A Lot Dog

The big question of this issue of Storyworks 2 is, what can we learn from the foods we eat?

• Reading and discussing “A Lot Dog” along with the other themed texts in the magazine (the Mini Read “The Pokémon Café”; the paired texts, “The Gingerbread Man” and “Real Gingerbread”; the past to present feature, “The History of Tacos”; and the fiction, “Stone Soup”) will help kids think about this question.

Show “The Big Question” Video (10 minutes)

• Watch “The Big Question: What Can We Learn From the Foods We Eat?” (This video also goes with other stories in this month’s Storyworks 2.)
• After watching, tell students they are going to read a silly poem about food.

Discuss What Makes a List Poem (10-15 minutes)

• “A Lot Dog” is a type of poem called a list poem.
• Kenn Nesbitt, a former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate, says, “Many famous poets, including authors such as Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky, and even Dr. Seuss, have written funny list poems. A list poem usually consists of three parts: a beginning, an ending, and a long list of things in the middle.”
• In this poem, you’ll see that the poet introduces the idea at the beginning of the poem, then gives a list of different things that go in the hot dog in the middle, and then ends the poem.

• You can read the poem to the class first to model fluency and get kids familiar with the language. You can also click the Read Aloud button at the top of the digital issue to hear it read aloud by a professional voice actor.
• Then call on volunteers to read sections of the poem aloud.

Discuss the Poem (10-15 minutes)

• Ask: “Could all those things really fit on a hot dog?” (Of course not! That’s what makes the poem funny.)
• Now tell students they will be writing their own list poem. (See our next activity.)

ELA Focus: List Poem Writing (15 minutes)

• Using the "Make Your Own Poem" printable, have students write their own list poems.
• Important: This website gives you lists of different kinds of rhyming words. Kids can use the lists to write their poems. You can access the website here: https://poetry4kids.com /lessons/rhyming-lists/

ELA Focus: Parts of Speech (15 minutes)

• Using the printable “My Yummy Day” students can fill in the blanks with different parts of speech to create a silly story about cooking a meal.

Enrich the Learning: Paired Text Opportunities (time amount varies)

• Making text-to-text connections builds knowledge and comprehension. We layer Storyworks 2 with many ways for your students to make connections.

Pairable Texts the Mini Read, “The Pokémon Café” (pages 2-3); the paired texts, “The Gingerbread Man” and “Real Gingerbread” (pages 18-21); the past to present feature, “The History of Tacos” (pages 22-23); and the fiction piece, “Stone Soup”(pages 24-29).

• These texts ask questions similar to those posed in the poem.
• Kids can compare the texts by using our “Yummy Chart” printable. How are the texts alike, and how are they different?

Whole Issue Scavenger Hunt (15 minutes)

We created a scavenger hunt for several stories in this month’s Storyworks 2, including this piece. The scavenger hunt can be done by students independently at home or during class time.

• This is a self-contained group of slides that guide your students on a scavenger hunt through the whole issue. It’s not only fun, it also helps them make text-to-text connections.