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Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for The Raft

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Use The Raft by Jim LaMarche to strengthen your students' comprehension skills, build their vocabulary, and help them understand how words work.

No friends, no TV, and lots of chores; not exactly the summer that Nicky was hoping for. The Raft tells the story of how his summer turns around when Nicky finds a raft that provides adventures unlike he has ever experienced. This engaging story is excellent for practicing comprehension strategies including making connections, synthesizing, asking questions, making predictions, and making inferences.

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

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Asking Questions with The Raft

Nicky's adventures on the raft encourage students to ask questions about the characters and plot of the story. Some questions may not be explicitly answered in the story, prompting students to use their imagination and information from the text to come up with their own answers.

Common Core State Standards Alignment

RL.3.1,RL.3.3,RL.3.4,RL.3.10,RF.3.3,RF.3.4,SL.3.1c,SL.3.1d,SL.3.2,SL.3.3,W.3.8,L.3.6

TEKS Alignment

3.7D,3.13H,3.13E,3.13A,3.9C,3.8C,3.7G,3.7F,3.7E,3.1A,3.7C,3.7B,3.6I,3.6B,3.6A,3.1E,3.1D,3.1C

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Making Connections with The Raft

Making connections to The Raft will help your readers more deeply understand the story. With this lesson plan, students will have the opportunity to practice making text to self, text to text, and text to world connections with prompting and support.

Common Core State Standards Alignment

RL.3.1,RL.3.3,RL.3.10,RF.3.3,RF.3.4,SL.3.1d,SL.3.2,SL.3.3,W.3.8,L.3.6

TEKS Alignment

3.7C,3.13H,3.13E,3.13C,3.8C,3.7G,3.7F,3.7E,3.7D,3.1A,3.7B,3.7A,3.6I,3.6E,3.6A,3.1E,3.1D,3.1C

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Making Inferences with The Raft

Author Jim LaMarche includes clues in both the text and illustrations to help readers make inferences while reading The Raft. Adding their prior knowledge to these clues enables students to make logical inferences about the story.

Common Core State Standards Alignment

RL.3.1,RL.3.4,RL.3.7,RF.3.3,RF.3.4,SL.3.1d,SL.3.2,SL.3.3,W.3.8,L.3.6

TEKS Alignment

3.7B,3.13H,3.13E,3.13C,3.8C,3.7G,3.7F,3.7E,3.7D,3.7C,3.1A,3.7A,3.6I,3.6F,3.6B,3.6A,3.1E,3.1D,3.1C

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Making Predictions with The Raft

While reading The Raft, students will gain practice using the text and illustrations to make predictions about the characters, events, problems, and solutions in the story. After reading, students will reflect on whether their predictions were correct or not.

Common Core State Standards Alignment

RL.3.1,RL.3.2,RL.3.3,RL.3.10,RF.3.3,RF.3.4,SL.3.1d,SL.3.2,SL.3.3,W.3.8,L.3.6

TEKS Alignment

3.7B,3.13H,3.13E,3.13C,3.8C,3.7G,3.7F,3.7E,3.7D,3.7C,3.1A,3.7A,3.6I,3.6C,3.6B,3.6A,3.1E,3.1D,3.1C

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Synthesizing with The Raft

As students read The Raft by Jim LaMarche, their thinking may change as the main character's feelings about his summer change. Use this lesson plan to help students "think about their thinking" as the story unfolds.

Common Core State Standards Alignment

RL.3.1,RL.3.2,RL.3.3,RL.3.4,RL.3.5,RL.3.6,RL.3.7,RL.3.10,RF.3.3,RF.3.4,SL.3.1c,SL.3.1d,SL.3.2,SL.3.3,W.3.8,L.3.6

TEKS Alignment

3.7C,3.13H,3.13E,3.13C,3.8D,3.8C,3.7G,3.7F,3.7E,3.7D,3.1A,3.7B,3.6I,3.6H,3.6G,3.6A,3.1E,3.1D,3.1C

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Comprehension Assessment with The Raft

Use this Common Core aligned comprehension assessment to evaluate students' comprehension of The Raft.

Common Core State Standards Alignment

TEKS Alignment

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Compound Words with The Raft

This word work lesson plan and set of teaching resources use The Raft by Jim LaMarche as a springboard for instruction focused on compound words.

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

Common Core State Standards Alignment

RF.3.3,RF.3.4

TEKS Alignment

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Vocabulary Connections with The Raft

This set of vocabulary development resources for The Raft 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.3.4a,L.3.5b,L.3.6

TEKS Alignment

3.7E,3.7F,3.3A,3.3B

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Life by the River

This Knowledge and Fluency Passage features a thoughtful passage about rivers, forests, and rural life that helps students connect with the natural world central to The Raft. By practicing reading fluently and understanding key vocabulary, students can better visualize Nicky’s quiet adventures and appreciate the importance of the river and wildlife in the story. Use this passage before reading the book to build background knowledge and prepare students to engage more deeply with Nicky’s experience.

Common Core State Standards Alignment

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TEKS Alignment

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Cause and Effect Matching with The Raft

Read The Raft 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 Raft. 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

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Cause and Effect Sentence Stems with The Raft

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

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Writing with The Raft

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

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Asking Questions with The Raft (Spanish)

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

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Making Connections with The Raft (Spanish)

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

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Making Inferences with The Raft (Spanish)

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

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Making Predictions with The Raft (Spanish)

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

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Synthesizing with The Raft (Spanish)

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

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Writing with The Raft (Spanish)

Worksheet

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About the Book

Title: The Raft

Author: Jim LaMarche

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Themes: Summer, Adventure, Family

ISBN: 9780064438568

Publisher's Summary:

Nicky is certain his summer is ruined when he must stay with his grandmother in the Wisconsin woods while his father works away. He dreads the chores, misses city comforts, and finds his grandmother's rustic lifestyle foreign. Everything changes when Nicky discovers an old wooden raft drifting down the river. The raft, adorned with mysterious animal drawings, becomes his gateway to adventure and newfound appreciation for nature. As he spends more time on the river, Nicky observes local wildlife, bonds with his wise and artistic grandmother, and uncovers his own artistic abilities. Through these experiences, the woods come alive for Nicky, transforming what he thought would be a lonely, dull summer into a season full of wonder and self-discovery. The Raft is ideal for classroom discussions about resilience, the power of observation, connecting with nature, and the importance of family relationships. Jim LaMarche's luminous illustrations and gentle storytelling invite students to reflect on how unexpected experiences can help them grow and see the world—and themselves—in new ways.

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Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for The Raft

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

Asking Questions with The Raft

Making Connections with The Raft

Making Inferences with The Raft

Making Predictions with The Raft

Synthesizing with The Raft

Comprehension Assessment with The Raft

Compound Words with The Raft

Vocabulary Connections with The Raft

Life by the River

Cause and Effect Matching with The Raft

Cause and Effect Sentence Stems with The Raft

Writing with The Raft

Asking Questions with The Raft (Spanish)

Making Connections with The Raft (Spanish)

Making Inferences with The Raft (Spanish)

Making Predictions with The Raft (Spanish)

Synthesizing with The Raft (Spanish)

Writing with The Raft (Spanish)

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