Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for The Sour Grape 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 gratitude, this The Sour Grape picture book by Jory John 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 Sour Grape Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of The Sour Grape. 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 Sour Grape reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
THE SOUR GRAPE SUMMARY
The Sour Grape wasn’t always sour. In fact, he grew up in a close family where everyone was sweet to one another. On the weekends, he would spend time with his grandparents who taught him to be grateful, kind, forgiving and considerate. The Sour Grape always tried his best to be sweet, until everything changed.
The Sour Grape had planned himself a spectacular birthday party with a Ferris wheel, magician and plenty of snacks. He waited a long time for his guests to arrive, however, by the time the sun was setting no one had arrived. From that day forward, the Sour Grape held a grudge against everyone! He was always scowling and always grumpy.
One day, the Sour Grape had plans to meet his friend Lenny in the park. A series of events happened to make him very late to the park. When he arrived, Lenny was very frustrated with him. The Sour Grape realized Lenny was starting to hold a grudge against him, just like he did to everyone else! While giving Lenny some space, the Sour Grape spent time in the park. He realized how peaceful it was and was feeling very grateful. From that day forward, the Sour Grape changed. He no longer held onto grudges and realized just how sweet life could be.
THE SOUR GRAPE 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 Sour Grape, 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 Sour Grape reading comprehension questions focus on:
- analyzing character
- author’s purpose
- identifying theme, message, moral
- point of view
- making predictions
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- gratitude
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- verb tense
- adverbs
- adjectives
- prepositions
THE SOUR GRAPE 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 Sour Grape?
- Lexile® Measure: AD430L
- Guided Reading Level: K-M
- DRA Level: 20
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 2.3-2.5
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Jory John. It was illustrated by Pete Oswald.
What genre is The Sour Grape?
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.
