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Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

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Use Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale by Tomie dePaola to strengthen your students' comprehension skills, build their vocabulary, and help them understand how words work.

Jamie O'Rourke is the laziest man in all of Ireland. He's too lazy to help his wife, too lazy to plant potatoes, and too lazy to solve his own problems. Thanks to a chance encounter with a leprechaun, Jamie is able to grow the biggest potato he has ever seen. But with a big potato comes even bigger problems. Students will enjoy learning how to use comprehension strategies while reading this fun Irish folktale that's perfect for St. Patrick's Day or any time of year.
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Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale in the drop down below.

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Determining Importance with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

Learning to identify important characters and events while reading is an important skill for second grade readers to develop. Use this determining importance mini lesson to teach students why it's important to pay attention to character traits, actions, and the important lessons main characters learn while enjoying Tomie dePaola's classic Irish folktale.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
RL.2.2,RL.2.7,RL.2.10,RF.2.3,RF.2.4,SL.2.1b,SL.2.2,SL.2.3,W.2.8,L.2.6
TEKS Alignment
2.7C,2.13G,2.13E,2.13C,2.9C,2.8C,2.8A,2.7F,2.7E,2.7D,2.1A,2.7B,2.7A,2.6I,2.6G,2.6E,2.6B,2.6A,2.1D,2.1C
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Making Predictions with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

Tomie dePaola's fanciful folktale about the laziest man in Ireland, a chance meeting with a leprechaun, and a gigantic potato gives readers lots of opportunities to practice making predictions while reading. The text-dependent questions included in this mini lesson make it easy for readers to stop and think about the text in order to make logical predictions about what might happen next.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
RL.2.1,RL.2.3,RL.2.10,RF.2.3,RF.2.4,SL.2.1b,SL.2.2,SL.2.3,W.2.8,L.2.6
TEKS Alignment
2.7B,2.13G,2.13E,2.13C,2.8C,2.7F,2.7E,2.7D,2.7C,2.1A,2.7A,2.6I,2.6E,2.6C,2.6B,2.6A,2.1D,2.1C
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Synthesizing with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

Synthesizing is all about paying attention to the way your understanding of a text changes as you read. This synthesizing mini lesson helps readers focus on the problems Jamie O'Rourke creates, how he solves his problems, and what happens when new problems arise. Use the step by step mini lesson and student practice pages to model how readers synthesize while reading this fun folktale that's perfect for St. Patrick's Day or any time of year.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
RL.2.1,RL.2.2,RL.2.3,RL.2.4,RL.2.5,RL.2.6,RL.2.7,RL.2.10,RF.2.3,RF.2.4,SL.2.1b,SL.2.2,SL.2.3,W.2.8,L.2.6
TEKS Alignment
2.7C,2.13G,2.13E,2.13C,2.9C,2.8C,2.7F,2.7E,2.7D,2.1A,2.7B,2.6I,2.6H,2.6B,2.6A,2.1D,2.1C
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Understanding Text Structure with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

Understanding how authors use different text structures to tell stories can be a tricky thing to teach. This mini lesson and set of activities make it easy to show students how Tomie dePaola used description, sequencing, problem and solution, compare and contrast, and cause and effect to tell the story of Jamie O'Rourke and his big potato.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
RL.2.4,RL.2.5,RL.2.7,RL.2.10,RF.2.3,RF.2.4,SL.2.1b,SL.2.2,SL.2.3,W.2.8,L.2.6
TEKS Alignment
2.7E,2.13G,2.13E,2.13C,2.10C,2.10B,2.9C,2.8C,2.7F,2.1A,2.7D,2.7C,2.7B,2.6I,2.6A,2.1D,2.1C
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Visualizing with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

