Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Wishes 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, perseverance and compassion, this Wishes picture book by Muon Thi Van 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 Wishes Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Wishes. 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 Wishes reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
WISHES SUMMARY
This powerful story tells of the journey a young girl and her family made to flee their country in search of a better life.
Her family wishes the clock was slower, the lights were brighter, and the night quieter as they packed their things. Together with her siblings and mom, they said goodbye to their home and loved ones. They traveled on a long path to the water, where they boarded a small boat taking them through rough waves and warm sun. Finally, they see a ship in the distance that takes them to a place where hopefully, they do not have to wish anymore.
WISHES 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 Wishes, 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 Wishes reading comprehension questions focus on:
- summarizing | retelling
- author’s purpose
- analyzing illustrations
- analyzing characters
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- perseverance
- compassion
- gratitude
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- suffixes
- subject / predicate
WISHES 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 Wishes?
- Lexile® Measure: AD130L
- Guided Reading Level: E
- DRA Level: 6 – 8
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 1.3
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Muon Thi Van. It was illustrated by Victo Ngai.
What genre is Wishes?
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.
