Red and Lulu invites students to ask thoughtful questions that deepen their understanding of the story and its themes. Why was the evergreen tree chosen for the city? How does Red find Lulu in such a big, bustling place? What does the story teach us about perseverance and love? By asking questions, students engage with the text, consider the challenges faced by the characters, and explore the deeper meanings of the story. This strategy encourages curiosity and wonderment as students read.

The final page, or Author's Note, at the end of Red & Lulu, offers a rich opportunity to practice determining importance. Readers can focus on key details, such as the significance of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, its history, and its symbolism of unity and hope. By identifying what happens to the tree after the holidays and reflecting on Red's journey, readers uncover the story's central themes of love, resilience, and togetherness.

The illustrations and text in Red and Lulu provide many opportunities for students to practice making inferences. Readers can infer Red's emotions as he searches for Lulu and how the tree's journey to New York transforms the lives of those who see it. They can also infer Lulu's feelings as she waits and wonders if Red will find her. Through this strategy, students enhance their critical thinking skills and uncover the story's underlying messages about determination and the power of reunion.

Red and Lulu is a heartfelt story that offers rich opportunities for practicing the comprehension strategy of synthesizing. The journey Red embarks on to find Lulu invites readers to merge their understanding of love, perseverance, and hope with the unfolding events of the story. Through Red's determination and the changing settings, readers can reflect on how his emotions shift—from hope to doubt and eventually to joy.

This word work lesson plan and set of teaching resources use Red and Lulu by Matt Tavaresas as a springboard for instruction focused on irregular past tense action verbs.

By anchoring word study to the text, students will benefit from seeing how irregular past tense action verbs are used inside of the text before engaging in both guided and independent practice with vebs.

This set of vocabulary development resources for Red and Lulu 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.

Understanding cause and effect is a key comprehension and language skill. The text structure of Red and Lulu 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.

Read Red and Lulu 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 a hands-on and interactive way.

This resource includes matching/sorting cards and a sorting mat for four cause and effect sentences in Red and Lulu. 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.

In Red and Lulu, their journey takes them from a peaceful home to the bustling streets of New York City. With this activity, students can trace their path on a map and follow the "Show Your Map Skills" directions to practice geography and mapping. It's a creative way to bring the story to life and build map-reading skills!