Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for The Dead Family Diaz 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 friendship and diversity, this The Dead Family Diaz picture book by P.J. Bracegirdle 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 The Dead Family Diaz Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of The Dead Family Diaz. 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 The Dead Family Diaz reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
THE DEAD FAMILY DIAZ SUMMARY
The Diaz Family is getting ready to celebrate the Day of the Dead. Angelito is feeling nervous because it is his first time visiting the Land of the Living. All morning Angelito’s sister has been telling him how scary the Living are with their bulging eyes and long red tongues!
When Angelito steps out of the elevator and arrives in the Land of the Living, he realizes he has been separated from his family. He finds a friendly looking boy about his age and the two become friends. They spend the afternoon coming up with a plan to protect themselves from the enemies, the people Angelito thinks are the Living. However, when Pablo suggests the boys take off their masks, Angelito realizes Pablo is one of the living! Both boys are surprised and Angelito runs away.
When Angelito reunites with his family, he reflects on all the fun he had with Pablo that afternoon. Thankfully, the two are able to reconnect and Pablo even makes sure to show Angelito’s sister how scary the Living can be!
THE DEAD FAMILY DIAZ 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 The Dead Family Diaz, 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 The Dead Family Diaz reading comprehension questions focus on:
- comparing and contrasting
- analyzing character
- analyzing setting
- plot | problem-solution
- sequencing
- cause and effect
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- friendship
- diversity
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- verb tense
- multiple meaning words
- synonyms
- antonyms
THE DEAD FAMILY DIAZ 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 The Dead Family Diaz?
- Lexile® Measure: 690L
- Guided Reading Level: O
- DRA Level: 30
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 3.3
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by P.J. Bracegirdle. It was illustrated by Poly Bernatene.
What genre is The Dead Family Diaz ?
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.
