Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark

Use Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne to turn your read aloud or small group work into a time to improve comprehension and talk about the text in purposeful ways.

Upon entering a tree house in the woods close to their home, siblings Jack and Annie discover that it is filled with books and magic! Before they realize what is happening, the pair are whisked off to prehistoric times where dinosaurs roamed freely. Jack and Annie must face their fears and work together to find a way to return to Frog Creek. The story's simple cast of characters and interesting events makes it perfect for a Book Club focused on retelling and summarizing.

Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark in the drop down below.

Instructional Overview

The first page of Book Club for Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark Instructional Overview

Instructional Overview

The instructional overview includes an instructional background for retelling and summarizing, instructional objectives for each of the Book Club meetings, and a list of the materials and preparation necessary to host the Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark Book Club.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Management Resources

The first page of Book Club for Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark Management Resources

Management Resources

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.

Meeting 1

As students begin reading longer texts like Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark, it is important for them to be able to remember important characters and events from the story. One way to do this is by retelling and summarizing the text.

Meeting 2

Differentiating between major and minor characters will help students to know which characters and events are most important to the story. This Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark Book Club meeting will teach students to attend to major characters and the events they are involved in while reading.

Meeting 3

Like major characters, major events are most important when retelling and summarizing Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne. Through an interactive activity, students will gain experience identifying major and minor events from their reading.

Meeting 4

Key concepts to successfully retelling and summarizing a story are being able to sequence the major events and tell how the major characters responded to those events. This Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark Book Club meeting encourages students to build these skills in a fun, interactive way.

Meeting 5

This final Book Club meeting for Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark enables students to test their learning related to retelling and summarizing by looking at how a character's different response to a major event would effect the outcome of the story.

Vocabulary Connections with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark

The first page of Vocabulary Connections with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark

Vocabulary Connections with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark

This set of vocabulary development resources for Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark 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 practicing how to categorize words, students will develop the vocabulary necessary to comprehend this story and many others.

Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Focus Assessment and Rubric

The first page of Book Club for Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark Focus Assessment and Rubric

Focus Assessment and Rubric

Use this six-question assessment to determine whether or not students understand the key concepts associated with retelling and summarizing.

Comprehension Assessment with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark

Thumbnail for Comprehension Assessment with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark

Comprehension Assessment with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark

This 9 question Common Core aligned assessment can be used to determine students' overall comprehension of Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark and their mastery of the Common Core State Standards.

Running Record with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark

Thumbnail for Running Record with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark

Running Record with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark. 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.

Management Resources - Spanish

The first page of Book Club for Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark Management Resources

Management Resources - Spanish

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.

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About the Book

The cover for the book Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark
Title: Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark
Author: Mary Pope Osborne
Genre: Fantasy
Themes: History, Adventure
ISBN: 9780375894183
Publisher's Summary:
Where did the tree house come from? Before Jack and Annie can find out, the mysterious tree house whisks them to the prehistoric past. Now they have to figure out how to get home. Can they do it before dark…or will they become a dinosaur’s dinner?
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