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Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for The Tale of Despereaux

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Use The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo to turn your read aloud or small group work into a time to improve comprehension and talk about the text in purposeful ways.

Beloved author Kate DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux, being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread, is the story of an unlikely hero. Born undersized and with exceptionally large ears, Despereaux is nevertheless destined to be heroic. He is honest and true, and through his experiences, young readers will learn the importance of storytelling. The text structure introduces the characters out of sequence, and readers will learn to construct meaning by piecing together the facts and events that bring the characters together. This is the perfect story for mini lessons focused on non-linear text structure.
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Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with The Tale of Despereaux in the drop down below.

Instructional Overview

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Instructional Overview

The instructional overview includes instructional background for story structure, instructional objectives for each of the Book Club meetings, and a list of the materials and preparation necessary to The Tale of Despereaux Book Club.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
  • RL.5.10RF.5.3RF.5.4RL.5.1SL.5.1aRL.5.2SL.5.1bRL.5.3SL.5.1cRL.5.4W.5.8RL.5.5W.5.9RL.5.6L.5.4aRL.5.7L.5.5RL.5.9L.5.6
TEKS Alignment
  • 5.8C5.1C5.10A5.6I5.8D5.1A5.10B5.7A5.9A5.1D5.10C5.7B5.9B5.6A5.10D5.7C5.9D(i)5.6B5.10E5.7D5.9D(ii)5.6C5.10F5.7E5.9D(iii)5.6D5.10G5.7F5.9E(i)5.6E5.13A5.7G5.9E(ii)5.6F5.13C5.8A5.9E(iii)5.6G5.13E5.8B5.9F5.6H5.13H
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Management Resources

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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.
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Meeting 1

Using The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, readers will explore story structure. When stories are written using a nonlinear timeline, the reader is able to find out the outcome before knowing what caused it.
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Meeting 2

This The Tale of Despereaux Book Club meeting focuses on identifying the characteristics of both linear and nonlinear timelines. Linear timelines have events happening in chronological order, while in nonlinear timelines, events happen out of order.
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Meeting 3

Author Kate DiCamillo uses flashbacks in The Tale of Despereaux to help readers understand the relationship between events and their consequences. Students will track events and consequences while reading for a better understanding of the story.
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Meeting 4

Another reason that author Kate DiCamillo uses flashbacks in The Tale of Despereaux is to build suspense for the reader. Students will discuss this and other reasons why the author may have chosen to write this story the way she did.
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Meeting 5

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo follows a nonlinear timeline. During this meeting students will explore the use of flash forwards as a way for the author to provide more information about characters and events.
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Meeting 6

This final The Tale of Despereaux Book Club meeting explores author Kate DiCamillo's use of her own voice throughout the story. The author speaks the the reader during the story to clarify timeframes and provide support of the book's theme.
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Vocabulary Connections with The Tale of Despereaux

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Vocabulary Connections with The Tale of Despereaux

This set of vocabulary development resources for The Tale of Despereaux 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
  • L.5.4aL.5.5L.5.6
TEKS Alignment
  • 5.7E5.7F5.3A5.3B
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Focus Assessment and Rubric

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Focus Assessment and Rubric

Use this six-question assessment to determine whether or not students understand the key concepts associated with linear vs. nonlinear story structure.
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Running Record with The Tale of Despereaux

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Running Record with The Tale of Despereaux

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with The Tale of Despereaux. 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.

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Management Resources - Spanish

The first page of Book Club for The Tale of Despereaux 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 The Tale of Despereaux
Title: The Tale of Despereaux
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Genre: Fairy Tale
Themes: Award Winners, Adventure
ISBN: 9781669659327
Publisher's Summary:
Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out.
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