The Watermelon Seed is a highly effective text for teaching students the skill of asking questions. The plot of the story, main character, and illustrations will naturally appeal to young readers, so they will have no trouble asking and answering questions as they read!

Students will think critically in this mini lesson by using the text and illustrations in the book along with their own background knowledge to make text to text, text to self, and text to world connections.

This mini lesson will provide students with ample opportunities to make before, during, and after reading predictions using the engaging illustrations and plot of The Watermelon Seed.

With a simple-to-follow plot and only one character, The Watermelon Seed is a perfect text for introducing and practicing the skill of retelling and summarizing to young readers.

The bright, colorful, and inventive illustrations in this book make it a great fit for students to practice the skill of visualizing. The illustrations bring the text content to life to delight early readers.

This word work lesson plan and set of teaching resources use The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli as a springboard for instruction focused on vowels.

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

This set of vocabulary development resources for The Watermelon Seed 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.

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with The Watermelon Seed. 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.

The BookPagez extension activities are a great way to push student engagement beyond the pages of the text. Try using this sequencing activity with early finishers, with students who show a deeper connection with the text, or as a center activity.