Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for April Fool! Watch Out at School 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 a sportsmanship theme, this April Fool! Watch Out at School picture book by Diane deGroat 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 April Fool! Watch Out at School Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of April Fool! Watch Out at School. 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 April Fool! Watch Out at School reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
APRIL FOOL! WATCH OUT AT SCHOOL SUMMARY
It’s April Fools’ Day and Gilbert is excited to get to school and play tricks on his friends. When Gilbert meets Patty on the walk to school, she tricks him by saying his shoe is untied. Their principal tricks them by talking backwards! Gilbert looks forward to using those tricks later in the day. Even Mrs. Byrd tricks Gilbert by asking him to say silly words when he gets to punctuation marks while reading.
The tricks from Gilbert’s friends keep coming. However, Gilbert can’t seem to trick anyone else. He tries using spicy gum as a trick and even a fake spider, but he can’t fool anyone! Instead, he keeps getting tricked by Lewis. By recess, Gilbert is frustrated and tells Lewis he has been saving his best trick for him. Throughout the day Gilbert shows kindness to Lewis by holding the door, letting Lewis borrow his eraser and pulling out a chair for him. Each time, Lewis thinks he is on to Gilbert trying to trick him but Gilbert explains that’s not the trick.
Lewis becomes so worried about Gilbert tricking him that he can’t concentrate on anything else. Finally, Lewis is frustrated and asks Gilbert what the trick is. Gilbert explains there never was a trick, and that was his trick all along! This light hearted story is the perfect read for April Fools’ Day.
APRIL FOOL! WATCH OUT AT SCHOOL 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 April Fool! Watch Out at School, 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 April Fool! Watch Out at School reading comprehension questions focus on:
- Analyzing character
- Cause and effect
- Making connections
- Making predictions
- Sequencing
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- Sportsmanship
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- Compound words
- Contractions
- Punctuation
- Quotation marks
APRIL FOOL! WATCH OUT AT SCHOOL 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 April Fool! Watch Out at School?
- Lexile® Measure: 500 – 525
- Guided Reading Level: N
- DRA Level: 24 – 28
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 2.8
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written and illustrated by Diane deGroat.
What genre is April Fool! Watch Out at School?
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 32 pages long.
