Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Dear Dragon 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 empathy, growth mindset and kindness, this Dear Dragon picture book by Josh Funk 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 Dear Dragon Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Dear Dragon. 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 Dear Dragon reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
DEAR DRAGON SUMMARY
Two students from different worlds pick each other as pen pals. One is a human, and one is a dragon- but they do not know that. They both do not like writing, but quickly enjoy it as they talk to each other. Sharing about favorite activities, hobbies, and families, the two create a bond. They are excited to learn more about each other and learn about their similarities and differences.
At the end of the story, the dragon and human finally get to meet at a picnic. They learn that they are completely different species! The two agree to keep writing to one another beyond the school year.
DEAR DRAGON 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 Dear Dragon, 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 Dear Dragon reading comprehension questions focus on:
- asking and asnwering questions
- author’s purpose
- visualizing
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- emphathy
- growth mindset
- kindness
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- time order words
- greetings
- suffixes
DEAR DRAGON 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 Dear Dragon?
- Lexile® Measure: AD560L
- Guided Reading Level: N
- DRA Level: 28
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 3-3.2
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Josh Funk. It was illustrated by Rodolfo Montalvo.
What genre is Dear Dragon?
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.
