Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Giraffes Can’t Dance 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 growth mindset, diversity and individuality, this Giraffes Can’t Dance picture book by Giles Andreae 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 Giraffes Can’t Dance Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Giraffes Can’t Dance. 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 Giraffes Can’t Dance reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
GIRAFFES CAN'T DANCE SUMMARY
Gerald is a giraffe who wants to dance, but does not think that he is good at it. When it is time for the Jungle Dance, Gerald becomes sad because he thinks he is a bad dancer. When Gerald tries to dance, the other animals make fun of him and he leaves the dance floor feeling sad and alone.
Gerald walks into a clearing where he meets a cricket. The cricket teaches him that he needs to listen to the song that is right for him. Gerald listens carefully for music coming from the moon. He is ecstatic when he realizes he is finally dancing! Gerald returns to the Jungle Dance and all the animals are shocked by how well he can dance! Gerald tells them that everyone can dance when they find music that they love.
GIRAFFES CAN’T DANCE 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 Giraffes Can’t Dance, 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 Giraffes Can’t Dance reading comprehension questions focus on:
- analyzing character
- making predictions
- plot (problem and solution)
- asking and answering questions
- rhyme, rhythm and repetition
- identifying theme, message or moral
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- growth mindset
- diversity and individuality
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- action verbs
- suffixes
- adjectives
- compound words
GIRAFFES CAN’T DANCE 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 Giraffes Can’t Dance?
- Lexile® Measure: AD570L
- 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 Giles Andreae. It was illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees.
What genre is Giraffes Can’t Dance?
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.
