Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Mossy 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 theme of compassion, this Mossy picture book by Jan Brett 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 Mossy Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Mossy. 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 Mossy reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
MOSSY SUMMARY
Mossy is a turtle that lives in Lilypad Pond. She is a special turtle because a garden grows on her back. There are flowers, plants, and berries that grow on her shell, making her look unique and beautiful. One day, Mossy runs into another turtle, Scoot, and the two are amazed by one another. However, before they can get close, Dr. Carolina scoops Mossy up.
Dr. Carolina owns a museum nearby. She and her niece Tory were taking a walk when they noticed Mossy and Dr. Carolina thought she would be perfect for the museum. Mossy becomes a popular attraction at the museum, but Tory notices Mossy seems sad. When Tory’s class visits the museum, the classmates wonder if Mossy has friends. This gives Dr. Carolina the idea to have a portrait made of Mossy for everyone to see. This allows them to return Mossy to the pond where she reunites with Scoot.
MOSSY 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 Mossy, 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 Mossy reading comprehension questions focus on:
- making predictions
- visualizing
- analyzing setting
- making connections
- plot | problem and solution
- cause and effect
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- compassion
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- action verbs
- suffixes
- compound words
- shades of meaning
MOSSY 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 Mossy?
- Lexile® Measure: AD770L
- Guided Reading Level: R – S
- DRA Level: 41 – 42
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 4.5 – 4.7
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written and illustrated by Jan Brett.
What genre is Mossy?
It is a ficiton 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.
