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Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for Crenshaw

The cover for Crenshaw Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources

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Use Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate to turn your read aloud or small group work into a time to improve comprehension and talk about the text in purposeful ways.

Jackson's family is no stranger to hard times and the return of his imaginary friend, Crenshaw, signals that hard times may have found them once again. Crenshaw first appeared when Jackson was young and his family started living in their van. The sharply dressed, surfboard riding cat helps Jackson when he needs it most, but Jackson feels that he is now too old for an imaginary friend. This touching story about family, friendship, and perseverance is ideal for a Book Club focused on theme and how it is developed over the course of the text.

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Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with Crenshaw in the drop down below.

Meeting 1

Open the Crenshaw Book Club by practicing identifying the theme of a popular children's story that students are familiar with. Then, provide the broad category of friendship for readers to follow as they read and look for ways author Katherine Applegate share her message throughout the story.

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Meeting 2

An important step in learning to determine the theme of a story like Katherine Applegate's Crenshaw, is identifying the main ideas and supporting details. Students will work on this skill using a graphic organizer that will help them track their thinking.

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Meeting 3

While following friendship throughout Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate, readers will find it helpful to look at the relationships between Jackson and Crenshaw and Jackson and Marisol. Paying attention to these relationships and the characters' thoughts, dialogue, and actions will help students begin to formulate a specific theme related to friendship.

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Meeting 4

This Crenshaw Book Club focuses on how author Katherine Applegate woven her theme of friendship into the plot of the story. Readers will be able to explore how this is done using the "story within a story" of the first time Jackson's family became homeless.

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Meeting 5

Now that students have progressed further into Katherine Applegate's Crenshaw, it is time to revisit the main ideas and supporting details that they have been tracking. Students will be able to identify some common main ideas related to friendship that are supported by the text. These main ideas will help shape their thinking when it comes to determining a theme in the final meeting.

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Meeting 6

The final Book Club meeting for Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate provides an opportunity for readers to showcase their learning related to determining theme. Students will use their creative side to create a book poster that illustrates a theme found in the book.

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Focus Assessment and Rubric

Use this six-question assessment to determine whether or not students understand the key concepts associated with determining theme.

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Comprehension Assessment with Crenshaw

This 9 question Common Core aligned assessment can be used to determine students' overall comprehension of Crenshaw and their mastery of the Common Core State Standards.

Common Core State Standards Alignment

TEKS Alignment

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Running Record with Crenshaw

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with Crenshaw. Track meaning, structure, and visual accuracy using the first 100 words of the text to determine whether or not this book is a good fit for the readers in your classroom.

Common Core State Standards Alignment

TEKS Alignment

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About the Book

Title: Crenshaw

Author: Katherine Applegate

Genre: Fantasy

Themes: Perseverance, Family, Friendship

ISBN: 9781250080226

Publisher's Summary:

Jackson and his family have fallen on hard times. There's no more money for rent. And not much for food, either. His parents, his little sister, and their dog may have to live in their minivan. Again. Crenshaw is a cat. He's large, he's outspoken, and he's imaginary. He has come back into Jackson's life to help him. But is an imaginary friend enough to save this family from losing everything? Beloved author Katherine Applegate proves in unexpected ways that friends matter, whether real or imaginary.

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Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for Crenshaw