Teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Stumpkin will love this post. It includes information about the book, teaching ideas, and resource recommendations. It will save you tons of time planning your interactive read aloud!
With a theme of self-esteem, this Stumpkin picture book by Lucy Ruth Cummins is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It will quickly become one of you and your students’ favorite Halloween books for kids too!
Engage Your Students with Stumpkin Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Stumpkin.
- Check out the teaching ideas for reading comprehension strategies, grammar topics and social emotional learning skills that can be taught using this children’s book.
- Download the book companion to make lesson planning simple with Stumpkin reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
STUMPKIN SUMMARY
It was almost Halloween and the shopkeeper had his shelves filled with pumpkins. One day, a girl came into the shop and picked out a pumpkin to take home. At first, the pumpkins worried about their friend. But then they saw the pumpkin perched high in a window across the street. It had been carved into a jack o’lantern. All the other pumpkins dreamed of being chosen and turned into a special jack o’lantern. But then one of the pumpkins noticed a problem. Stumpkin did not have a stem like the others, it was just a stump! He had many other great qualities like roundness, color and size.
However, as it got closer to Halloween, Stumpkin was still on the shelf. The other pumpkins were being taken to new homes and placed in windows across the street. On the day of Halloween it was only Stumpkin and a gourd. Soon, even the gourd was taken to a new home. By the end of the day on Halloween, Stumpkin was the only pumpkin left. Suddenly, the shopkeeper picked up Stumpkin and carved him into a jack o’lantern. He was placed back on the shelf in the shop for all to see. That’s when Stumpkin realized he was in his home all along.
STUMPKIN LESSON PLAN IDEAS
Each of our 400+ Starts With a Story book companions come with a teacher’s guide to make lesson planning quick and easy, printable worksheets and digital resources that cover ALL of the standards-based reading comprehension skills.
When it comes to writing lesson plans and finding activities for Stumpkin, we’ve already done all of the heavy lifting for you.
We found this book was especially good at teaching the topics listed below.
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
The text-based Stumpkin reading comprehension questions focus on:
- making inferences
- visualizing
- analyzing character
- analyzing setting
- plot | problem – solution
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- self-esteem
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- articles
- adjectives
- prepositions
- shades of meaning
STUMPKIN ACTIVITIES
You’ll receive all of the following resources aligned to the story:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
YOU HAVE 2 OPTIONS! WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK COMPANION?
BOOK INFO FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
What are the reading levels for Stumpkin?
- Lexile® Measure: 500L
- Guided Reading Level: N
- DRA Level: 24
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 2.7
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written and illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins.
What genre is Stumpkin?
It is a fiction book. You may want to check out our genre activities or read our blog post, How to Teach Genre to Elementary Students.
How many pages are in the book?
The story is 56 pages long.