Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Mike Fink 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 perseverance, this Mike Fink picture book by Steven Kellogg 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 Mike Fink Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Mike Fink. 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 Mike Fink reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
MIKE FINK SUMMARY
Steven Kellogg’s tall tale, Mike Fink, has themes of perseverance, goal setting, and individuality. From the moment Mike Fink was born, it was clear he was a bit different. He did not like being indoors; instead, he always wanted to be outside. In fact, he ran away when he was only two days old! His mother moved their family out to the frontier so Mike would be able to spend more time outside. From an early age, Mike dreamed of being a keelboatman.
The first time Mike met a keelboatman, he was challenged to a wrestling match to see if he was strong enough. The crew member, Jack Carpenter, sent Mike flying into the mountains. Knowing he was not strong enough yet, Mike spent his time building strength by wrestling grizzly bears. Finally, Mike was ready for a rematch with Jack, and this time he won.
Soon after starting work on the boat, the crew was so impressed with Mike they made him captain. Mike loved the adventurous life of the keelboatman until the steamboats started taking over. One day, Mike and his crew engaged in a battle against Captain Blathersby’s steamboat. Mike came out triumphant after the steamboat exploded. Captain Blathersby was one of the few survivors. Despite their rivalry, Mike sent his crew to rescue Blathersby only to challenge him to a round of wrestling!
The legend of Mike Fink lived on as he was known as King of the Keelboatmen.
MIKE FINK 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 Mike Fink, 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 Mike Fink reading comprehension questions focus on:
- analyzing character
- comparing and contrasting
- identifying theme, message and moral
- making predictions
- sequencing
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- perseverance
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- proper nouns
- adverbs
- base words
- prepositions
MIKE FINK 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 Mike Fink?
- Lexile® Measure: 870L
- Guided Reading Level: T
- DRA Level: 44
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 4.9
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Steven Kellogg. It was illustrated by Steven Kellogg.
What genre is Mike Fink?
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 48 pages long.
