Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Akiak will find this post helpful. It includes resource recommendations, free teaching ideas, and information about the book. You’ll have everything you need to deliver engaging interactive read aloud lessons based on this story.
With themes of teamwork and perseverance, this Akiak picture book by Robert J. Blake is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It will be a big hit in your classroom too! Learn more about this book below!
Engage Your Students with Akiak Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Akiak. You can find it in the section below.
- 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 Akiak reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
AKIAK SUMMARY
The book Akiak tells the story of a dogsled team running in the Iditarod. Akiak is the oldest dog on Mack’s team. They have never won the race before, and now that Akiak is 10 years old, it is her last chance to win the race. She is the lead of her dog team because she knows the trails very well. When Mack’s team makes it to first place in the race, they must start running through deep snow. Akiak gets a lot of snow jammed in her paw and gets hurt. She can no longer run the race and her team must go on without her.
As a handler is trying to get Akiak into a helicopter, she breaks free and starts to run after her team. She runs for several days through the cold snow and storms. Several volunteers try to catch her while others cheer her on. Akiak finally catches her team when they are on the wrong trail. Thanks to her experience, Akiak is able to direct her team to the finish and help them complete the race.
AKIAK 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 Akiak, 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 Akiak reading comprehension questions focus on:
- making predictions
- analyzing character
- visualizing
- analyzing setting
- analyzing illustrations
- ask and answer questions
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- teamwork
- perseverance
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- possessive nouns
- multiple meaning words
- time order words
- adverbs
AKIAK 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 Akiak?
- Lexile® Measure: 590L
- Guided Reading Level: N-O
- DRA Level: 28-30
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 3.2-3.3
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Robert J. Blake. It was illustrated by Robert J. Blake.
What genre is Akiak?
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 40 pages long.
