Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for The Story of Ruby Bridges will find this post helpful. It includes resource recommendations, teaching ideas, and information about the book.
With themes of bravery, transitions and compassion, this The Story of Ruby Bridges picture book by Robert Coles is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It’s sure to be a big hit in your classroom too!
Check out these other books that are great for Black History Month read alouds!
Engage Your Students with The Story of Ruby Bridges Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of The Story of Ruby Bridges.
- 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 Story of Ruby Bridges reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
THE STORY OF RUBY BRIDGES SUMMARY
In 1960, 6 year-old Ruby Bridges and her family moved to New Orleans for a better life. Segregation was still rampant, and a judge ordered a handful of Black girls to begin going to White schools. Ruby was one of these children.
She was the only one to go to Franz Elementary School from these children. On her first day, a big mob stood outside and chanted with signs, protesting her going. No students went as well. Ruby continued to go, day after day, praying for God to forgive these angry people.
This beautiful story is based on the true events during our Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Ruby Bridges continues to be a household name known for bravery, kindness, and compassion.
THE STORY OF RUBY BRIDGES 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 Story of Ruby Bridges, 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 Story of Ruby Bridges reading comprehension questions focus on:
- retell
- analyzing character
- author’s purpose
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- bravery
- transitions
- compassion
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- adjectives
- quotation marks
- verbs
THE STORY OF RUBY BRIDGES 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 Story of Ruby Bridges?
- Lexile® Measure: AD730L
- Guided Reading Level: Q – R
- DRA Level: 38 – 40
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 4.3 – 4.5
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Robert Coles. It was illustrated by George Ford.
What genre is The Story of Ruby Bridges?
It is a biography 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.
