Use The Biggest Valentine Ever by Steven Kroll to strengthen your students' comprehension skills, build their vocabulary, and help them understand how words work.
Friendship, teamwork, and problem-solving shine in this engaging Valentine's Day story about two mouse friends who learn that working together makes all the difference.
This resource set supports first graders as they practice three key comprehension strategies: understanding text structure, retelling & summarizing, and identifying the author's purpose. Through close reading and discussion, students examine how the story is organized, retell important events from beginning to end, and think about why the author chose to tell the story this way.
The set also includes a word work lesson on initial L-blends (cl-, gl-, pl-), helping students notice and practice common sound patterns found in everyday words. A carefully selected first-grade vocabulary list supports comprehension and encourages students to talk and write about the story with confidence. Together, these lessons make it easy to pair meaningful literacy instruction with a book students love.
