Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for The Leaf Thief

Use The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming to strengthen your students' comprehension skills, build their vocabulary, and help them understand how words work.

All of Squirrel's leaves have turned from green to red, gold, and orange. It is Squirrel's favorite time of year. But when he notices that one of his leaves has gone missing, Squirrel becomes a detective on a case to solve the leafy mystery. He asks all of his friends if they have taken his leaves but has no luck cracking the case. Luckily, Squirrel has Bird who finally helps him find The Leaf Thief.

Students will enjoy learning how to use comprehension strategies like determining importance, retelling, and predicting to deepen their comprehension of this laugh-out-loud story. After reading the book, students can practice working with -th digraphs. Or they can have some fun writing a reminder note to Squirrel to help him remember who the Leaf Thief is. Students can also spend some time practicing how to read with expression using this fun resource.

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

The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Determining Importance with The Leaf Thief

The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming is a smart choice to use when introducing younger readers to the concept of determining importance while reading. With this lesson plan and set of resources, students will learn to pay attention to the pictures and the characters to deepen comprehension and identify the important parts of the text.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Making Connections with The Leaf Thief

This set of resources makes it easy for students to make meaningful connections to The Leaf Thief. Use the included prompts to guide students as they make personal connections with the characters, text-to-world connections based on the changing season described in the book, and text-to-text connections to think about the ways in which this book compares to others they might have read.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Making Inferences with The Leaf Thief

Alice Hemming and Nicola Slater provide readers with a delightfully funny story that is made even more fun through the use of alternating fonts and brightly colored illustrations. Use this resource set to teach your students how to use the clues the author and illustrator provide to make inferences about the characters and plot - your students will love making inferences with this book!
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Making Predictions with The Leaf Thief

Students will delight in using their background knowledge about the ways trees change in the fall to make predictions in The Leaf Thief. Alice Hemming's use of dialogue paired with Nicola Slaters hilarious illustrations work to give readers the information they need to make predictions while reading this laugh-out-loud story.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Retelling and Summarizing with The Leaf Thief

With a limited cast of characters and a problem that's easy to identify, beginning readers will have a lot of fun learning to retell and summarize the story elements that make up The Leaf Thief. The page-specific prompts included in this resource set will help students logically retell the story and deepen their comprehension of the text.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Digraphs with The Leaf Thief

This word work lesson plan and set of teaching resources use The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming as a springboard for instruction focused on digraphs.By anchoring word study to the text, students will benefit from seeing how consonant digraph -th is used inside of the text before engaging in both guided and independent practice with words.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Vocabulary Connections with The Leaf Thief

This set of vocabulary development resources for The Leaf Thief 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
TEKS Alignment
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Comprehension Assessment with The Leaf Thief

Use this Common Core aligned comprehension assessment to evaluate students' comprehension of The Leaf Thief.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Running Record with The Leaf Thief

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with The Leaf Thief. 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
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Cause and Effect Sentence Stems with The Leaf Thief

Understanding cause and effect is a key comprehension and language skill. The text structure of The Leaf Thief 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
TEKS Alignment
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Cause and Effect Matching with The Leaf Thief

Read The Leaf Thief 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 The Leaf Thief. 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
The first page of Asking Questions with A Bad Case of Stripes

Writing with The Leaf Thief

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
TEKS Alignment

Determining Importance with The Leaf Thief (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer

Making Connections with The Leaf Thief (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer

Making Inferences with The Leaf Thief (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer

Making Predictions with The Leaf Thief (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer

Retelling and Summarizing with The Leaf Thief (Spanish)

  • Student Practice Page and Answer Key
  • Reader's Notebook Prompt
  • Graphic Organizer

Writing with The Leaf Thief (Spanish)

Worksheet

Get Full Access to the Entire Library of Resources when You Join Today!

You don’t need another curriculum—you need smart, supportive tools that build on the stories already in your classroom. BookPagez delivers research-aligned lessons, assessments, and digital tools to make your read-alouds, centers, and guided work more meaningful, more efficient, and more fun.
  • Teach with the favorite children’s books already on your shelf
  • Receive new, research-based materials every week
  • Tap into Digital Classroom for centers, assignments, and monitoring
  • Reclaim your evenings—planning is streamlined & ready to go
  • Stay organized with your personal file cabinet + dashboard
30 Day Risk-Free Guarantee, Cancel Anytime

About the Book

The cover for the book The Leaf Thief
Title: The Leaf Thief
Author: Alice Hemming
Genre: Informational, Fantasy
Themes: Laugh Out Loud, Fall, Friendship, Plants, Weather, Perseverance
ISBN: 9781338865738
Publisher's Summary:
Squirrel adores his beautiful tree and takes great pride in counting every colorful leaf. One crisp autumn day, Squirrel is startled to discover that some of his precious leaves have vanished. Convinced that someone must be stealing them, Squirrel enlists the help of his calm and knowledgeable friend, Bird, to solve the mystery. As Squirrel's frantic search leads him to suspect other woodland creatures, Bird gently reminds him that the changing season brings natural changes to their world. This lively, humorous story introduces young readers to the concept of autumn and the changes that occur in nature, while also exploring feelings of anxiety and the importance of adapting to change. The playful illustrations and relatable characters make The Leaf Thief an engaging read-aloud for classrooms, offering opportunities to discuss the seasons, friendship, and coping with new experiences. With bonus material about autumn and the life cycle of trees, this book is an inviting resource for sparking conversations about nature and emotional resilience in early learning settings.
Content and Downloadable content Copyright ©2010-2025 Thinking Tree Enterprises, LLC. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referenced on this site are the property of their respective owners. Please see our Terms of Use.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
©BookPagez.com 2010 - 2023
Fluency / Book Filter
Search by Grade Level
Search by Reading Level
Search by Theme

Reset

Let’s Book Your 30-Minute Clarity Call
Select a day and time that works for you.
[ssa_booking type=clarity-call]

Resource Downloading disabled

Your ability to download resources is currently disabled. Please contact us at support@bookpagez.com

Oops!  It looks Like You're Getting Carried Away. 

When you joined BookPagez, you agreed to follow our Terms of Use. Based on your download activty, it looks like you've gotten carried away.

You are allowed to download resources to use in your classroom for the duration of your subscription. You are not allowed to bulk download resources. In other words, it's against the rules to download all (or most) of the resources. That's stealing, and it's not nice.

Please check your email for a message from us. Reply to the email and let us know what's going on so we can reactivate your account.
In order to continue, please indicate that you agree with the terms above

Get instant access to this resource plus thousands more when you join today.

  • Teach with the best books
  • Always have access to new resources (published every month!)
  • Get full access to Digital Classroom
  • Finally have time to "fit it all in" with super efficient lesson plans
  • Enjoy fast planning tools and stay organized with your personal file cabinet and dashboard
Save 50% for a Limited Time