Calling all elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for The Scarecrow! You will love this post! It includes tons of teaching ideas, resource recommendations, and information about the book. You will have the tools and information you need to deliver excellent, standards-based interactive read aloud lessons!
With themes of friendship, compassion, and bullying, this The Scarecrow picture book by Beth Ferry is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It will quickly become one of your favorite fall books for kids too! Learn more about it below!
Engage Your Students with The Scarecrow Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of The Scarecrow.
- 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 Scarecrow book companion to make lesson planning simple with The Scarecrow reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
The Scarecrow Summary
The Scarecrow sits on the farm day in, and day out, protecting crops. This life can get very lonely, as the animals know not to mess with the Scarecrow.
One day, a baby crow falls out of the air. The Scarecrow picks him up and keeps him warm in his chest. They create a bond until it is time for the crow to fly away. While the crow leaves, the Scarecrow is painted with heartache and loneliness. That is, until the crow returns for good to create a home in Scarecrow’s hay.
This beautifully written story shares lessons in poetry, visualization, and compassion. Join readers in a quest to see the power of friendship and the joys that come with helping others.
Book Information for Elementary Teachers
What are the reading levels for The Scarecrow?
- Lexile® Measure: AD490L
- Guided Reading Level: N
- DRA Level: 24
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 2.7
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Beth Ferry. It was illustrated by Eric Fan.
What genre is The Scarecrow?
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.
The Scarecrow Lesson Plan Ideas
Each of our 600+ 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 Scarecrow, 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 Scarecrow reading comprehension questions focus on:
- retell
- figurative language
- visualizing
Literature-Based Social Emotional Learning Lessons
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- friendship
- compassion
- loneliness
Grammar, Vocabulary & Word Study
- subject-predicate
- verbs
- contractions
Get The Scarecrow Book Activities
This The Scarecrow Book Companion includes 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
One Last Thing Before You Go… Grab this Free Reading Resource!
If you want to get more book ideas to read aloud to your elementary students, then grab this reading freebie for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom teachers. It includes:
- seasonal read aloud books lists for teachers
- printable reading logs to track students’ reading
- monthly reading challenges to motivate students to read more
It will have you covered for the entire school year, as well as the summer months! Grab this free elementary reading packet now!
