students match the Rainbow Fish (subjects) with fishy friends (predicates) to form simple sentences that make sense. Recording sheets for students to record their sentences on are provided. This activity can be done individually or in pairs.

Teachers Like You Said...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extremely satisfied

"My students loved this resource. They were very engaged and had fun in the process. I used this resource for more than one grade and was able to differentiate it to meet the needs of all the students I service. I used it for whole group as well as small group instructions. THEY LOVED THE HANDS ON ACTIVITIES" - Rachelle W.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extremely satisfied

"This was a great addition to our book study. The students were really excited to dive into this resource." - George M.

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Amanda Taylor @ Second Grade Smiles