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John Henry Resource Set
Lesson Plans • Resources • Activities
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John Henry by Julius Lester
This Caldecott Honor illustrated version of the “John Henry” ballad tells the story of John Henry’s amazing life and death. The story begins with a fantastical description of John Henry’s birth then moves on to outline the events of his life. Full of vivid imagery and striking illustrations, this picture book makes an ideal anchor text for mini lessons focused on asking questions, making connections, making inferences, synthesizing, and identifying author’s purpose.
Teach with John Henry by Julius Lester
Get everything you need to deliver meaningful reading instruction using John Henry by Julius Lester
CCSS Alignment
TEKS Alignment
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John Henry Resource Set
Asking Questions with John Henry
When paired with this asking questions resource set, John Henry provides an opportunity for students to question events that happen within the story. Use the included set of text-based questions to help readers examine their questions to determine which events in the story are an exaggeration of real life.
Common Core Alignment:
L.4.6 RF.4.3 RF.4.4 RL.4.1 RL.4.10 RL.4.4 SL.4.1c SL.4.1d SL.4.2 W.4.8 W.4.9
TEKS Alignment:
4.13A 4.13C 4.13E 4.13H 4.1A 4.1C 4.6A 4.6B 4.6I 4.7B 4.7C 4.7D 4.7E 4.7F 4.7G 4.8C
Identifying the Author's Purpose with John Henry
The story of John Henry presents readers with a variety of messages. Use this mini lesson and set of activities support students as they examine the details of the story to draw conclusions about the author’s message.
Common Core Alignment:
L.4.6 RF.4.3 RF.4.4 RL.4.10 RL.4.2 RL.4.6 SL.4.1c SL.4.1d SL.4.2 W.4.8 W.4.9
TEKS Alignment:
4.10A 4.10C 4.13C 4.13E 4.13H 4.1A 4.1C 4.6A 4.6B 4.6E 4.6I 4.7A 4.7B 4.7C 4.7D 4.7E 4.7F 4.7G 4.8A
Making Connections with John Henry
Challenge students to make connections between the ballad of John Henry and their prior knowledge or tall tales, legendary characters, and real-world events with this making connections resource set.
Common Core Alignment:
L.4.6 RF.4.3 RL.4.1 RL.4.10 RL.4.3 RL.4.6 SL.4.1c SL.4.2 W.4.8
TEKS Alignment:
4.13C 4.13E 4.13H 4.1A 4.1C 4.6A 4.6B 4.6E 4.6I 4.7A 4.7B 4.7C 4.7D 4.7E 4.7F 4.7G
Making Inferences with John Henry
John Henry is an ideal anchor text for a mini lesson focused on making inferences. Through using this Caldecott Honor book with this resource set students will have the opportunity to make inferences about character motivation and word choice.
Common Core Alignment:
L.4.6 RF.4.3 RF.4.4 RL.4.1 RL.4.10 RL.4.2 RL.4.3 RL.4.4 SL.4.1c SL.4.1d SL.4.2 W.4.8 W.4.9
TEKS Alignment:
4.13C 4.13E 4.13H 4.1A 4.1C 4.6A 4.6B 4.6E 4.6F 4.6I 4.7A 4.7B 4.7C 4.7D 4.7E 4.7F 4.7G 4.8A 4.8B
Synthesizing with John Henry
Synthesizing text can be a difficult strategy for students to master. Use this mini lesson and set of resources to teach readers how to examine John Henry actions in the story in order to draw conclusions about his character.
Common Core Alignment:
L.4.6 RF.4.3 RF.4.4 RL.4.1 RL.4.10 RL.4.2 RL.4.3 RL.4.4 RL.4.5 RL.4.6 RL.4.7 SL.4.1c SL.4.1d SL.4.2 W.4.8 W.4.9
TEKS Alignment:
4.13C 4.13E 4.13H 4.1A 4.1C 4.6A 4.6B 4.6E 4.6H 4.6I 4.7A 4.7B 4.7C 4.7D 4.7E 4.7F 4.7G 4.8A 4.8B 4.8C
John Henry Extension Activity
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.
John Henry Running Record
Use this "done for you" Running Record to assess oral reading fluency of John Henry. 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.
John Henry Common Core Aligned Comprehension Assessment
Use this Common Core aligned comprehension assessment to evaluate students' comprehension of John Henry.
Student Resources in Spanish
This set of Spanish student facing resources includes comprehension strategy practice pages, reader's notebook prompts (complete with Spanish Common Core "I Can" statements), and extension activities for use with John Henry by Julius Lester. These resources are intended to be used with the lesson plans included in the Super Pack for this book.
John Henry Word Work - Rules of Adding -ed and -ing
John Henry is not only an excellent anchor text for teaching comprehension strategies, it also pairs well with a phonics lesson about rules of adding -ed and -ing to a word. Either download the John Henry Super Pack or this individual Word Work package to access lesson plans, interactive games and fun worksheets that directly tie word study to your classroom reading.
Common Core Alignment:
RF.4.3 RF.4.4
TEKS Alignment:
4.2A(i) 4.2A(v) 4.2B(iii) 4.2B(iv) 4.2B(vii) 4.3C
John Henry Vocabulary Connections
Before your students can fully comprehend and enjoy John Henry, it’s helpful to introduce words that might be new to readers. Either download the John Henry Super Pack or this individual Vocabulary Builder for resources and activities that support Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary growth through fun and productive interactions with new words.
Common Core Alignment:
L.4.4a L.4.5c L.4.6
TEKS Alignment:
4.3A 4.3B 4.7E 4.7F
TEKS Alignment
Complete TEKS alignment for all of the mini lessons, resources, and activities in the John Henry Resource Set.
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