Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for The Poppy Lady 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 gratitude theme, this The Poppy Lady picture book by Barbara E. Walsh 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 Poppy Lady Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of The Poppy Lady. 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 Poppy Lady reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
THE POPPY LADY SUMMARY
The book The Poppy Lady tells the true story of Moina Belle Michael and the history behind the poppy symbol. Moina was a school teacher at the beginning of World War I. When Moina first heard about the possibility of the war, she was nervous for all the young men and women. Moina worried about the impact it would have on the young women she taught.
When it was decided America would go to war, Moina wanted to do everything she could to help the young soldiers. She was in awe of their bravery and cheerfulness. Moina started by rolling bandages and knitting socks and sweaters but still, she wanted to do more. She began bringing books and magazines to nearby camps but still wanted to do more.
Moina decided to travel to New York City to train to become a canteen worker. Despite finishing the training, she was too old to go overseas. Moina refused to give up on helping the soldiers and opened an area where soldiers could go to relax. She created a bright and beautiful space for people to gather and enjoyed spending time talking to soldiers.
Next, Moina was determined to have the memory of soldiers live on. Inspired by a poem, she started wearing a red poppy on her jacket. This caught on and many others started wearing poppies, becoming the symbol of remembrance we know today.
THE POPPY LADY 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 Poppy Lady, 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 Poppy Lady reading comprehension questions focus on:
- analyzing character
- asking and answering questions
- author’s purpose
- identifying theme, message or moral
- summarizing | retelling
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- possessive nouns
- plural nouns
- articles
- compound words
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- gratitude
THE POPPY LADY 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 Poppy Lady?
- Lexile® Measure: 850L
- Guided Reading Level: T
- DRA Level: 44
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 5.5
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Barbara E. Walsh. It was illustrated by Layne Johnson.
What genre is The Poppy Lady?
It is a biographical 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.
