Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

Use When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth by Jamie Lee Curtis to strengthen your students' comprehension skills, build their vocabulary, and help them understand how words work.

When I Was Little is a four-year-old's humorous memoir of her youth. Looking back on her life from the experience and maturity of a four-year-old, the little girl is proud of who she has become and how capable she is now. When I Was Little will entertain readers as they practice making connections, retelling and visualizing.

Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth in the drop down below.

Making Connections with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

The first page of Making Connections with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth

Making Connections with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

When I Was Little is perfect for beginner readers who are learning to make text-to-self connections while reading. Not only will most readers be able to recall a time when they were proud of themselves, but they will also enjoy remembering all the skills they have today that they didn't have when they were younger.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Retelling & Summarizing with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

The first page of Retelling & Summarizing with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth

Retelling & Summarizing with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

This lesson plan will help students identify key events and construct accurate summaries based on a cause and effect sequence.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Understanding Text Structure with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

The first page of Understanding Text Structure with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth

Understanding Text Structure with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

This is a fictional memoir about a four-year-old girl reminiscing on how far she's come since she was a baby. Using this book, readers will begin to understand how to comprehend a memoir text structure, and they can discuss other books they've read that feature a similar format.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Visualizing with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

The first page of Visualizing with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth

Visualizing with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

This book is a smart choice for introductory lessons on visualizing. Early readers will be able to identify the words that help them create mental images. Then, they can compare those images to the illustrations in the book to self-monitor their use of this strategy.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

High-Frequency Words with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

The first page of High-Frequency Words with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth

High-Frequency Words with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

This word work lesson plan and set of teaching resources use When I Was Little by Jamie Lee Curtis as a springboard for instruction focused on high-frequency words.

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

Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Vocabulary Connections with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

The first page of Vocabulary Connections with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth

Vocabulary Connections with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

This set of vocabulary development resources for When I Was Little 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

Running Record with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

Thumbnail for Running Record with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth

Running Record with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with When I Was Little. 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.

Cause and Effect Matching with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

Thumbnail for Cause and Effect Matching with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth

Cause and Effect Matching with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

Read When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth 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 When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth. 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.

Cause and Effect Sentence Stems with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

Thumbnail for Cause and Effect Sentence Stems with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth

Cause and Effect Sentence Stems with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

Understanding cause and effect is a key comprehension and language skill. The text structure of When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth 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.

Compare and Contrast with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

Thumbnail for Compare and Contrast with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth

Compare and Contrast with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth

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.

Making Connections with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth (Spanish)

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

Retelling & Summarizing with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth (Spanish)

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

Understanding Text Structure with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth (Spanish)

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

Visualizing with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth (Spanish)

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

Compare and Contrast with When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth (Spanish)

Worksheet

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

Unlock the potential of the books in your school and classroom libraries with lesson plans, activities, and resources expertly designed to help you meet your instructional goals
  • Teach with the best children's books
  • Always have access to new resources
  • Get access to Digial Classroom - perfect for centers
  • Finally have time to "fit it all in" with super efficient lesson plans
  • Enjoy fast planning tools and stay super organized with a personal file cabinet and dashboard
30 Day Risk-Free Guarantee, Cancel Anytime

About the Book

The cover for the book When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth
Title: When I Was Little: A Four Year Old’s Memoir of Her Youth
Author: Jamie Lee Curtis
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: Family
ISBN: 9780060210786
Publisher's Summary:
"When I was little, I could hardly do anything. But now I can do lots of things, like braid my own hair and go to nmusery school. I'm not a baby anymore. I'm me!"
Content and Downloadable content Copyright ©2010-2024 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

Save BIG on Your Shortcut to Teaching through the Holidays - and Beyond

You’ve got all the books you and your students love. Now it’s time to grab the resources that make teaching with them eaiser than ever.
This weekend only, you can get a full year of BookPagez for just $29.
That means instant access to thousands of ready-to-go lesson plans and activities for your favorite children’s books at the lowest price we'll ever offer.
Hurry! Sale ends soon.

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