Help readers practice visualizing to improve comprehension using this mini lesson and Tomie dePaola's Irish folktale. Students will enjoy finding words that help them bring the story to life inside of their imaginations. Complete with text-dependent questions, a student practice page, and a Reader's Notebook prompt, you'll have everything you need to teach readers how to visualize while reading Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
RL.2.7,RL.2.10,RF.2.3,RF.2.4,SL.2.1b,SL.2.2,SL.2.3,W.2.8,L.2.6
TEKS Alignment
2.7C,2.13G,2.13E,2.13C,2.10C,2.9C,2.8C,2.7F,2.7E,2.7D,2.1A,2.7B,2.7A,2.6I,2.6E,2.6D,2.6A,2.1D,2.1C
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Inflectional Endings with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

This word work lesson plan and set of teaching resources use Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale by Tomie dePaola as a springboard for instruction focused on inflectional endings.

By anchoring word study to the text, students will benefit from seeing how words that end with inflectional ending -ing are used inside of the text before engaging in both guided and independent practice with words.

Common Core State Standards Alignment
RF.2.3,RF.2.4
TEKS Alignment
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Vocabulary Connections with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

This set of vocabulary development resources for Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale highlights the words that are most important for students to know and understand while reading the book. Through engaging in fun word games, matching words to definitions and pictures, and practicing how to categorize words, students will develop the vocabulary necessary to comprehend this story and many others.

Common Core State Standards Alignment
L.2.4a,L.2.5a,L.2.6
TEKS Alignment
2.7E,2.7F,2.3A,2.3B,2.3D
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Comprehension Assessment with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

Use this Common Core aligned comprehension assessment to evaluate students' comprehension of Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment
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Running Record with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale. 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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Cause and Effect Matching with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

Read Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale then have some fun matching cause and effect sentences from the book. By using these cause and effect cards, students will demonstrate both their comprehension of the text and their understanding of cause and effect relationships in hands-on and interactive way.

This resource includes matching/sorting cards and a sorting mat for four cause and effect sentences in Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale. Each cause card is marked with a square and each effect card is marked with a circle, making it easy to support students who struggle with matching cause and effect relationships.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment
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Cause and Effect Sentence Stems with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

Understanding cause and effect is a key comprehension and language skill. The text structure of Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale includes several examples of cause and effect relationships, making it easy to use as a springboard for modeling or independent practice.

This simple resource includes four sentence stems. Each sentence stem presents an effect. Students will use what they know about the book to fill in the cause of the effect.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
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Writing with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale

The BookPagez extension activities are a great way to push student engagement beyond the pages of the text. Try using this activity with early finishers, with students who show a deeper connection with the text, or as a center activity.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
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Determining Importance with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer
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Making Predictions with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer
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Synthesizing with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer
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Understanding Text Structure with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer
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Visualizing with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer
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Writing with Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale (Spanish)

Worksheet
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About the Book

The cover for the book Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale
Title: Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale
Author: Tomie dePaola
Genre: Folktale
Themes: St. Patrick's Day, Decision Making, Laugh Out Loud
ISBN: 9780698116030
Publisher's Summary:
Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale by Tomie dePaola is a delightful picture book perfect for classroom read-alouds, especially around St. Patrick's Day or when introducing folktales. The story centers on Jamie O'Rourke, the laziest man in all of Ireland, who much prefers resting over helping his hardworking wife on their farm. When Jamie fears he might not survive the winter due to poor crops, a chance encounter with a clever leprechaun gives him an unexpected opportunity. Instead of taking a pot of gold, Jamie accepts a magic potato seed, which soon grows into the largest potato anyone has ever seen. The giant potato creates both excitement and chaos for Jamie and his village, raising questions about taking shortcuts and relying on luck instead of hard work. With its colorful illustrations, playful tone, and insights into Irish culture and rural life, the book invites discussion about the consequences of laziness and the value of community. Teachers will find this folktale a fun springboard for lessons on character traits, cause and effect, and traditional storytelling, all wrapped in Tomie dePaola's signature warmth and humor.
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